Mint introduces bill negotiation feature

Source: Mint

Today, Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU), the global technology platform that makes TurboTax, QuickBooks , Mint, Credit Karma , and MailChimp, announced Bill Negotiation in Mint, which can help cut down users’ monthly bill and subscription payments by hundreds of dollars.

In partnership with ApexEdge’s Billshark, Mint suggests areas where users could save on monthly payments, and then connects them with Billshark to negotiate rates on their behalf.

Consumers may be overpaying on monthly payments, including internet, phone, and television bills. And with subscriptions for services increasing yearly — with the average consumer opting into 9 monthly subscriptions,* the number of bills consumers are handling continues to grow. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep track of payments and changing rates, or even realize that there are opportunities to negotiate costs.

“Consumers have more subscriptions and monthly payments to keep track of than ever before,” said Varun Krishna, Senior Vice President and Head of Consumer Finance with Intuit Consumer Group. “This makes it difficult to monitor rising costs. On top of that, most consumers are either unaware that their bill is negotiable, or they just don’t have the time or energy to engage with companies to lower their rate. By partnering with ApexEdge’s Billshark, Mint’s Bill Negotiation feature automatically spots areas our users could be saving on monthly bills, and helps connect directly with vendors to negotiate those costs so users don’t have to.”

Powered by Billshark, Mint’s new feature on iOS and desktop, takes the work out of bill negotiations. If Mint discovers an opportunity for a user to try and lower monthly costs, it will flag the opportunity to connect with Billshark, who then negotiates rates directly with the vendor on the user’s behalf. Mint users have already saved hundreds of dollars per year. Billshark charges users a one-time fee based on savings for the relevant bill, only if they successfully negotiated a lower cost.

“By partnering with Mint on its new Bill Negotiation feature, Billshark has an opportunity to help millions take out the stressful parts of paying bills, including tracking subscription renewals and new costs, and negotiating on customers’ behalf in a way only Billshark’s experts can do.” says Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and Billshark investor.

With the Bill Negotiation feature, Mint is helping its over 30 million users spot areas to save and taking the work of bill negotiation off their plates, giving them more control over their spending with smarter money decisions. Bill Negotiation is available today in the Mint iOS iPhone app and on www.mint.com with Android support coming soon.