Consumer Reports Partners with BillShrink to Help Consumers Find the Best Deals on Wireless Plans, Credit Cards and TV and Cable Packages

YONKERS, N.Y. and REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer Reports (www.ConsumerReports.org), the independent, nonprofit testing organization, and BillShrink (www.billshrink.com), the popular money-saving search engine and provider of in-statement rewards, today announced a partnership to help consumers find the best deals on wireless plans, credit cards and TV and cable packages.

ConsumerReports.org subscribers and site visitors will have access to BillShrink's customized savings recommendations through links on ConsumerReports.org article pages, buying advice pages, and ratings chart pages.  Consumers will be linked to a co-branded and customized version of BillShrink's unbiased recommendations on wireless plans, credit cards and TV service.  

"We're always looking for the best ways to help consumers simplify their experiences and get the most value in an increasingly complex marketplace," said Carol Lappin, director of Business Development, Consumer Reports.  "This relationship with BillShrink will allow us to offer consumers access to an easy and effective way to save money on some of their essentials like their phone and credit cards."

"We're great admirers of Consumer Reports and BillShrink has long followed their philosophy that knowledge and transparency lead to the best informed decisions. We're proud to have our brand stand beside theirs to help consumers make the right choices for where to spend their hard-earned money," said Schwark Satyavolu, co-founder and CEO of BillShrink.

Consumer Reports collects a fee from BillShrink each time a user switches service through the BillShrink tool. Consumer Reports uses 100% of these fees to help fund its mission. Consumer Reports does not endorse any of the services displayed by BillShrink, and it has no direct financial relationship with these services.

BillShrink has found that more than 80% of people overpay on everyday bills like wireless service. On average, those who use BillShrink's bill analysis can save $640 on credit cards, $420 on wireless plans and $400 on TV service per year.  BillShrink's money-saving engine simplifies the millions of product and service options on the market to help people make apples-to-apples comparisons.

About Consumers Union

Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, is an expert, independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers. To achieve this mission, CU tests, informs, and protects. To maintain independence and impartiality, CU accepts no outside advertising, no free test samples, and has no agenda other than the interests of consumers. CU supports itself through the sale of information products and services, individual contributions, and a few noncommercial grants. CU's flagship publication, Consumer Reports magazine, has a circulation of more than 4 million and continues to expand, while the magazine's Web site ConsumerReports.org has over 3.2 million paid subscribers and is the largest subscription-based Web site in the industry. In addition, CU has successfully launched and expanded Consumer Reports on Health, Consumer Reports Money Adviser, and, most recently, ShopSmart magazine.

About BillShrink

Since BillShrink's launch in 2008, the company has helped 1.6 million Americans save more than $1 billion by delivering personalized money-saving recommendations on their most common household bills. In an era when eight out of ten people overpay on their everyday bills, BillShrink sorts through millions of products and services – a billion cable TV and satellite packages, 10 million cell phone plan combinations and 150,000 gas stations – to provide unbiased recommendations so users can get exactly what they need at the best price.

With the launch of StatementRewards, BillShrink brings the power and breadth of its money-saving platform directly to users within their online bank statement. BillShrink is working with the country's leading financial institutions and merchants to give users money-saving deals from their favorite merchants and service providers directly within their credit card statement.

BillShrink's StatementRewards service won "Best of Show" at Finovate and the company was listed among the "Top 20 Best Money Websites" by Money Magazine and named one of the "Best Web Sites" by Kiplinger's. The company has been featured in the country's leading news sources including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, American Banker, Consumer Reports, Fortune, The Dr. Oz Show, The Today Show, CNN, ABC and CBS. BillShrink is headquartered in Redwood City, California. For more information, please visit www.billshrink.com.

SOURCE BillShrink