Betterment Debuts Cash Goals Feature To Help Users Save

To assist its banking users in putting aside funds for set aims, Betterment is rolling out a new Betterment Cash Goals feature. Users can see all of their funds in a single location and save with intention by making distinct buckets for financial goals over the short or long haul through the functionality, according to the financial services company.

Betterment said Americans are already stepping up their savings amid COVID-19. Thirty-three percent of those polled in a recent Betterment survey began to form an emergency fund as of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. Moreover, the company said 40 percent of respondents dedicated the money from their stimulus checks to savings as of June.

The launch of the Cash Goals function follows the company’s rollout of checking in April, which comes with features such as a tap-to-pay enabled debit card, no overdraft fees, no minimum balance needed and reimbursed ATM charges.

Betterment offers automated investing portfolios, as well as financial advice, to its clients. While it seeks to bolster its use of automation across all of its client communication channels, PYMNTS previously reported that it doesn’t want to lose the team of people behind the company’s automation.

As of early last year, Betterment has three customer service channels that include mobile messaging through its app, email and phones. The kind of questions clients have impacts which channel they utilize. More administrative questions originate through email and messaging. More complicated inquires, however, come through the phone.

But Betterment’s customers are becoming more comfortable utilizing automated technology, and a large proportion of them regularly interacted with its mobile app as of early last year. The firm started to bring automated functions into its customer service channels in existence, while led to more users opting to make payments or send funds via digital tools in lieu of placing a phone call to the company.