Founded in 2015, Rocket Money’s parent organization is Rocket Companies, headquartered in Silver Spring, Maryland. It began as an app to help users manage their subscriptions and bills and has now grown into a tool for monitoring spending, budgeting, saving money, and more.
Many of its app features are free, such as its budgeting tool, though you can pay for Premium features, including bill negotiation and net worth tracking, which sets it apart as more than just a budgeting app. Below, we’ll compare its features, plans and pricing, and how it stacks up against its competitors.
All rates and fees are current as of September 5, 2024, and are subject to change.
Rocket Money
| Monthly fee: | Free for basic plan |
| Other potential fees: | $4 to $12 per month for premium access |
| Free services available: | Budgeting, subscription and spending monitoring, and credit score |
| Premium services: | Bill negotiation, net worth, financial goals, credit report monitoring, transaction splitting, and more |
at Rocket Money
Pros
- Bill negotiation services available
- See all your recurring bills and subscriptions in one place
- Lets you know if an account balance is getting low to avoid overdrafts
- You can link your investment accounts
Cons
- You can only withdraw your Smart Savings to the checking account it came from
- Some users may find the app’s account linking process intrusive
- Limited customization in budgeting tools with its free option
- Discrepancies in minimum amount you can pay to have Premium access
Rocket Money is well-suited for users who want to manage their subscriptions, track expenses, and negotiate bills all in one place.
If you’re not comfortable linking your financial accounts to third-party apps, Rocket Money isn’t suitable for you.
View offerat Rocket Money
How Rocket Money Works
Rocket Money is a financial management app offering a variety of personal finance tools for everyday users. You can link your outside accounts, create budgets, manage your recurring subscriptions, negotiate bills, track your net worth, monitor your credit score, and set up a savings account. Many of these features are free, while others require a premium subscription.
Account linking
Rocket Money uses Plaid to link to thousands of different banking institutions so you can see all your accounts in one place. This is a free feature, and you can link checking, savings, credit cards, and investment accounts. After linking your accounts, the app tallies your current spending for the month at the top of your screen and provides a breakdown of your checking, savings, investments, card balances, and net cash.
Budgeting
After you’ve linked all your accounts, you can set up a budget for free. The app scans your transactions to find your deposits and asks you to confirm which deposits it should include in your typical monthly earnings estimate. From there, the app will scan for your bills and utilities—these are your fixed expenses. Next, it will catch your utilities. If something is missing, you can add this in the next step. After all your recurring expenses are accounted for, set up category budgets and you’re done.
Subscription management
Rocket Money can see all of your recurring subscriptions and compile them by account, type, due date, amount, frequency, or alphabetical order. There is even a calendar or payday view so you know what’s coming up in case you need to move funds around to ensure everything’s covered. This is free, but with a premium subscription, it can cancel your subscription or lower the bill for you, which we’ll discuss in detail next.
Bill negotiation
If there are subscription bills for services you no longer need or use, Rockey Money can cancel these on your behalf. It does this by reaching out to the service provider directly. If you don’t want to cancel, it can also negotiate better rates. This service is available to Premium users.
Savings account
Smart Savings is a premium feature that allows you to sweep money into aFederal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC)-insured bank account held in the United States. Set your goal, and Rocket Money can help you figure out what you can afford to save based on past expense history.
Net worth tracker
Your net worth provides a quick snapshot of your financial health. It measures your assets and liabilities. If you have a negative net worth, that means you owe more than you own. Available for premium users, Rocket Money can track your net worth by collating all of your accounts and calculating what you owe vs. what you own.
Credit score monitoring
Rocket Money will provide your credit score for free based on Experian’s FICO Score 2. Your FICO Score 2 tells you how good your credit score is based on the following scale:
- 800-850: Excellent
- 740-799: Very good
- 670-739: Good
- 580-669: Fair
- 300-579: Poor
If you want your full credit report, you’ll need a premium account. It’s important to note that your credit score is only available via the mobile app and not via the web (yet).
Getting started with Rocket Money
Creating a Rocket Money account takes minutes:
- Download the app or access it via the web
- Click “create an account”
- Let Rocket Money know what you want out of the app (choose one or all)
- Then tell Rocket Money what your goal is—you can choose more than one (or all of them)
- If you chose more than one, let Rocket Money know which you’d like to focus on first
- Rocket Money will ask what kind of debt you’d like to pay off and how soon you want it paid off
- Enter your name, email address, and password
- Rocket Money will ask for more information about you, such as if you rent or own a home, whether you’re married or have kids, if you have a vehicle, and whether you pay student loans
- Then, they want to know how you found them.
After that, you link your checking account, which is required, as well as any credit cards, and you’re ready to start customizing the app for your goals.
How much does Rocket Money cost?
Many of Rocket Money’s tools come free. However, there is a paid option that includes features such as bill negotiation, net worth tracking, and your full credit report. Most places within the mobile app and the web will tell you that pricing for Rocket Money’s premium version is anywhere from $6 to $12, so you can pay what you think the app is worth.
However, via the web application, we were able to sign up for $4, billed annually at a rate of $48. We assume this is a discount for paying annually as we don’t get an option to pay monthly unless we’re paying at least $6 per month.
Is Rocket Money easy to use?
In our testing, most of the features within Rocket Money are very easy to use and intuitive. The only confusion we ran into was during the process of setting up a budget, although some learning curve is expected with any new tool.
Rocket Money customer support
For support with your Rocket Money account, there is an in-app messaging feature where you can chat directly with a customer support representative. You can also reach them via email or view its knowledge base for do-it-yourself (DIY) help. Support staff is available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET.
Is Rocket Money safe?
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) against Rocket Money, alleging it has unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices. EPIC also accuses it of violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) with its data privacy practices. However, Rocket Money has industry-standard security measures, such as 256-bit encryptions and a partnership with Plaid to connect your accounts securely.
Rocket Money user reviews
Users enjoy having all of their accounts in one location so they can check on their finances at a glance. Several users cite issues with the bill negotiation service, where promises were made and not kept, or there were unexpected costs involved. Other users complain that Plaid doesn’t support their bank, and there’s no estimate of when or if their bank will ever be on Plaid.
How Rocket Money stacks up against competitors
Rocket Money isn’t the only app that helps with your personal finances, although it is one of the few that negotiates and cancels bills on your behalf. Here’s a closer look at its competition.
Rocket Money vs. Simplifi
A lot of people don’t know that Quicken and Rocket Money are owned by the same company—Rocket Mortgage, LLC. Rocket Money is a little more expensive at $4 per month billed annually, while Simplifi is $2.99 per month billed annually. With that, you get more features, such as bill negotiation and automatic savings. Plus, it’s easier to navigate than Simplifi.
Rocket Money vs. Empower
Empower offers a free budget planner that allows users to organize spending and savings into customizable fields, set savings goals, and make adjustments easily. Everything is kept in the Personal Dashboard. Empower’s main offerings are investment and financial planning, so if you’re already an Empower customer, the free dashboard could be a useful tool. Otherwise, Rocket Money could be a better choice for those looking for tools beyond basic budgeting (if you’re willing to pay for them).
So, should you use Rocket Money?
If you’re looking for an all-in-one financial tool for tracking expenses and subscriptions and negotiating bills, Rocket Money could be a good choice for you. Its free offerings may be a great fit for those looking for basic budgeting tools, and its unique features, such as bill negotiation and a built-in savings account may be worth the small monthly fee—although if you’re not comfortable linking your bank accounts, Rocket Money won’t work for you.
Frequently asked questions
Is Rocket Money legit?
Yes, Rocket Money is a legitimate company. It uses data encryption to keep your information safe, securely links bank accounts through Plaid, and its savings account is offered through nbkc Bank, which is insured by the FDIC.
How much does Rocket Money cost?
Many of Rocket Money’s products are offered for free, such as budgeting and subscription monitoring; however, you can choose to pay $6–$12 per month for its premium services, which include bill negotiation, net worth tracking, and accessing a full credit report.
Should I pay for Rocket Money premium membership?
If you’re looking for an all-in-one service for budgeting, bill negotiation, credit tracking, and more, it may be worth paying for a Rocket Money premium membership.
Does Rocket Money’s subscription cancellation really work?
Yes, Rocket Money’s subscription cancellation feature works. Users can have it contact the company on their behalf, or they can call or email themselves. However, Rocket Money can only cancel subscriptions that are easy to cancel—the ones that consumers can cancel themselves for free.
