FNB app helps you to manage your money

FIRST National Bank (FNB) now has a digital solution to help you manage your finances better and navigate your way to financial fitness: nav >> Money.

The tool, which is available on the FNB app, is a continuation of the bank’s nav >> journey, which includes nav >> Home and nav >> Car.

FNB considers it to be your “personal financial GPS, for life”, the head of the bank’s innovations programme, Jolandé Duvenage, said at the launch.

“Banks have always been good at looking ‘back’ at your money.

Nav >> Money helps you to look forward,” she said.

You don’t have to be an FNB client to access the app, although you will not be able to use all the functions.

The app tracks three indicators of financial wellness: spending habits, available funds and credit status:

• “Track my spend” is designed to help you spend less than you earn. The feature keeps tabs on your cash flow and provides spending tips to manage your cash flow better. “Most people wing it when it comes to budgeting,” Duvenage says. “This helps you to track your expenditure in real time.”

• “My available funds” tells you how much you will have left to save after all your known upcoming payments. It raises red flags to warn you to cut back on spending.

• “My credit status” looks at how well you are managing your credit, rating it from red to yellow, then green. FNB assesses data from internal information, credit bureaus and other sources to rate your credit fitness across seven drivers of behaviour. It tells you what you’re doing right and where you could improve, and provides tips on payments, credit usage, and other things. Duvenage says this enables you to know what the banks expect, giving them tips on how to improve data from the bank and credit bureau.

Nav >> Home, which was launched in 2016, has had one million visitors to the platform, with R3.1 billion in payouts made. It allows customers to search for new homes, get instant value estimates, pre-approvals and access to a database of home service providers.

Nav >> Car has had 203 000 vehicles loaded and 10 500 licence renewals since it was launched last year. This helps customers with their car maintenance needs, which includes licence disc renewal.

Duvenage said the tool is not a scorecard: it’s a picture of your credit health. The app is being constantly updated too: “This is a journey. There’s lots of features and personalisation coming – it’s a continuous roll-out.”