
Show HN: Tired of reading NerdWallet to see the best credit card? I automated it - saurabhsharan
https://savewithtrove.com/
======
misterbwong
As an avid miles & points enthusiast, this does sound like an interesting tool
to make CC rewards easier to digest.

Couple questions/concerns:

1\. BIG red flag: You sidestep the monetization question in your FAQ.
Monetization in this space is generally some combination of: spending data
repackaging/selling, card affiliate links, subscriptions (least likely?). You
should be up front as each one of these methods has privacy and or agency
concerns.

2\. You should help the user understand what they are getting into when
signing up for credit cards. CC rewards to save money is a great thing but not
when the user doesn't understand the consequences of doing so and the overhead
of management (e.g. lowering scores while you're prepping for a refi would
cost you $$$$).

3\. The site generally needs more information. If I'm going to trust a site
with read access to _everything I buy every day_ , I need to trust you.

4\. Doesn't look your tool takes into account issuer limits on card signups or
current portfolio? Could cause issues where you are recommending cards but the
user is unable to sign up due some issuer constraint

5\. Is googling NerdWallet really the pain point you're addressing?

~~~
saurabhsharan
1\. Right now, we're not monetizing this at all. The current plan (which we
haven't implemented yet) is card affiliate revenue. I can definitively rule
out repackaging/selling spending data - we would never do that. Subscriptions
would likely be the next best option if affiliate deals don't pan out.

2\. Great idea!

3\. Totally understand - we know it's a big ask to request your transaction
history. Out of curiosity, what information could we provide would help you
trust us more?

4\. We do not.

5\. Yes, this is the pain point we've heard repeatedly from our users. Since
you mention you are a "miles & points enthusiast", I can see why the value
prop of Trove might not be as compelling. Our goal is to help people get most
of the same rewards as a credit card enthusiast would, without having to
become an expert on this stuff.

~~~
misterbwong
1\. Cool-that would be a good thing to put on your site somewhere. Since
you're thinking affiliate fees, how you will avoid the agency problem? e.g. A
ton of businesses push the premium cards (Amex Plat, CSR, etc) with high
commissions but almost no one pushes cards that have small affiliate fees but
that would generally be great for the majority of people. Think Citi Double
Cash and the various limited 3x cards.

3\. Personally, a blurb about your data deletion policy, putting it in your
TOS that you will never sell transaction history/personally identifying info,
and making Plaid (or VISA) more front and center moves the needle. I trust
Plaid more than I trust some random entity with "bank level encryption." Not
sure if I'm the right one to ask about this one as I'm not your target.

5\. Cool. Didn't realize CC signup decisions were weighed so heavily by
people. IME people just generally went with the marketing (think store cards
and/or cards with big marketing budgets like Cap1). Maybe I'm desensitized
after doing this stuff for so long.....

~~~
saurabhsharan
1\. There isn't an easy answer for this, and I think part of it will be slowly
building up a reputation as a trustworthy brand. The other part is improving
our UI to be much more transparent about why we made certain recommendations
and adding ways for users to customize what type of recommendations they see.
(These are all features we're working on.)

3\. Yup, making Plaid more visible is a great idea!

------
coderobe
If the "Get Started" button - the first thing you see on the website without
scrolling - does nothing but yield a white page that asks for an email
address, you're alienating a lot of interested users.

~~~
xkcd-sucks
It doesn't verify the email address -- jeff@amazon.com wants another credit
card -- But then the next step is mandatory linking of bank accounts! Yuck...

Also, how is "We never see, store, or use your credit card information at any
time" consistent with "We analyze your spending"?

~~~
gukov
Plaid does all the storing.

~~~
saurabhsharan
To clarify, we do get access to your credit card transaction history. We do
_not_ get access at all to your bank username/password, credit card number,
etc. - that's the part that Plaid handles.

------
BrandoElFollito
This is an interesting game, but we do not have credit cards in France,
unfortunately.

Only debit cards (usually deferred, immediate for children). Some you still
need to pay for, most free. But you get nothing in return (except for shop
issued ones which bring some fidelity points but nothing substantial)

------
Graphguy
Bank Level Security != "256-bit SSL encryption and read-only access."

~~~
ProAm
At least it doesnt say "Military Grade Encryption" like every other site on
the planet.

~~~
100721
From the stories I've read, military grade encryption is a flat file structure
on a USB drive.

------
Zaheer
For most people with >$100k across investment & savings accounts Bank of
America Premium Rewards card is hard to beat. 2.62 Cashback on _everything_.

~~~
axaxs
If you only want 1 card, sure. But why not have many? I have one that does 4x
on restaurants and groceries, one the same on hotel/airfare, one 3 or 4x on
utilities, etc, all of which beat 2.6. Especially since 2 of the mentioned
above cash out at 1.25, effectively making them 5%.

------
elektor
Feedback: I registered, connected 1 card via Plaid and am now getting a 500
Internal Server Error.

~~~
saurabhsharan
Thanks for trying us out. Could you please email us at hello@savewithtrove.com
from the email you signed up with?

------
codingdave
This is great marketing for NerdWallet.

When someone is so adamant about being better than one specific competitor,
that typically means the competitor they mention so often must have something
good going for it.

I'd recommend stopping mentioning them, and just state what problem you are
solving.

------
eeks
@saurabhsharan Signed up; my account page is blank and I am not getting any
result. I am not getting any way to unlink my accounts or check what is being
done with my information. Seems a little fishy so far.

~~~
saurabhsharan
Unfortunately we unexpectedly hit our API limit for Plaid (the service we use
to handle bank logins), but hope to be back up soon. Feel free to email us at
hello@savewithtrove.com from the email you used to sign up and we'll delete
your account right away.

------
bilbopotter
This is great! But how do you get away with giving general credit advice
without a license!? Have you confirmed you don't need one as I'd be very
surprised?

~~~
lgats
I don't believe there's any 'authorized credit advisor' license anywhere in
the United States. A state-level Fiduciary license would probably be the
closest thing.

~~~
dondysafasdf
Putting aside the name of the specific licence, don't you need a licence to
carry out this kind of service?

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irontinkerer
So now I need to register an account to see it? That seems like a bigger
hurdle.

Nice landing page though!

~~~
saurabhsharan
Thanks, we put a lot of work into the landing page :)

The account registration is just so you can see your results again later. We
appreciate the feedback though, in the future we may have a way to use this
without having to enter in your email.

------
m4sk3d
No access to Canadian banks that are supported by Plaid ? What's up with that
?

------
unixhero
Amex is always best, done.

~~~
burgerzzz
If you can reconcile the benefits with the (large on some) annual fees,
perhaps.

~~~
unixhero
Yup. I pay USD380 yearly fee.

Cashback with frequent flier miles allows me to take my girlfriend and me on
trips around the entire world on business class. Paying only for Airport
taxes.

That leaves me with the following costs: Yearly fee USD380 Airport taxes 2 pax
USD600

Total USD980

For these 980 dollars I get air tickets that retail at USD9000.

Conclusion: Amex is great for when you have a structural demand to use
whatever the cashback on offer is as good as this.

Of course it also has insurance and concierge service, but I never use
neither.

