 |
DESCRIPTION
Debtinator handles all of the details for you. You tell it your income. You tell it your expenses. You tell it your debts, and everything about them. And Debtinator tells you how to re-structure your money and pay them off as fast as possible. The savings can be huge. Let's say you earn $52,000/year, and have a few expenses (rent, gas, food). And you have a credit card with a $5,000 balance, a 15% interest rate, and a required monthly payment of $200.
Pay only the minimum, and you'll be paying it off for the next 2 1/2 years and spend $862.07 in interest! Or, you can punch it all into Debtinator, pay the thing off in 3 months, and only spend $92.32. You just saved $769.75! That $15.00 registration fee is looking better all the time, isn't it?
Debtinator doesn't judge, it doesn't care about your lifestyle, it doesn't tell you where to put your money. A lot of debt repayment
schemes want you to make sacrifices. "If you just spend $25 less per month on dinner, you'll save thousands in interest!" Sure, that's
awesome! If you want to do that, please do. It will definitely help.
But Debtinator doesn't require you to do that. All it cares about is how much money you have coming in, and how much money you have
going out. You tell it where you want it to go, and then Debtinator takes care of it for you. Then, once your bills are paid, it re-shuffles
all the excess money you have and uses that to pay down your bills.
Say your monthly income is $2,500. Rent is $500. You budget $300 for food. Household expenses (electricity, water, gas) are another $200.
Car expenses (maintenance, gas) are another $150. Entertainment (movies, clothes, dinner) is another $100. And that credit card up there
has a $200/month minimum. That's $1,450 you need to get by (including fun things!). But you're bringing in $2,500, so you have $1,050 unaccounted
for.
It's amazing how quick that extra money can disappear. Go out to eat a few more times, buy a few more DVDs, and it's gone. Yeah, even that
extra $1,050 that you don't need. You probably didn't even notice you had it or when it's gone. That's bad. Debtinator keeps track of it for
you. It uses that extra money and re-allocates it as desired to pay down your debts lickety split.
WHAT'S NEW
Version 3.1.1:
- Changing a transaction's date now changes its related dates as well
- Improved handling of naming and ordering new items
- Improved undo support
- Added optimizations to the reporting engine
- The ledger table now properly stores column information
- The ledger now remembers the last selected budget
- The payment plan can now filter on events that are past due
- The tables in the complex debt view are now resizable
- Numerous important bug fixes and stability improvements
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
| SCREENSHOT
|
|
 |
|  |
 | |  |
| Debtinator User Reviews (17 posts) | Write A Review |
 | May 4 2009 |
GREGM I finally feel comfortable removing Debt_Minder from my mac (yes, it was still running on Leopard) It does the job the way I want. The docs are in the help file. DM docs were on line *only* until the developer lost interest. I did find one minor "oops" in the docs, which I will notify the developer of.
(Version 3.0) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Oct 12 2008 |
JOI This program looks like a real winner. I just simply wish it had video on its website similar to MoneyWell http://nothirst.com/moneywell/ which shows you exactly how to use the program.
(Version 2.6.2) | |
| [ 2 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
 | Dec 6 2008 |
ALEX B It only gets better, but I really wish it had some mac-like icons. For god sake, find some replacements. It makes the app look so dated. I tried to make some myself for you, but they didn't come out well. I also think the Debts, Income, and Expenses tabs should be updated to match the Accounts, Transfers, and Reports tabs. The same thing can be accomplished in a much cleaner interface than what is there now.
(Version 2.6.5) | |
 | May 6 2009 |
JIM_T_3 I finally actually did get off of my butt and add in a pretty long and involved introduction/tutorial to the application. It shows off most of the features, how to do many things, and demonstrates the utility.
(Version 3.0) | |
| Sep 30 2008 |
FROOBLOOP While still busy figuring this app out after having bought it after only a few minutes, it seems very cleverly and expertly done. That said, the one thing that worries me most as an international user is that it is very hard to figure out if your not perfectly fluent in banking English. There are no language localisations whatsoever. I had a little issue with Debtinator, and the developer got to it within seconds. The problem was solved within minutes in a small software update. This is crazy. So, big props out to this awesome developer. I also kind of like its documentation which was nicely written and quite easy to understand. A more detailed walk-through would be an appropriate complement to this application, though. It's not very expensive, that's true, but it's got lots of power sleeping under the hood. It would be a waste if I should have to leave it sleeping there just because I didn't get all the details.
(Version 2.6) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Aug 24 2008 |
TCN33 Downloaded this app and bought it after only ten minutes of testing. Initially had some odd results in reports, but a quick email to the developer resulted in a fix within hours. This app is going to save me $17,000 so it's well worth the $15 purchase price.
(Version 2.5.5) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Aug 24 2008 |
GLENDA Debtinator's non-judgmental, light-hearted attitude is exactly what I need to be able to face my finances. But it doesn't stop there! The philosophy behind the program is very sound: pay down the debt with the highest interest rate first, then add the amount of that payment to the debt with the next highest rate, and so on. But if you don't want to do that, the program has many other ways to help you attack the debt monster. It is dead-simple to use but also has advanced features that I don't _need_ to use yet. Best of all, the developer is extraordinarily responsive and courteous! In my opinion, this is an elegant, powerful app that does exactly what it says it will do and does it well. $15 is chump change for this level of service and usability!
(Version 2.5.5) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Jul 26 2008 |
IAN3 The best way to get out of debt is not to spend the money you don't have, multiple credit cards!!!
(Version 2.5.1) | |
| [ 2 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| Jul 26 2008 |
JIM_T_3 I try not to reply to comments like this, but every so often I feel like I must chime in. First of all, there are two types of debt out there. There's the debt you acquire by being reckless and living beyond your means. Rack up your credit cards buying crap you can't afford and you'll be in trouble. But there's also debt you acquire by living life. Buying a car? Probably need a car loan. A house? Almost definitely need a mortgage. College? Probably have student loans. What happens if you have a disaster? Car wreck? Medical bills? Your son is born with a birth defect and requires extensive care and treatment? Sure, everybody should have saved up thousands upon thousands of dollars to pay cash for their house and cover any medical bills that arise without issue, but here in the real world, that's not always the case. Regardless, whether your debt is due to your own reckless spending or not, what's wrong with taking some responsibility for yourself and paying it down? Properly managing your money can save you tens of thousands of dollars in interest payments. Of course, you'll need to keep yourself under control. If you keep running up your credit cards, you're going to be in trouble no matter what. But if you've stopped doing that and want to get things under control, it's not like the debt magically goes away once it's been created. Don't use your credit cards? That's great advice. Tell someone that has no debt. Once you've got it, though, it's extremely hard to get out. But blanket statements like saying that people just shouldn't use their credit cards and their debt magically vanishes is juvenile and counter productive. Props to you if you have no debt to manage and no money in interest payments to save. For the rest of us? Leave the software tools alone and let people get on with their lives.
(Version 2.5.1) | |
| Jul 27 2008 |
IAN3 Yes sorry, i agree with you fully in those situations, my comment was really directed to djc0 with his comment of "how long it will take me to pay down my multiple credit cards", housing and car loans etc. are a different "kettle of fish"
(Version 2.5.1) | |
| Sep 13 2007 |
DJC0 This is a great program and does exactly what i want: project how long it will take me to pay down my multiple credit cards with different repayment plans and changing financial situation. I know it does a whole lot more, but for now thats enough for me. Seeing the "I'm free!" date and how much interest i've saved is a great motivator to stay on track and even put in a little more when i can. I had a small problem and emailed the developer. He repsonded within the hour (and it was a public holiday!), and within the week had posted a new verson correcting the issue. That kind of service is worth the meager price alone! (Anyone who has ever gotten bad service knows this all too well!) Highly recomended for those who want tighter control over their debt.
(Version 2.2.7) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Aug 15 2007 |
MATTHEW BAUER What a great little program. It is exactly what I have been looking for. All you do is type in everything from your income, your monthly expenses, and your debts and bam! The hardest part is being honest with yourself. Very useful!
(Version 2.2.4) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| Jun 23 2007 |
ALEX B You probably spend $15 a day on breakfast and lunch anyway. I guess cheapskates don't need financial help anyway since they don't spend money to begin with.
(Version 2.1.6) | |
| [ Reply ] | |
| May 19 2007 |
FAHLMAN I have a mortgage, car payment, car insurance, health insurance, life insurance, home insurance, etc and I'll second the first post. Prioritize your finances. Get rid of cable television, broadband internet, dinner out every other night, lunch at the nearest fast food joint every weekday, live in a reasonable house (which also has the side of lowering not only your mortgage but also the home insurance premium), drive a reasonable car (again not only does this reduce your loan payment, but reduces your car insurance also). People live way outside their means and then complain that they're poor. It's only their own fault.
(Version 2.1.3) | |
| [ 3 Replies - Reply ] | |
Replies:
| May 19 2007 |
JIM_T_3 I think this reply is kinda missing the point. You're already saying that you have a mortgage and a car payment. That's two debts right there. Are you paying them down in the most efficient fashion possible? Namely, are you putting every spare cent you have towards paying them off? Which one are you paying off first? What about when one's paid off? Then what are you doing with the money that was going to it? Do you have any other debts? How do those factor in? What's the most efficient way to pay 'em off? Do any of the interest rates vary? When? By how much? How does that factor into a payment schedule? The program's designed to help you find every spare cent you have. "Spare cent" meaning "unallocated". So if you don't want to pay for cable television, broadband internet, dinner out every other night, and so on, then don't do it. But where's that money going instead? I mean, you may have a budget where you earn $X per month and spend exactly the same $X per month, and that's cool. But most people don't track to that extreme a level. They get mostly close enough. If you're already tracking where every single penny you have goes, then bully for you, and you've forecasted out tracking every single penny until all of your debts are paid off, so you know where everything's going and when everything'll be paid off, then bully for you. You're right, you don't need it. But I'm willing to bet that most people are more like me. Me? Sure, I have debt. Mortgage, 2 car payments, a credit card with a small balance from an emergency a while back. All very small, very low interest rates. So all these posts here telling me that I should get lower rates or only pay for the essentials, well, I'm already doing it. I'm still saving a fortune by tracking how I'm paying everything. Telling people to not acquire debt or to only acquire small amounts with small interest rates is _not_ the entire solution. It's part of it (a big part!) but the rest of it is better planning with what you have. The program helps with the better planning.
(Version 2.1.3) | |
| Jul 7 2007 |
HARRISTYPE You seemingly contradict yourself here. Big debts are your first two items. And broadband internet? Did you post your comment from dial-up, or did you use one the computers at your local library?
(Version 2.1.9) | |
| Jul 14 2007 |
JOELSCHMIDT2 Ignore Fahlman. He's probably just upset that Basset Software wrote this program before he could.
(Version 2.2) | |
|
| View all 17 posts >> |
|
