Trim is an online service that seeks to help consumers improve their personal finances. It can help you eliminate unwanted expenses, automate your savings, develop a payoff plan for your debt, and help you find the ways to manage money.
Trim can also analyze your spending for any additional savings and even negotiate your cable or internet bill for you.
While the company does require a linked bank account to achieve all of this, it's also incredibly secure, using encryption technology similar to that used by banks as well as additional security features such as two-factor authentication.
What is Trim?
Trim was started in 2015 by founder and CEO Thomas Smyth with the goal of helping Americans improve their "financial health." Since then, the company claims it has saved its users over $20 million by helping them manage their everyday finances and find new ways to save money. In 2021, Trim was acquired by OneMain Financial and is now technically called OneMain Trim, LLC, but still does business as Trim.
Beyond scouting out opportunities to cut superfluous expenses, you can also use Trim help you set financial goals and stick to them. Through its personalized savings and debt payoff programs, the company works to educate its users on how to manage money by providing helpful guidance and attainable milestones along the way.
How does Trim work?
Trim is a budgeting tool that offers a wide array of financial services, all of which are meant to help you simplify your personal finances and better your financial life. Whether you're looking to more closely track expenses, pay off a large debt, automate your savings, or even find a rewards credit card that better suits your needs, Trim offers online features and counseling that can help you achieve all of these goals.
Although signing up for Trim is completely free, the company offers both free and premium features within its platform and will notify you in advance if a service you're trying to use carries a fee.
The free services on offer include a customized dashboard with your financial accounts, spend and late fee alerts and reminders, overdraft fee notifications, and the cancellation of unused subscriptions.
Trim's premium features include bill and interest rate negotiation, debt payoff help, and the Trim Simple Savings account, which offers a 1.5% annual reward on your total balance. These features vary in price, with some being based on a percentage of what the company is able to save you and others set at a flat monthly rate.
While savings and debt programs cost a steady rate between $2 and $10 per month, Trim bill negotiation rates vary based on the savings involved. There isn't an upfront charge associated with bill negotiation; instead, the company charges 33% of its total yearly savings on your bills.
For example, if Trim saves you $120 in a year on your phone bill, the charge would equal $39.60. This might sound like a lot, but when you consider that you're only charged on annual savings, it's actually a win-win — even paying this amount still saves you roughly $80 more than if you hadn't used Trim. And if the company doesn't save you any money, you'll pay nothing.
Who should use Trim?
Trim is best for those interested in saving money and improving their finances in a variety of ways using one single platform. While individual platforms offering expense tracking or automated savings are widely available, Trim is a one-stop-shop for those looking to enhance their overall financial standing by exploring every avenue the company has to offer.
Convenience is a huge factor when it comes to the appeal of using an online service like Trim, which is why this won't be as beneficial for someone who already has individual savings, expense tracking, or debt service programs elsewhere. If you already have these things in place or if you're comfortable setting up such accounts for yourself independently, then Trim likely won't be as much of a time-saver for you.
How much can you save with Trim?
While exactly how much money you can save using Trim is unclear, it's easy to see how such a platform would be beneficial for some people. Trim's approach to smarter spending and debt management could undeniably save someone money in a variety of ways, with one of the biggest values being education.
The company really isn't offering any service you couldn't do for yourself, but sometimes subscription cancellation, negotiating a lower bill, or automating your savings account just isn't something people think of on their own. You'll pay Trim for the convenience of performing these tasks on your behalf, but the savings you reap could outweigh the cost of Trim.
Through its variety of services, Trim sets an example of the types of money-savings tactics people can employ in their own lives — which is something they can easily continue to do well-beyond their association with the platform.
FAQs
Does Trim charge a fee?
Some services on the platform are free, including cancelling subscriptions, while others — such as bill negotiation, savings, and debt payoff plans — come with relatively low monthly fees (between $2 and $10) or are based on a percentage of your savings.
Check the company's site for a full explanation of costs.
Can Trim cancel a gym membership?
According to its website, the company can cancel a gym membership (citing Planet Fitness as an example) and advertises being able to do so whenever users request a cancellation via text message.
Is Trim safe?
Trim uses 256-bit SSL encryption on its website and databases to protect your sensitive information. It also makes use of additional security features like two-factor authentication.
How to sign up for Trim
You can sign up for Trim by visiting AskTrim.com and selecting any of the "Get Started" prompts there. This will bring you to a page that allows you to sign up via email or using your Facebook account.
Once you've entered some basic information on the Trim website, you'll be prompted to connect your Facebook messenger account or your phone so Trim can contact you about potential savings. You'll then connect your primary bank account or credit card accounts — or both. This will allow the company to start recommending savings opportunities that are specially catered to your needs.
Alternatives to Trim
If the Trim app doesn't quite fit your needs, there are a variety of similar apps you might consider using instead.
Rocket Money
If you want to manage your budget from your favorite mobile device, Rocket Money offers a robust mobile app with similar bill negotiation features as Trim. Rocket Money likewise will find forgotten subscriptions to cancel and consolidates your financial information into one, easy to use dashboard. While free to use, you'll need to pay a $6 monthly fee to access the most useful services.
Visit Rocket Money | Compare Trim vs. Rocket Money side-by-side
Hiatus
Hiatus is another financial services app that provides users with budgeting, bill management, and subscription cancellation tools. Hiatus offers uses access to a concierge team that will negotiate bills on your behalf, but like Rocket Money and Trim, you'll have to pay a premium subscription fee for this level of service.
Visit Hiatus | Learn more in our Hiatus review
Bottom line
Budgeting and money management apps like Trim are bringing tasks that once required a lot of on-paper math and organization into the digital sphere. Like we said, Trim doesn't do anything that you couldn't do yourself, but life gets hectic. Sometimes it's worth it to pay for the convenience of having someone else negotiate bills for you.
But before you settle on Trim, have a look at our list of the best money saving apps to review your options.