My Financial Picture from BoA

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
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Topic Author
Hallo basu
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2021 12:11 pm

My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by Hallo basu »

Hi friends,

I logged into my Bank of America acct and discovered a program of theirs called "My financial Picture" where I can connect all my financial accts (bank accts, credit cards, loans, etc.), which it uses and gives an overview of all my assets, liabilities and net worth. I will have to submit to BoA, my login credentials to all other financial accounts and it keeps track of the monthly statements and gives an updated net worth.

If someone has set it up, I would like to know how is it working for you. How safe do you feel about one site having access credentials to your entire finances?

Regards.
~ A struggling Oil Man
LLeaff
Posts: 60
Joined: Wed May 15, 2019 10:37 am

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by LLeaff »

I tried this feature a few years ago. I don't remember the exact details, but every time I logged in there was always multiple accounts that wouldn't update. I'd end up spending more time figuring out the issues than was (theoretically) saved by having everything listed in one location. Given this reality and the (real or perceived) risk of having my credentials centralized with BOA I went back to my spreadsheet and twice a month logging in to each individual institution manually.

If you do give it try keep us posted on your experience, I'd be curious to see if it has imporved
invest4
Posts: 1905
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2019 2:19 am

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by invest4 »

Rightly or wrongly, my confidence in these setups is low:

* Security Risk

* Doesn't have the features I want

* Farming my data


I simply avoid them.


YMMV.
rbd789
Posts: 365
Joined: Fri Jul 24, 2020 2:58 pm

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by rbd789 »

No web site gets my credentials for other web sites.
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retiredjg
Posts: 54082
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:56 am

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by retiredjg »

When a bank is offering free stuff likel this, they expect to get something in return. Whatever they get will be in their interests, not mine.
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lthenderson
Posts: 8525
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:43 am
Location: Iowa

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by lthenderson »

I just use a spreadsheet and 15 minutes a month to keep track of my overall financial picture. No usernames or passwords are involved so nothing to hack.
gotoparks
Posts: 1149
Joined: Sat Jan 28, 2023 9:19 am

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by gotoparks »

You probably open yourself to BoA financial planners calling you if your details look juicy enough.
Lastrun
Posts: 1512
Joined: Wed May 03, 2017 6:46 pm

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by Lastrun »

I used it for a while but only with respect to credit cards. It would lose the link to Chase every once and a while, so more trouble than it was worth. I would never link other accounts on any platform (e.g., Personal Capital, Mint).

It seems like these platforms are always sketchy in terms of whether they link on any given day. My daughter’s Mint is always losing the Ally link, and others complain here about Quicken, Personal Capital and others.

So verdict is not worth the trouble and it is not as “sexy” as Personal Capital, Mint, etc for those that want an aggregator.
atdharris
Posts: 2091
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:18 pm

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by atdharris »

Mint is more useful than BoA's financial picture. I'm not able to include my vehicle or small amount of bitcoin I own at BoA's financial picture
Topic Author
Hallo basu
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2021 12:11 pm

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by Hallo basu »

All those who are using Mint, is that safe/reliable?
~ A struggling Oil Man
delamer
Posts: 17453
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 5:13 pm

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by delamer »

Hallo basu wrote: Fri Jun 09, 2023 12:49 pm All those who are using Mint, is that safe/reliable?
I can’t speak to Mint, but I’ve been using Quicken for many years.

I’ve found it to be safe & reliable. It will give you the same functionality as the BofA program. But it is not free.

I don’t store my Quicken data on the cloud, only on my laptop.
One thing that humbles me deeply is to see that human genius has its limits while human stupidity does not. - Alexandre Dumas, fils
SeekingWisdom_1
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 10:38 pm

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by SeekingWisdom_1 »

I agree with others who have suggested that this service opens the door to risk. The service is not truly free. Someone is getting something for it. When you're not paying for a product, you are the product. I don't blame the OP for asking the question though. I LOVE the idea of features that give me a snap shot of my financial picture, though I avoid such features. Here's why:

Recently, I transferred money from my big bank to another bank for a higher interest rate. The easiest, and the clearly preferred, method to transfer the funds was to use the third party "experience" offered on the other bank's website. We'll call this experience/app "Blue". It's free and quick. Well, I was curious about "Blue." When I read the fine print of the "Blue" user agreement (available on the second bank's site), I realized that not only do they transfer the funds from your designated bank account BUT they also receive TONS of data from that bank (including but not limited to average 3-month balance in every account (not just the one you're transferring from), credit card balance, credit card transactions for the past 3 months (yes, who you are doing business with and how much you're spending with them), etc.). Any account I held with the big bank (a mortgage, HSA, anything) was eligible for them to collect information on and give to the second bank, plus "Blue" gets to have the data, too. Are you kidding me?

I opted out of "Blue" (not super intuitive to figure out), and transferred via wire, I believe. It took longer but protected my privacy. So...with that said, I wonder if having all of one's accounts in the BofA My Financial Picture tool, or some similar feature at other banks, would allow even more data to be shared with third parties like "Blue". To that end, the second bank to which I was transferring money also has in their fine print that they can share all my info with any of their (unnamed) partners. So...I think there's a ton of exposure to be had when using these features. If you value your privacy, I'd suggest avoiding these features though the potential convenience IS tempting. I figure at some point all of our financial info will just be "out there"...if it isn't already. That said, I'll fight that for as long as I can. On top of this, there's the security risk, of course, inherent in sharing passwords across accounts. Thirty minutes a month entering account info into Excel gives me the big picture without the risk. (Admittedly, it is a drag to do sometimes.) Good luck out there, friends! :beer
Topic Author
Hallo basu
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2021 12:11 pm

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by Hallo basu »

Thank you for the tips! I guess I'll continue with my spreadsheets as well.
~ A struggling Oil Man
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StewedCarrot
Posts: 278
Joined: Sun Feb 09, 2020 12:34 pm

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by StewedCarrot »

I use aggregators. USAA currently has a good one. I’ve not tried BofAs.

Regarding security, modern aggregators use a login token, no need to share passwords with a third party. And as API access has standardized, stability has improved.
alexbogle
Posts: 293
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2022 8:01 pm

Re: My Financial Picture from BoA

Post by alexbogle »

I refuse fo use aggregators since most of the time.they request my passwords. Funny enough, boa is the one account I have seen that I can add to fidelity aggregator without sharing log-on credentials. So good on boa for that!
"Learn every day, but especially from the experiences of others. It’s cheaper!” -- Jack Bogle
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