Wesabe

What we liked:
The site shares your information anonymously with others and acts as a financial social network, letting fellow users comment on your spending habits. The idea is that they give you advice on how best to save cash.

Signing up for Wesabe is so easy you’ll be up and running in minutes. To get started, you just need to add your bank accounts (all UK banks are supported). The website shows you how to import your account details (which, for security purposes, are encrypted and stripped of personal identifiers), and recognises a host of financial-data file types.

Wesabe offers excellent tools for managing your money. You can set up goals, such as paying off your credit card or buying a home, and find like-minded souls to help motivate you to achieve them. The discussion groups are packed with cash-saving ideas and tips for bagging online bargains.

Wesabe is both versatile and powerful. You can set spending targets, monitor your account on a mobile and download a Vista gadget for instant account access. The user-friendly interface makes navigation easy and you can download your data in seven different formats.

How it can be improved:
Because most of its users are currently American, there is a US bias to Wesabe’s blogs and recommendations. The FAQs, which often just point to the forums for more help, could also be better.

Our verdict:
Wesabe is a free and very friendly service – it even provides the telephone number of its CEO and invites you to call him – which offers a wealth of fantastic features for managing your finances.

Reviewed: Issue 203 (18 December 2008)