ARTIFICIAL intelligence for most people conjures up images from sci-fi movies – but it can help you to save money.
Websites and apps can arrange your finances for you at the click of a button, saving you more than £6,000 per year.
Forget A.I. that leads to robots taking over the world – and think of new, friendlier versions such as Chip and Look After My Bills.
SPONTANEOUS SAVING
STRUGGLING to save? Get an app to transfer your spare cash into a savings account and watch how it mounts up. Some banks offer this service, like Lloyds’ Save The Change tool, which rounds up the amount you spend on your debit card to the nearest pound and transfers the difference to a savings account.
There are also specialist apps, which take a more detailed look at your account to work out how much you can afford to spare. Chip, for example, examines your spending and income, calculates what you are able to save every few days, and moves it into a savings account.
Its makers claim the average user puts aside £1,800 a year without even noticing. Fees for the service are £1.50 every 28 days, or around £20 a year.
ANNUAL SAVING: £1,780
REGULAR REWARDS
IF you’re always forgetting to shop with your loyalty cards, try Stocard. The app lets you add the main ones — Tesco, Nectar, Ikea, Superdrug, Boots, Costa, M&S — so you don’t need to carry the physical cards around.
In shops you just open up the digital version of the card in the app at the checkout. Your points then get added. Last year Stocard says it saved users around £28, based on £60.8million being collected in loyalty points by its 2.2million users.
ANNUAL SAVING: £28