Cleo: $250 Fast Cash Advance 9+

Entertaining AND an easy to understand budgeting/finance app.

I was a little skeptical about this app at first, but after exploring it a bit and delving into a few of the many resources, insights, and budgeting options I’m set on using this app to its full potential. This App breaks down EVERYTHING from your spending habits, the products you buy, the stores you frequent and uses a chat like feature to constantly keep your budget goals in the forefront of your mind so you are able to physically see acknowledge your negative spending habits, making it easier to break those habits and integrate positive spending habits in your daily routine. It’s like that friend who will text you to hold you accountable to the changes you’re trying to make. The way Cleo speaks in the chat feature is as if I was talking to one of my actual friends so it creates a stress free environment to manage your finances, because we all know money stresses us out sometimes. I haven’t full dived down the rabbit hole with this app but I really recommend trying it for yourself. I have a good feeling about this one!

Developer Response ,

Thanks so much for your feedback! So glad to hear you love working with Cleo :)

I’m still going to try...

I was recommended Cleo by a friend who loves how user friendly it is and how it can roast her, and I thought it would be great for my chronic overspending problem. I downloaded it and immediately starting having problems. First it took awhile to connect my bank account and now here’s two of the same one. Second, when adding my income (which I had to do manually, as I couldn’t choose one of the suggested ones) it was in pounds, not dollars, and it would NEVER save. Third, making my own budget (as the one Cleo suggested was just not gonna work for me) was difficult because it always said I didn’t have enough money to cover my spending. I went in vacation this month and spent a lot of money, but I wasn’t hoping on starting the budget this month. I guess I’ll try again next month and see if I have any luck. Also, when I was trying to identify bills, it was next to impossible as I have multiple iTunes bills and I couldn’t specify which ones update when or choose prices.

Suggestions: Make it easier to view which bank accounts are linked. Fix currency. Have a reset button for the entire app. Make a button when creating a budget on when it should start (like it will start when the next month comes around). Focus more on working on upkeep and not just making it yell at me. Let me manually input prices when it comes to bills.

Right now I’m not very happy with Cleo, but I really want it to work. I will try again next time I get paid so we will see.

Could be better….

I’ve used this app for over a year and it was nice to have the change rounded up and saved. However, with apps like Acorn who invests that for you, there really isn’t a point anymore for this feature. This was mainly the reason why I wanted this app to begin with. Now the app itself is okay to run, it’s not so bad. What makes this 2 star worthy isn’t the app itself but the lack of options. Yea it’s funny to have an app roast your spending habits, sure, but it feels like the app keeps your savings in prison or something. You have to wait “3 business days” which I’m guessing excludes Fridays and the weekends. Meaning that if you place a withdrawal on a Wednesday it claims it won’t be in your account until Tuesday!! If you are reading this and are okay with waiting that long, then this app is not so bad. It has some unique features that could be useful but were not useful for me personally. If someone would have told me that their business days are Monday- Thursday I would be less harsh but it’s frustrating when the money is needed and you have to wait almost a week to get it!!! Not to mention it was supposed to be in my account already but somehow was canceled. It’s frustrating to say the very least. If they were to add an instant payout method then that feature alone would easily make my rating 4 stars. Since that isn’t an option and some glitchy stuff happened with my transfer, they will be getting 2 stars from me.