Intuit is shutting down its free budgeting app Mint, which had 3.6 million active users in 2021, Bloomberg reports. The company will absorb users into its other service called Credit Karma when Mint disappears. An Intuit spokeperson told Engadget that Mint will be available until March 24, 2024.
"Credit Karma is thrilled to invite all Minters to continue their financial journey on Credit Karma, where they will have access to Credit Karma’s suite of features, products, tools and services, including some of Mint’s most popular features," Mint wrote on its product blog. The company noted that Mint's product team and some features have already shifted over to Credit Karma.
Mint helps users manage their budget, track expenses and keep track of subscriptions and monthly bills so you don't pay late fees. Intuit acquired the company in 2009 for $170 million, with Mint saying the acquisition would help bring the app to millions more users.
Intuit will shift users to Credit Karma (a company it acquired in 2020), even though they're not exactly the same. Credit Karma is more like a banking app that lets users view transactions, monitor credit and see multiple accounts, but lacks the budget tracking features that make Mint attractive to many. Intuit specifically notes on a support page that "the new experience in Credit Karma does not offer the ability to set monthly and category budgets," instead helping users "build awareness" of their spending. However, Mint's net worth feature was recently ported over to Credit Karma.
Mint users will be able to transfer their accounts by logging into Credit Karma from the Mint app, after which they'll lose access to their Mint profiles. They can also download or erase any Mint data if they'd rather not switch.
Some Mint users on Reddit don't seem thrilled with the switch, with one saying that without the budgeting feature, "Mint is just a glorified checkbook register." Intuit, meanwhile, was recently ordered to pay $141 million for deceiving millions of low-income Americans into paying for tax services that should have been free.
Update, December 7 2023, 3:20PM ET: This story has been updated to include a statement from an Intuit spokesperson, who confirmed to Engadget that Mint will be available until March 24, 2024. Mint's announcement originally stated that the app would be shut down on January 1, 2024.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/intuit-is-closing-down-mint-its-popular-free-budget-tracking-app-054145229.html?src=rss
