The company that saves people money on their bills now helps people earn more on their savings

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- BillShrink (www.billshrink.com), the independent free online service that gives personalized money-saving recommendations on everyday bills, today announces a new service that searches and recommends the best financial institutions to help people meet their savings goals.

This year's dramatic shift in the economy found many Americans without a 'rainy day' fund. With the economy showing some signs of recovery and the revitalized trend towards savings, BillShrink now meets people's needs for insightful recommendations on where to earn the most on their money. The Department of Commerce recently released figures showing that Americans' personal saving rate is at a 15-year high(1).

BillShrink effortlessly accomplishes time-consuming and complex tasks like evaluating interest rates offered by the nation's leading banks and credit unions. BillShrink tracks more than 300 constantly changing rates for the most attractive savings accounts and CDs. BillShrink's proprietary technology also analyzes a number of additional criteria corresponding to an individual's usage preferences to generate highly personalized account recommendations that best match each user's needs. Additionally, should a better interest rate become available down the road, BillShrink will alert users so they are always aware of the best options.

"Our goal is to always help people find the best ways to save money and to simplify the intricate financial factors that are part of credit, savings and even wireless plans," said Peter Pham, BillShrink's CEO. "BillShrink saves the average user $1500 on their bills, so the launch of our savings and CDs service is a natural extension of the value we offer by showing people how to earn more on their savings. BillShrink's new savings service gives people straightforward guidance on where to invest their money so they can feel confident that they are making the most informed financial decisions."

Key features of BillShrink's new savings service include:

• Short-term and long-term savings recommendations - BillShrink uniquely recommends a combination of savings accounts and CDs to maximize your money's earning power while still balancing the need to keep some funds readily accessible.
• Special account features - Beyond just a great rate, BillShrink's personalized analysis helps you find accounts that meet all your specific requirements - such as direct deposit, bill pay, 24/7 customer service, paper statements and more.
• ATM geo-targeting and avoiding fees - To help cut down on the estimated $4.4 billion in ATM fees paid by American's last year, the service highlights specific ATMs with the lowest fees. If a customer frequently uses ATMs, BillShrink will factor the ATM fee policies into the recommendation so that the best available interest rates and best ATM fees are represented in the savings. Additionally, the new tool will map out ATMs closest to a user's home or work so that non-fee ATMs are factored into the savings advice.
• Credit union eligibilities - BillShrink pairs comprehensive coverage of banks with leading credit unions and helps people automatically discover the credit unions that they will qualify for based on their location and employer.
  

For screen shots of the new savings and CD landing page and results pages, please visit www.billshrink.com/blog/press-kit/.

About BillShrink (www.billshrink.com)

BillShrink is the free online money-saving service designed to help people lower their bills. Every day, thousands of people come onto the site and find an average of $1500 in savings on their most common bills.

In an era when eight in 10 Americans overpay for expenses like credit cards and wireless bills, BillShrink empowers and inspires people to become savvy shoppers by simplifying all the complex pricing structures to show what true cost of ownership means for their wallets. The company is on track to find $1 billion in savings for Americans by the end of 2009.

BillShrink is a decision-oriented site that helps users discover and determine the best money-saving options. Think of BillShrink as a personal finance matchmaker. After answering a few simple questions about spending and savings behavior, BillShrink users see savings recommendations tailored to their unique needs. In order to provide individualized and unbiased recommendations, the company tracks more than 10 million cell phone plan combinations, 300 bank rates, 240 credit cards and 150,000 gas stations, to present the best money-saving options available. BillShrink then keeps the savings coming by alerting users when a better deal comes along.

BillShrink was named one of the "Best Web Sites" by Kiplinger's and has been featured in the country's leading news sources including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Consumer Reports, Fortune, The Today Show, CNN, ABC and CBS. The company publishes the popular "Shrinkage is Good" blog, which features commentary on the latest economic news and savings tips.

The Silicon Valley-based company was founded in 2007 by Schwark Satyavolu and Samir Kothari. For more information, please visit www.BillShrink.com. Follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/billshrink) and become a BillShrink fan on Facebook (www.facebook.com/BillShrink).

(1) Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce - http://www.bea.gov/BRIEFRM/SAVING.HTM

SOURCE BillShrink.com

Back to top

RELATED LINKS
http://www.billshrink.com