I'm thinking of a login specifically designed for 3rd party apps to view particular info that you specifically make available, but not all your info... kind of like an admin will give a user restricted/read-only access, but keep unlimited root access secure. Would a 2-tier system like that make mint type services less dangerous, but still useful?
Rafe Needleman's very positive review of Mint.com in Real Deal 83 was sadly out of touch. The only caveat Needleman off-handedly mentions is that Mint needs all your passwords. You might not be "comfortable" with that, he says.
No kidding. Giving your passwords for your online bank accounts and financial accounts to a third party might be a problem. This is especially the case because with the routing number and the account number, an identity thief could rip you off. A hacker or rogue employee at Mint.com could dip into your Mint.com account, log in to your bank, get any and all information stored there, and pretty much do anything with your money. Many companies think they are immune to attack. One was TJ Maxx, which was nevertheless hacked, exposing over 90 million credit card numbers.
Secondly, as a matter of privacy, there is no real way for Mint.com to be able to keep your data perfectly private. There is nothing holy or sacred when it comes to the privacy of online accounts. Recently, <a href="http://valleywag.com/tech/scoop/facebook-employees-know-what-profiles-you-look-at-315901.php">Facebook employees were accused</a> of peeking at people's private profiles, checking to see who visits what profile, and generally poking around in other people's business, when those people expected to be treated with respect. If that can happen with Facebook, it can happen anywhere.
In short, just because the Real Deal recommends Mint.com doesn't mean you shouldn't look at it with great skepticism.
BTW, I agree that Quicken, Microsoft Money, and the other financial apps all currently suck, too. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any personal financial platform that is worth using.

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