"Where eBay had once turned shopping into a game, Mint had now turned saving into one."

A good lesson for any software.

If I write a comprehensive functional specification, a detailed email, or call a meeting to discuss requirements, my users don't care (and half of them never bother).

But if I give them something to play with, using their own data, they go nuts. Then they're pushing me to get their project moving along.

Am I missing something? They're asking for the keys to my bank account -- my username and password for online banking, something that should never be given out to anyone under any circumstances. That, to me, is an issue I just can't get past, no matter how many people sing their praises.

You're not missing anything, it's just a matter of trust. There are a lot of middlemen between you and your money, no matter the scenario. For online banking, these middlemen include the browser, your OS, and the underlying communication network. You have developed a trust relationship with those components. Mint wants to be another middleman, and that's why they're developing a brand known for security and trustworthiness.

And if they get hacked and my password is abused to steal money from my account, will my bank cover the liability? I doubt it - I gave my password away. I assume it's like a stolen ATM PIN, I eat the loss. No thanks.

Actually, your bank is required by law to limit your liability to $50 if reported within 2 days, or to $500 if reported within 60 days. Many states are even more friendly towards consumers, and some banks have voluntarily made their policies more consumer-friendly than that, limiting liability to $50 in all cases, for example.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_E

This may not be enough to sway you, but your liability is limited under Federal law:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_E

This is a problem at the moment, but I can see no reason why you shouldn't have a read-only account to give to services like this. Also, many UK banks (and I understand most banks on the continent) offer two-factor authentication for online transactions.

How quickly we forget, from 4 days ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=615528 "Report: Mint Considers Selling Anonymized Data from Its Users (readwriteweb.com)"

Is it fun to have your financial data sold to, perhaps several of, the highest bidders?

I think Mint is, hands down, the best personal money management site (although if anyone disagrees, I'm open to checking other sites out). The big thing, for me, is the emails and text message alerts, especially the ones that go out once you've reached your monthly budget on a certain type of spending. Huge help!

I really wish this was available in Australia. All the alternatives are too messy and clunky, or don't hook into my bank easily.

I agree this is huge. I think a lot of people probably thought of this idea years ago (i know I thought of it), but figured that the logistics of sending out mass text messages would be too difficult.

i think the biggest hook for mint is that they'll eventually have most of the info they need to do my taxes for me (a service they don't currently offer, but i hope might eventually offer through a partner, or on their own.)

As far as I can see, few of these services are available outside of America. The only available service I know that downloads data from your online bank account is Yodlee (which Mint uses as a data provider). I haven't used Egg Money Manager, but I believe that has a windows only client that downloads your transactions on your own computer. Does anybody know what precisely is holding back these services from launching worldwide? I'd imagine they'd want to get a foothold in Europe as quickly as possible before somebody beats them to it. Is there a regulatory problem with providing this service?

I've recently signed up with Yodlee Moneycenter and become a big fan of these personal finance websites. Hopefully more services will soon become available to UK customers.

How long until Yodlee pulls the plug on Mint? They provide Mint's account aggregation technology and now are shooting to be a competitor. Hmm...

i don't have a yodlee account, how do they stack up?

Pretty sure Yodlee is getting paid. In fact, Mint should be concerned they are so dependent on Yodlee.

"The service seems simple enough, though Patzer says there are five separate patents pending to the technology."

I wonder if this is defensive or if they plan to litigate their competitors.

It's almost certainly defensive, probably because their investors want them to be "protectable". Startups tend not to sue their competitors.

You can patent anything. Whether or not they'll hold up in court is another matter entirely.