SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Varo Money, Inc., a digital banking app for ambitious, responsible millennials who are hands-off with their money, today announced a significant expansion to its digital banking app: Varo Forecast, a tool to help customers understand their real cash flow situation and calibrate their spending. Varo has also expanded its core product offering to include mobile check deposit, personal loans, and Varo Savings, a savings account that pays 25x more interest than a standard 0.01% interest rate on savings accounts. Like Varo’s deposit bank account, the savings account is provided by their sponsor bank, The Bancorp Bank.
John Vars, Chief Product Officer at Varo, explained that: “The Varo Forecast is a critical step in the ‘financial health lifecycle,’ which helps Varo customers plan better, spend more wisely, save more, and make better choices aligned with their goals. Our highest priority is to improve our customers’ financial situations and, ultimately, their quality of life. The new Varo Forecast and Varo Savings products help address two critical elements of that journey: managing cash flow and building savings.”
A ‘one-stop-shop’ for diagnosing your financial situation
While other financial management products on the market rely solely upon historical trends to provide a backward-looking picture of spending, the Varo Forecast algorithm is predictive and personalized. The Varo Forecast is designed to provide insight to help answer those basic financial questions quickly, ‘such as how much money can I spend this month?’ and ‘am I on track to meet my goals’ that most competitors don’t get right.
It’s also incredibly easy to set-up: the Varo Forecast onboarding process makes it simple to get started by automatically identifying the aspects of customer finances that are the most important—income, bills, and rent or mortgage—in order to ensure that customers spend less than they earn and are able to cover their bills each month.
In brief, based on the information from the accounts the customer has linked, Varo Forecast provides customers with:
- An overview of current balances
- A 30-day view of cash flow
- Income and upcoming bill predictions
- Recommended actions to manage financial health
“I would like to thank [the Varo] team for this feature. It really unveiled things that I never thought about, such as the expected bills. I really love Varo.” — Hassan, Varo Customer
Here to help you reach a meaningful amount of savings
In addition to Varo Forecast, Varo is expanding its core offerings to include Varo Savings—earlier than planned to accommodate customer demand. Varo Savings will pay an interest rate of 0.25% Annual Percentage Yield (APY)—a much higher rate than what is available today with most savings accounts—so customers can reach a meaningful amount of savings in a way that feels ‘do-able.’
Varo Savings is available now and the company is listening to its customers’ ideas to create a truly differentiated product that will help customers along their personalized savings journey.
Manage debt smartly
The third part of Varo’s mission to improve customers’ financial lives is helping them learn to manage debt and credit responsibly, with borrowing options that fit their needs and are a good match for their credit profile. Varo is launching Personal Loans, in addition to its existing Backup Line (a flexible credit option), as a tool to help eligible customers consolidate high-interest debt with a more manageable, structured loan option. Varo Personal Loans are offered in 3 or 5 year terms, pre-screened, and only available to Varo customers, and offered only in certain states.
About Varo Money
Varo Money, Inc. (“Varo”), is a digital banking app for the millions of ambitious, responsible millennials who are hands-off with their money and want a bank that’s going to work for them. Varo is building a mobile banking experience that helps customers cover their expenses, pay their bills, and build their wealth over time—so they can stop worrying about money and go live their lives. Unlike traditional banks or other fintech apps, Varo is building an all-in-one solution with frictionless, integrated, and automated deposit, budgeting, savings, and lending products that help customers bank with ease and achieve better financial outcomes. There’s no reason for a bank branch on every corner anymore when all customers need is a smartphone to meet their banking needs. Based in San Francisco and privately held, Varo has raised $34M with an early funding round led by Warburg Pincus in May of 2016, one of the largest-ever for an early-stage financial technology company. Bank accounts for Varo Money are provided by The Bancorp Bank and deposits are FDIC insured up to $250,000 through The Bancorp Bank. For more information, please visit www.varomoney.com and follow us on Twitter @varomoney.
