Today in the Connected Economy: Discover Offers Customers New Privacy Tool

Today in the connected economy, Discover gives its customers help getting their information off data collection websites, while Lyft offers to assist riders who need help getting to and from their vehicles.

Also, BNPL firm Nelo unveils an all-in-one app, and open data and payments platform Moneyhub teams up with financial technology platform Wyzr to advance automated financial planning in for customers in the U.K.

Discover Launches Customer Data Privacy Tool

Discover has debuted Online Privacy Protection, a free service for customers to help them scrub their information from 10 popular data collection websites.

The company said in a news release that the benefit applies to both Discover’s credit card and banking customers and is available only through its mobile app.

“Consumers today worry about their personal data ending up in the wrong hands. The process to get this information taken down from people-search websites can be time-consuming, confusing, and costly, and consumers are often left to fend for themselves,” said Shannon Kors, vice president of product and marketing at Discover. “Online Privacy Protection is a convenient and free benefit that helps give our customers peace of mind and more control of their personal information online.”

With New Lyft Assisted, Drivers Will Help Riders From Door to Vehicle

Lyft Healthcare has launched Lyft Assisted, which the company describes as a service “for riders who want a little extra help.”

According to Lyft, “riders will have a few extra minutes to connect with their drivers, helping to reduce missed connections and enhance the rider experience.” In addition, drivers who are picking up a passenger will “park the car and meet the rider at the front door of the home or facility,” the company said.

Lyft said drivers will offer “light assistance” to riders, which includes services such as “providing an arm, elbow, or hand for assisting with stability, opening and closing doors, and storing light personal belongings.”

BNPL Service Nelo Launches All-In-One App

Mexico City-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) service Nelo has unveiled an all-in-one app.

“Nelo’s customers can now use Nelo at any online merchant, through a partnership with Mastercard,” the company said in a news release. “Nelo’s app is the first of its kind in the region, where customers can shop and pay in installments at their favorite stores like Mercado Libre, Amazon, and Liverpool.”

Moneyhub, Wyzr Partner on Automated Financial Planning

Open data and payments platform Moneyhub and financial technology platform Wyzr are working together to promote automated financial planning in the U.K.

When the program begins this month, Moneyhub’s open banking technology, coupled with Wyzr’s artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, will power the Wyzr platform, which lets consumers analyze spending to save for the future.

Wyzr users will use data from Moneyhub application programming interfaces (APIs) to get a complete vision of their finances.

LoanPaymentPro’s Strategic Partnership With Accelitas Combines Fast Account Validation and Payment Solutions

LoanPaymentPro and Accelitas have joined forces to offer customers faster account validation and payment processing.

The companies say their integrated offerings will help clients deal with rising customer demand for digital transactions, threat of fraud and increasingly stringent compliance requirements.

LoanPaymentPro provides payment and funding products for customers in the consumer finance and debt-repayment sectors. Accelitas employs artificial intelligence to conduct predictive analytics for account validation and generating credit scores.

Wealth Management Service Envestnet Partners With Door

Wealth management technology company Envestnet is collaborating with risk management platform Door to streamline and optimize its research on asset managers and their strategies.

“Historically, research analysts have used the same common information from investment managers during the due diligence process, with information typically gathered using Microsoft Word and Excel documents exchanged over email,” the companies said in a news release.