Though many banks have abandoned account aggregation, Geezeo Inc. is trying to build a business around the idea by incorporating budgeting tools and financial planning advice from its users.
Geezeo is one of several companies that are using spending data gathered with aggregation software to offer new financial services tools online.
"We're taking account aggregation, which has been around for a long time, and doing something fun and cool with it," said Peter Glyman, a co-founder of Geezeo. The site went live in July, and several new services are expected to be added this month, Mr. Glyman said.
"A lot of banks tried to adopt" aggregation in recent years, but "banks aren't monetizing account aggregation," he said. "It's a cost for them."
However, Mr. Glyman said that there is strong demand for aggregation-based services, and that it has been driven in part by the increasing use of debit cards.
In the past, "just the act of using your checkbook was, in a way, forcing you to look at your finances," he said. "With checkbooks going away and debit cards taking over … people are less aware of their money."
The Geezeo site currently lets users track their spending at all their bank accounts and set savings targets, and several additional budgeting tools are being developed for the site.
Geezeo is similar to services offered by Mint Software Inc. and Wesabe Inc., which also aggregate spending data and post recommendations of financial products.
Starting in the next two weeks, Geezeo users will be able to create budgets for certain categories of merchants, such as restaurants, Mr. Glyman said. By yearend they will be able to receive alerts on their cell phones when their spending approaches the limits they have set.
Shawn Ward, another founder of the Framingham, Mass., company, said, "You'll set a target and you'll also be able to see that throughout the month."
People can monitor their progress toward these goals on the Geezeo site or by sending the site a text message inquiry.
The mobile capabilities make Geezeo stand out among other sites that track users' spending habits, Mr. Ward said.
People can also use the text message service to get current balances for any accounts connected to Geezeo.
Mr. Glyman said the site is not generating revenue now, but by yearend the company plans to introduce a product section that will bring in money.
"The twist on it is we'll have a Geezeo user recommendation rating," he said. Users will be able to rate their banking products and view other users' ratings to comparison-shop for new ones.
If someone opened an account through Geezeo, the company would get a referral fee from the banking comapny.
This revenue model is similar to that of Mint, which also earns referral fees when users start accounts, but Mint recommends specific banking products automatically by evaluating users' spending habits instead of soliciting their opinions and sharing these reviews with other people who use the site.
Mr. Glyman would not say how many people use Geezeo today, but said 10% of visitors to the site sign up, and the average user configures Geezeo's software to gather information from at least three different financial companies.
People must provide their usernames and passwords for each account, though security has not been a big user concern, Mr. Glyman said.
"One of the reasons we cater to a younger demographic is they're more comfortable using online sites, including finance," he said.
User information and account summaries are stored on separate systems, and the credentials used to access the various accounts are kept with the vendor that provides the aggregation service, CashEdge Inc. of New York.
"We take a lot of pride in our security," Mr. Ward said. "We don't have to store any user IDs, passwords, or true account information on our systems."
Manish Vrishaketu, CashEdge's director of marketing, said one reason some banknig companies have turned away from aggregation services is that they "have really not looked at themselves as personal financial management providers."
But banks could match anything Geezeo is doing, Mr. Vrishaketu said. "I don't think there's anything stopping the banks," he said. "I think that both the models could coexist."
Edward Woods, a senior analyst for the Boston market research firm Celent LLC, said some banks offer services similar to those provided by this new generation of aggregation-based services.
Bank of America Corp., for example, has long offered aggregation and recently started an information-sharing Web site for small-business owners. "If you think about it for a minute, they've got the assets," he said.
People are drawn to independent sites like Geezeo because they are not happy with the services banks offer to keep track of their spending, Mr. Woods said.
"I go to 'averagebank.com,' and I see how much money I've spent," he said. Geezeo and its competitors help people see what they have spent and where, but also help them plan for expenses that may come up in the future. "That's compelling," he said. "It's where the banks should be."
Still, these aggregation services may not be for everybody, Mr. Woods said. Though he agrees that many users may set aside their concerns about security, there are others who may never be convinced, he said.
"We 100% know there's a demographic out there that won't go that far."
The best way for sites like Geezeo to expand their user base is to build on the social aspects by striking partnerships with social networking sites, Mr. Woods said. The person-to-person lender Lending Club Corp. did this by partnering with FaceBook Inc.
Users of social networking sites are "interested in talking it up and talking about things and opinions," Mr. Woods said. "They are open to new things."
