One Main Trim Review – Chopping Away at Bills
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Trim is an app designed to help you see where your money’s going, help you wrangle your subscriptions and services and even negotiate down your monthly bills.
9/10
Cost
8/10
Ease of Use
9/10
Features
9/10
Add ons
9/10
In a technology-driven world where we can sign up for subscriptions and services with a click or a tap, balancing your budget can feel like an ever-changing task with no solution. Trim, an app designed to help you easily see where your money’s going, can help you wrangle your subscriptions and services — and even negotiate down your monthly bills. And, if you find a service you forgot you were paying for, Trim can cancel it on your behalf.
Sound too good to be true? There are some downsides to using this mobile app or online interface — specifically, the cost of some services. But, if you’re drowning in subscriptions or know you don’t pay as close attention to your budget as you should, Trim might be a welcome ally worth the price tag.
I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about in the Trim review, including how it works, what it offers, and how it stacks up to competitors, so you can decide if this service makes sense for your budget.
In this article
What is Trim?
Trim is an app that analyzes how you spend your money and looks for opportunities to help “trim” your spending. It’s advertised as a digital savings solution because Trim helps you find bills to cut out of your budget and ways to reduce spending and hooks you up with an online savings account.
It can negotiate your monthly bills, such as utilities, phone, and cable bills, and help you identify and cancel unwanted subscriptions and services. This digital software can also help negotiate APR and bank fees—it may even get you some refunds.
The free savings account feature is a great bonus for users and can help simplify saving. While you can earn between 1.5% and 4% APY by paying $2 monthly, the free savings account won’t yield interest.
Use Rocket Money to Cancel Unwanted Subscriptions & Lower Your Bills
- Easily Find & Cancel Unused Subscriptions
- Save Up To $729/Year with Truebill
- 80% Of Users Save Money
- Track Your Spending with Ease
How Trim works
To sign up for Trim online, you’ll need to enter your email address or connect your Facebook or Google account to the budgeting app. From there, it’ll prompt you to link your phone number (for better security) and then connect your bank accounts and other financial institutions so that the app can access all the money going in and out of your account. Trim uses Plaid, a secure third-party app connecting your financial accounts while ensuring your information remains secure. Plaid will also confirm your information via text message for further login security. There’s no cost to sign up.
Once you’re signed up and your bank account is linked, Trim will start identifying services and subscriptions you pay and identify accounts it can negotiate or cancel on your behalf. You’ll see notifications at the top with the best-recommended options for negotiation or cancellation.
If you select negotiate or cancel, Trim will bring you to a new screen, where you’ll enter the provider information and then upload your most recent bill. From there, you can select if you want Trim to negotiate on your behalf (for a fee, which we’ll discuss later). If you select cancel, a popup form will appear, asking you to confirm your account information so Trim can attempt to contact the service provider to cancel the service for you.
In addition to negotiating and canceling services, you’ll receive access to Trim’s simple budget tools, which will help you see how much you’ve spent on different categories.
Click on a specific category to get a better breakdown. For instance, when I clicked on travel, I could see my most recent Uber rides.
You can also filter transactions by the most expensive, by the merchant, and by category to better identify where your money is going.
How much does Trim cost?
Signing up for Trim and using the service to find ways to reduce your monthly spending is free. However, payment will kick in if you want Trim to negotiate a bill or service.
Trim costs by 15% of the amount they save you for the first year to negotiate a bill. Here’s how this breaks down. If Trim negotiates your $100 phone bill to $70, it saves you $30 monthly. Multiply $30 monthly by 12 months to get $360 worth of savings. Trim would bill you $54 (15% x 360). You’d be responsible for paying this amount upfront — not throughout the year when your yearly savings kick in. That’s the main catch.
So, if you want to negotiate several bills, be aware of this upfront. And if Trim cannot negotiate your bill down, you won’t owe the service a penny.
Canceling a service, however, is completely free.
Use Rocket Money to Cancel Unwanted Subscriptions & Lower Your Bills
- Easily Find & Cancel Unused Subscriptions
- Save Up To $729/Year with Truebill
- 80% Of Users Save Money
- Track Your Spending with Ease
Trim features
Spending analysis
If you don’t already have a digital budget app, Trim can offer a pretty basic way to view where your money is going each month. It offers pretty descriptive categories (though sometimes the charges within them are best suited to another category) and lets you filter through different views. You’ll also be able to view your bank balance in real time.
Negotiate bills on your behalf
Its most notable service is identifying and negotiating bills on your behalf. While the analysis tool doesn’t pick up on all opportunities, you can search for them to see if Trim will negotiate for you. It can typically only negotiate cell phone, cable, internet, and utility bills for you — but it can be worth trying to see if you can save.
Cancel subscriptions and memberships
This is one of my favorite features because it’s one of its most helpful free services. Trim lets you see all identified subscriptions and monthly services on one page and then shows you how much you pay and if you can cancel or negotiate.
Canceling is free and takes only a few minutes to complete. It also prevents you from logging in to a bunch of subscriptions on your own.
Free savings account
The free savings account is a great compliment to the suite of other tools, though, without a high-yield APR, it’s pretty unimpressive. It appears legacy Trim users have access to 1.5% to 4% APY, but only if they pay $2 a month. It’s unclear if new users can sign up for a high-yield savings account — I could not replicate this upon signing up, and my savings account does not appear to earn APY. Still, if you need a separate account to store some cash, you might enjoy this feature — but you should look elsewhere to earn interest.
Car insurance comparison
Auto insurance is one of those necessities we tend to pay for and then forget about. Trim can help you find out if you could save money on similar coverage and match you up with companies that might be able to lower your monthly or bi-annual auto insurance bill.
Credit card APR negotiation
One unique feature Trim offers is its credit card APR negotiator. With APRs rising due to inflation and the Fed raising the federal funds rate, this could help you save money on high-interest credit card accounts.
Add rent and utility payments to your credit report
Trim can help you add on-time utility and rent payments to your credit report if you're looking to boost your credit score. Trim partners with LevelCredit to offer this service. Keep in mind that LevelCredit partners with Transunion only, so this boost will only impact your Transunion scores.
Liabilities calculator
Trim offers a free budget feature that I find extremely useful, such as its liabilities calculator. If you’re paying down debt and trying to figure out how much to pay each month or which account to pay down first, this calculator can help you find out how much you’ll pay in interest rates with a certain minimum payment so that you can map out your best route forward.
TrimPay
TrimPay is a feature that allows you to mindlessly move money from your bank account to a TrimPay account that will divert it to your credit cards. It's relatively basic compared to other credit card payment features but may be worth exploring.
Who is Trim best for?
Anyone with multiple monthly subscriptions
Trim is worth looking into if you stream all of your content or tend to sign up for subscriptions and forget about them. It offers a very quick (and free) view into all of your monthly accounts so you can better understand what you’re paying for. From there, you can decide how to proceed—negotiating your bills or canceling unused subscriptions and services.
Anyone looking to cut back
Trim is worth exploring if you’re hoping to get your budget under control but don’t know where to start. Maybe you’ve meant to cancel gym memberships since before the pandemic started, or maybe you signed up for a membership to get a discount — and never canceled it. Trim makes it easy to cancel these services for good or negotiate them to a lower monthly payment.
Anyone looking to pay down debt
While Trim won’t pay down your debt for you, its simple budgeting tools, such as its spending analyzer, can help you better identify where you can scale back to reallocate funds to debt payments. Plus, all of these tools are completely free. That said, Trim also can negotiate high APRs, so if you have credit card debt, this is worth looking into.
Who shouldn’t use Trim?
Those looking for heavyweight financial services
Trim is pretty basic, which is great for most users. However, if you’re looking for more extensive budgeting and savings tools, you might be disappointed in this app. It's extremely bare-bones and may not offer more savings analytics than your bank’s features. It won’t replace a financial coach, a more robust financial planning tool, or other heavy-hitting financial products.
Penny pinchers
If you’re an extreme couponer or someone who loves to save, you might not find Trim all that useful. You likely know where every cent of your income is going and probably already have the best deals on recurring subscription services — if you have any.
Anyone who prefers to control their finances
There’s an argument to be made that you can use Trim to identify subscriptions and then cancel them on your own, effectively gaming the system. But, if you like to be in the driver’s seat of your finances at all times, there’s nothing Trim can offer you that you can’t do on your own by logging into your bank account. Plus, linking your bank information to another service always has its risks.
Use Rocket Money to Cancel Unwanted Subscriptions & Lower Your Bills
- Easily Find & Cancel Unused Subscriptions
- Save Up To $729/Year with Truebill
- 80% Of Users Save Money
- Track Your Spending with Ease
Pros and cons of Trim
Pros
- Simple to use. The sign-up process for Trim took me just a few minutes and the home screen is intuitive and easy to navigate. Its corresponding features are also simple to use. There’s little to no learning curve with the Trim app, even if you’re canceling or negotiating a bill. Even its calculator for understanding credit card interest is simple, albeit manual.
- Upfront bill negotiation costs. Since Trim only charges you a percentage of the money you save, you’re still absolutely saving money with this app. However, if you negotiate several bills at once, you could wind up with an unexpected bill to Trim that you’ll have to pay off right away. Again, you’ll still save more down the road, but only if you can foot a percentage of the bill first.
- Mindless savings opportunities. You don’t have to wonder how much you could save by cutting this subscription or this service out of your life. Trim brings all of this to the forefront and allows you to calculate your savings right away. Negotiating takes just a few minutes, as does cancellation. Combine this with its savings account and other savings tools — car insurance comparison feature, APR negotiator, and bank fees refunder (for late fees and overdraft fees) and negotiator — and you’ll find you can save money by just making a few clicks.
Cons
- You’ll pay for services you can do on your own. While Trim is easy to use and certainly convenient, it’s worth noting that there’s nothing this service does that you can’t do on your own. Paying 15% for convenience if Trim saves you money may be reasonable for most, but if you’re on a tight budget and cutting down, you don’t need Trim.
- Debt repayment tools. While its budgeting tools are simple but nice to have, its debt repayment calculator (liabilities tool) is one of its best features. It offers an easy way to find out what you should prioritize first on your debt repayment journey. While it’s simple — you can only add info for one account at a time — it’s still a perk I wasn’t expecting to snag for free.
- The savings account and tools are lackluster. If you already have Trim, you may earn APY on your savings — and good for you! But if you’re a new member, I don’t recommend using this account often. While it can make savings mindless, nearly every online savings account can do this while also earning you interest. With inflation at an all-time high, every penny counts. Find a better high-yield savings account, CD, money market account, or heck, buy an I bond. Its budgeting and savings features are also nice to have, but you can get much better free tools through Rocket Money. It only offers a snapshot of your bank account and doesn’t allow you to view investments, credit cards, and other bill payments. But, this won’t be a deal-breaker for most users.
Trim vs. competitors
Company | Monthly Cost | Cancellation Fee | Negotiation Fee | Savings Account Option |
Trim | No | Free | 15% of savings, upfront | Yes |
Rocket Money | Free account; $6 - $12 for premium | Free, but required premium account | 35%-60% of savings, upfront | Yes |
DebtPayoff Planner | Free-$2 per month | Not offered | Not offered | Not offered |
Free to download
All three options, Trim, Rocket Money, and Debt Payoff Planner, offer free account options so you can explore features and download the app without committing to yet another monthly subscription service.
Monthly cost
Trim has no monthly cost — it only charges you when it successfully negotiates a debt. Rocket Money can operate the same way with a free account but charges you 35% to 60% over Trim’s 15% when negotiating down a debt successfully. Rocket Money has a premium service level with debt cancellation services, payday advances, smart savings features, custom budgets, and unlimited chat access. So, while it’s a steeper price, you’ll get more value.
Debt Payoff Planner is designed to help you pay off your debt by calculating the best repayment strategies. It cannot cancel bills or subscriptions on your behalf and will not negotiate bills for you.
Subscription cancellation fee
Trim will cancel services for free — but not all can be canceled over Trim. Rocket Money requires a premium membership to cancel services.
Debt Payoff Planner does not offer this feature.
Bill negotiation services fee
Trim charges 15% upfront of the savings it earns when successfully negotiating a debt. Rocket Money charges 35% to 60% of this savings.
Debt Payoff Planner does not offer this feature.
Savings account option
Trim offers a free, simple savings account for all members. Rocket Money offers a savings account with simple rules to help you mindlessly save if you’re a Premium, paid member. That said, neither account is particularly stellar — you’re better off looking at a high-yield savings account that can earn you a little bit in interest. Debt Payoff Planner does not offer this feature.
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FAQs
How does Trim cancel subscriptions?
If you identify a subscription to cancel, Trim will require you to provide more information regarding your account so that it can cancel on your behalf. You’ll provide data via a pop up form and Trim will do the rest.
What’s better, TrueBill or Trim?
Both services offer generally the same features. While Trim is more geared towards those looking for basic savings and cancellation services — and as a result is free unless you negotiate a bill — TrueBill’s services are more comprehensive, and thus offer a paid, premium membership option. Which one will work best for you will depend entirely on your financial goals, needs, and preferences.
What is Trim premium?
This legacy service in no longer available to new members, but may provide additional personal finance services and offer premium features to existing legacy members.
How long does Trim take to negotiate?
If Trim is able to negotiate a bill, you’ll find out as soon as its successful, but savings from these bills may not show up for one to two billing cycles. The time it takes to negotiate a bill can vary, though some experience negotiations within their first month of requesting one.
Is Trim safe?
Trim uses 256-bit SSL encryption and two-factor authentication to protect your sensitive financial data. It also employs Plaid, a financial data encryption services, to link bank information, which also uses 256-bit SSL encryption and two factor authentication.
Is Trim free?
Most of Trim’s features are free and there is no monthly account fee. You can view subscriptions and services, manage your budget, cancel bills, use the auto comparison feature, utilize the add liabilities calculator, view your credit score, add utility and rent payments, gain access to a Trim simple savings account, and negotiate APR and bank fee for free. Negotiating bills will cost you 15% of the amount Trim saves you upfront.
The bottom line
Trim makes it easy to see all your subscriptions and services in one spot — a free feature that might be worth signing up for. It also lets you cancel services quickly and for free and offers a budget analyzer that helps you see where your money is being spent. You’ll pay a 15% fee if Trim can negotiate a bill for you — and you’ll owe this money upfront for your annual savings. But it’s a small price if you don’t have the time to negotiate on your own.
That said, Trim’s features are basic compared to competitors like Rocket Money, which allow you to see your whole financial landscape, like credit cards and investments, while offering more premium features for an added cost. And, if you’re just looking to lower bills, Trim does nothing you couldn’t do by calling a provider yourself.
With Trim, you pay for convenience and may save some money along the way. Since there’s no monthly fee, signing up, exploring, and deciding for yourself could be worthwhile.
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Writer
Courtney Johnston is a freelance writer, specializing in finance, travel, and health. She has written for The Chicago Tribune, Benzinga, BestReviews, Mashvisor, Fundera, MoneyGeek, and The Culture Trip. She also teaches writing instruction at the University of Indianapolis. Courtney currently resides in Indianapolis.
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