What Happened to Mint? The App Shutdown and Your Next Steps

Mint, a widely used personal finance application, has been discontinued. Millions of users relied on Mint for tracking their spending, managing budgets, and gaining insights into their financial health. This article details the reasons behind Mint’s shutdown, its succession by Credit Karma, and the actions former users needed to take.

The End of Mint’s Service

Mint officially ceased operations as a standalone service on March 23, 2024. Intuit, Mint’s parent company, began prompting existing users to transition their accounts to Credit Karma in late 2023. While an initial shutdown date was set for January 1, 2024, users had until March 23, 2024, to migrate or download their data. After this date, direct access to Mint accounts became unavailable.

Reasons for the Transition

Intuit’s decision to discontinue Mint was a strategic move aimed at consolidating its personal finance offerings and focusing resources on Credit Karma. Acquired by Intuit in 2009, Mint’s business model, primarily reliant on advertisements and referrals, was reportedly not as financially viable as other Intuit products. Intuit aimed to streamline its product portfolio and integrate Mint’s money management expertise into Credit Karma’s existing platform.

Credit Karma as the Successor

Credit Karma has been positioned as the successor platform for former Mint users, integrating several of Mint’s popular features. This includes the ability to review transactions, monitor spending, and track net worth. Credit Karma’s new Net Worth tool allows users to view and track their assets and liabilities in one place, providing a comprehensive financial overview. It also offers cash flow analysis and aims to help users manage bills by tracking upcoming payments and providing reminders. While Credit Karma offers these financial tracking features, it has a stronger emphasis on credit monitoring and personalized financial product recommendations, such as credit cards or loans.

Steps for Existing Mint Users

Existing Mint users were advised to take several actions during the transition period. A primary step involved migrating their financial data to Credit Karma, which allowed for the transfer of account balances, historical net worth, and up to three years of transaction history. However, the migration process did not transfer budgeting features, which were a core part of Mint’s functionality.

Users who chose not to migrate, or who desired a more complete record, were strongly encouraged to download their historical data directly from Mint’s website as CSV files. Users could also download a more complete set of data, including budgets, from Intuit’s Data Privacy page. For those seeking alternatives, various personal finance tools are available that offer budgeting, net worth tracking, and investment tracking capabilities.