Digit review – an update

Back in November of 2016, I wrote a review on a money saving app that I had been using at the time for a few months, Digit. Over the last year and a half, I’ve gotten a handful of requests for an update, most asking ‘are you still using the app?’ and ‘do you still love it?’ Short answer to both questions – HECK YES. It’s been an invaluable service to me, one I think more people should know about! So, I’m back today with some more of my thoughts on Digit.

First, let’s start with what Digit is…

Digit is a money saving app. It’s very, very straightforward and takes no time at all to set up. You simply connect Digit to your bank account, it checks your spending habits and if you can afford it, takes a little bit out of your account to save. How often they save depends on your “unique financial situation” but the average is 2-3 times per week. The amount also varies. Their FAQ says the average is $10-30 which from my experience sounds about right. Although there have definitely been times it’s taken as little as fourteen cents! Every penny counts.

There isn’t much to do or see in the app, other than how much you’ve saved but what else do you need? If you feel it’s taking too much money from your account you can type “save less” or if you’d like it to take more type “save more”. You never have to worry about Digit taking more than you can afford though since they analyze your spending to see what you can afford to save. They even have a no-overdraft guarantee! They’ve never transferred more than they should have from me. Toward the end of each month, when my bills are due Digit lets me know it won’t be saving much because I “have some expenses coming up”.

Digit is free to use for the first 30 days, after that its $2.99 a month. I’ve been using them since before this price was implemented so when they sent out the “hey, we’re gonna start charging” email I was definitely disappointed. I considered deleting my account but it’s undoubtedly worth the subscription cost!

When you save for three consecutive months Digit will automatically reward you with a 1% annualized savings bonus. It’s not a ton (unless of course, you’re saving a ton) but free money is free money!

I’ve saved… A LOT.

In the nearly two years I’ve been using Digit I’ve saved thousands of dollars. Not exaggerating here. Money that I know for a fact I would have just spent on stupid odds and ends at Target had it not been out of my bank account. Money I definitely wouldn’t have saved otherwise! I am not great at saving my own money. I have a savings account which I add to but it’s just too easy to transfer that money right back into checking. Although transferring money back into my account from Digit is super easy and only takes one day, the seperation is enough to make me reconsider any unnecessary purchasing.

Something I think that’s really neat is you can set up ‘goals’ in the app. So instead of all the money it saves you being shown as one total, you can make separate savings goals. For instance, I have the one it sets up automatically ‘rainy day’ as well as ‘honeymoon’, ‘roadtrip’, ‘taxes’, and ‘oh crap’. It saves separate amounts for each of those goals which really helps me see what I have and act accordingly. Instead of being tempted to take out all of my savings in Digit when we go on a roadtrip I know that I have X amount of dollars that I have set aside specifically for this while not cutting into money I need to be saving for my quarterly tax estimates.

So, what do I use Digit for?

Obviously, I use it to save money but I have a few examples of times it really came in handy. My earlobe reconstruction? It wasn’t cheap but I had saved the money in Digit so I was able to do it without stressin’. My car needed a fairly costly repair a while back, I just pulled the money from Digit! I was even able to buy a wedding dress and book the florist with money I had saved in Digit.

Completely against spending money to save money?

I have yet to find another I like as much as I like Digit but similar apps are out there. I also use Qapital. (If you use that link – we both get $5!) It’s very, very similar except it’s free!

One really neat thing you can do with it is share a ‘goal’ with someone. Say you and a friend are taking a trip together, you can both save toward a joint goal. You’ll be able to see the progress each person makes but the money saved will only go back to the person who saved it. Another fun little trick is to set triggers to save. There are tons of different things you can set up for this but a few that I have set up are; it rounds up $2 on every purchase I make to save toward one of my goals, and it saves $5 every day that I walk more than 10,000 steps. I also have it running the 52-week saving trick. It saves $1 the first week of the year, $2 the second, $3 the third, and so on.

2019 update – Qapital now charges a service fee of $3 per month for their basic plan. Worth it? ABSOLUTELY. I can’t stress enough how essential apps like this are to me. Without them, I probably wouldn’t have any savings. In the case of apps that help me save, having two is definitely better than one!

I also use Stash. I wrote a little bit about it in this post. Check it out if you’d like to start investing but don’t really know where to start.

Final thoughts.

If I had to choose my top five apps on my phone, Digit would easily make the cut! If you’ve ever wished you were better at saving money or wondered how to easily save for a trip/that camera/those shoes – this is the app for you! Other than the $2.99 subscription price (which like I said – is totally worth it) I can’t think of a single downside! I highly, highly recommend giving it a whirl! I mean, who wouldn’t benefit from saving a bit more!?
xoxo