Open banking has changed the financial services industry. It has done so by allowing third-party developers to access customer financial data with their consent. This has resulted in a plethora of innovative applications. They can provide users with a more tailored and convenient financial experience. Here are some top open banking apps that offer great user experiences.

Personal Finance Management Apps

For years, personal finance management (PFM) apps have been solid players in fintech. Thanks to open banking platforms, these apps can now give users an improved and truer picture of their finances. PFM apps collect data from various financial institutions, which assist users in tracking spending better, planning budgets, and identifying areas where they can save money. Some popular PFM applications using open banking include Mint, YNAB, and MoneyGuru.

For example, Mint is able to categorize spending as well as provide information on net worth and offer personal financial coaching. YNAB has budgeting software that helps users assign their income into set categories and follow it while working towards reaching certain financial goals. MoneyGuru enables all its clients to track all aspects of their wealth, like credit scores or insurance policy details, within one dashboard.

Budgeting and Savings Apps

One such tool that can be utilized for better management of money is budgeting and saving apps. These applications connect to individuals' bank accounts, enabling them to make comprehensive budgets, control their spending habits, and promote automatic savings. Some of the most popular budgeting and savings apps include Cleo, Albert, and Digit.

With artificial intelligence, Cleo provides personalized financial advice and gives automated ideas on how to save money. In addition, the application includes a budgeting feature that enables clients to identify their monthly expenses and suggests areas where they could cut down costs to save more money. The basic idea behind it is that Digit uses machine learning algorithms to study an individual's spending pattern and saves small sums daily.

Investment Apps

Investment apps have made investing more accessible than ever before. By connecting with users' bank accounts through an open banking platform, these applications can automate cash transfers into portfolios, making it easier for users to start and manage their investments. For example, Robinhood, Wealthsimple, and Acorns all leverage open banking to enhance their investment platforms.

Among other things, Robinhood does not charge any fees for trading stocks, including ETFs/options, hence making it easy for anyone interested in getting into investments. When it comes to Wealthsimple's robo-advisor service, it assists customers in deciding how much diversification should be done within portfolios containing these units while keeping track of returns over time. Additionally, Acorns takes spare change from each purchase after rounding off prices to the next dollar amount, and then deposits the difference into your account.

Payment Apps

Payment apps have become part of everyone's life due to open banking, which allows people to carry out fast money transfers, be it for online or offline shopping. These mobile applications are connected to a client's bank account and enable the swift transfer of cash among peers and kin, and also facilitate making online or offline payments. Venmo is one of the payment apps that is widely used in open banking. Other commonly used ones include Cash App and Zelle, which are usable in many places around the globe.

Credit Score Monitoring Apps

More people are now embracing credit score monitoring apps as they aim to improve their financial health. Supported by open banking, these applications instantly update one on their credit score and the variables behind its rise or fall. For instance, Credit Karma, Experian, and Equifax count among the many open banking-run credit monitoring apps.

Credit Karma's free version includes credit scores, reports, and tools for personalized money advice. The three major credit bureaus, namely, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, all have their own applications which permit users to access consumer credit report, get scores as well as monitor changes, among other things.

Bill Payment Apps

While bill payment can be monotonous work, open banking has made it easier for customers. Allowing these apps to connect directly to a user's personal bank accounts in order to facilitate bill payment automatically saves them from these headaches. Notable among such bill payment apps include Doma, Bill.com, and PaySimple.

Doma helps users pay bills from multiple accounts while tracking expenses through its platform. Bill.com is a cloud-based bookkeeping software with a bills payable function. For this purpose, PaySimple is another product that enables online payments, including recurring payments or in-person transactions.

Loan Comparison Apps

Loan comparison apps are useful for those who need loans because they allow them to find the best rates and terms available in the market today. These apps obtain information from people's financial data at various banks before generating personalized loan offers based on their ability to repay debts. LendingTree, Credible, and SoFi are some of the top loan comparison tools that employ open banking.

LendingTree users can compare offers from multiple lenders for personal loans, student loans, or mortgages. Credible offers a similar service and pre-qualification on mortgages. SoFi is an online personal finance company with various financial products such as student loans, personal loans, and investment services.

Mortgage Apps

A house purchase is a major decision that also necessitates affordable mortgage apps to complete the process. These apps can tell whether you qualify for a loan and give tailored recommendations when they are tied into your bank accounts. For example, Rocket Mortgage, Quicken Loans, and Zillow Mortgage Marketplace use open banking in their popular mortgage apps.

Rocket Mortgage has an online mortgage application you can fill out within a few minutes. Quicken Loans is another favorite online mortgage lender with varied options for these products. Zillow Mortgage Marketplace lets clients find many offers from lenders before being approved.

Insurance Apps

Insurance can get complicated, but insurance applications make it much simpler. Insurance apps linked to a person's bank account provide individual quotes while facilitating automatic payments. Policygenius, Lemonade, and Geico are examples of leading insurance applications based on open banking features.

A tool that will allow you to compare quotes for life insurance, health and other forms of coverage from different insurers is Policygenius. An AI-driven company that offers homeowners, renters, and pet insurance is Lemonade. Another well-known insurer with a range of products like car insurances, motorbike insurances and home owners policy is Geico.

Travel Apps

Modern travelers need travel apps, and they can make use of open banking to improve their experience. By accessing users' bank accounts, travel apps are able to book flights and hotels, coordinate expense management, as well as provide travel insurance when needed. Hopper, Expedia, and Skyscanner, among others, are popular travel apps that utilize open banking.