Qube Money: Envelope Budgeting 4+

I’m an ex-Simple ex-One customer that came to Qube looking for the same sort of banking + budgeting features I’d grown dependent on. I tried the new One, Sofi, Envel, and Qube. Of the four, Qube stands out as the best replacement for the “pocket” system. Sofi still wins on banking features but there’s so many that it can feel overwhelming. Things I wish Qube had: connections to mint or other external tracking tools and/or charts to compare last month to this month or this month to previous averages (equivalent to Mint or Sofi), and of course the elephant in the room, interest. That’s right. There is no interest in this bank. You actually have to pay them for more features. This is insane, and until it changes i’ll never keep my savings/goals in Qube, BUT for reoccurring bills and weekly budgets that are always hitting zero anyway it’s basically perfect. There’s been some great improvements to the app in 2023 and I’ve started recommending it to friends and family for some of their budget keeping too.

My husband and I have tried to budget many times in our 20 years of marriage and we end up quitting every time because we don’t have the time. The systems we have tried were a lot of work. We would always fall behind with tracking transactions. Covid 19 has been tough, so we were looking for a budgeting tool. Digital cash envelope banking caught our attention, so we signed up to be beta users. We were lucky to be one of the first groups to join beta. What makes Qube Money work so well is Qube is both our bank and our budget, so we literally spend money from our budget. We see in real-time how our spending choices aligns with our plan. We are seriously winning with our money. In less than 5 minutes per month, we feel organized and in control of our money. The automatic tracking is unbelievable! We are making progress to our goals much quicker than we have in the past. We can’t wait for companion cards. In the mean time we are both logging into Qube with the same credentials and using ApplePay. Qube Money is developing the banking system we have always wanted. When you download the app make sure you join the Facebook group. The Qube team is awesome. They listen. They are adding new features and improving the interface. I have heard that they have plans to add high yield savings, teen/kid cards, automatic debt elimination... Sorry, I am rambling. I am just so excited about this!

I used to check the bank account several times a day because we were so stressed about money. We live on a budget, and I was always worried that the electric bill money would be spent on eating out, or something like that. We would spend way too much on eating out or something, and only realize the extent of the damage at the end of the month when we held a family budget meeting. We tried cash envelopes and liked the knowledge that things were covered, but cash was cumbersome, not accepted everywhere, and we had to remember to go to the bank right at the start of the month. This is the best of both worlds. You have the cash envelope mentality and peace of mind, but in the digital age. Since we’ve started using Qube, we have not gone over budget once. In fact, we’ve underspent! Our savings account is growing steadily, and our money stress is almost non-existent. It does take a sec to open the app and the Qube, but you can do that while standing in line at the store. In fact, I prefer it that way because I know my money is always on lockdown. If I do t have a Qube open, nothing is getting through. No more calls from the bank about hackers and fraudulent purchases! Each time you open the app, you see the real-time balance available, and that keeps you in line. Thank you, Qube!