Dobin: Understanding How This Personal Finance Tracker App Can Help Consolidate Your Finances And Save On Expenses In One Place

This article was written in collaboration with Dobin. All views expressed in this article are the independent opinion of DollarsAndSense.sg based on our research. DollarsAndSense.sg is not liable for any financial losses that may arise from any transactions and readers are encouraged to do their own due diligence. You can view our full editorial policy here.

When I first entered the workforce and started earning a steady income, I used to diligently record all my expenses on an Excel sheet at the end of each day. I was absorbed in staying on top of my personal finances.

When I recently tried out the Dobin personal finance tracker app, it rekindled old memories –  reminding me of the advantages of keeping closer tabs on my monthly expenditures.

Paying attention to my personal finances gave me a firm grasp of my spending habits. I knew where my money was going, and I also had an early alert system whenever I exceeded my budget. I could easily cut back on unnecessary expenses (i.e. mostly subscription services back in my younger years) as well as new expenses that were creeping into my monthly spending (i.e. lifestyle inflation).

At the same time, I also remembered why I stopped my expense tracking habit. It was very time-consuming, and there were often gaps when I forgot about it.

Dobin Automates Your Expense Tracking

With Dobin, there is no need for any manual inputs. Once you securely link your bank accounts to the app, it captures all your financial transactions within a single dashboard. Its smart categorisation also breaks down your spending into individual buckets.

You no longer have to log in to your various bank accounts just to retrieve transaction details or just to get an update on your overall financial health.

The sign-up process on Dobin is simple enough. You have to put in your basic contact details. The only shame is that some features, such as loans and credit card recommendations are still in the works!

All screenshots in this article are for illustration purposes.

After doing this, you’ll see your personalised dashboard – only, it’s not so personalised yet because you haven’t linked your bank accounts. Likewise, the discounts on preview are also not based on your spending patterns.

All screenshots in this article are for illustration purposes.

To link your bank accounts, you need to insert your banking credentials. This is quite similar to the process of linking our bank accounts via SGFinDex, where we have to input our username and password, as well as an OTP if required.

After doing this, you’re able to get a bird’s-eye view of your expenses on a single platform (i.e., without having to log in to multiple bank accounts). Dobin is able to automate what I was doing via an Excel sheet without any effort or gaps.

Now you’re all set. You can review your consolidated bank account balances as well as your credit card spending. On your log-in page, you will also be able to track all your recent transactions – when and where you spent your money (image below, in the middle).

All screenshots in this article are for illustration purposes.

Within the “Accounts” tab, you can review your monthly cashflows and expenses (image above, on the right). This will give you a quick overview of whether you’re spending within your monthly budget, and whether you’re adding anything to your savings.

All screenshots in this article are for illustration purposes.

You can also gain deeper insights by clicking on the “View Trends” option. You can review each of your cashflow trends over the last 3 months (image above, on the left). This will let you know whether such expenses have been consistent over the last few months, or if they have been growing or been on a downtrend.

Another handy tool on the Dobin personal finance tracker app is that you can see a detailed breakdown of the expenses category, such as Transport, Groceries, Food & Dining, Travel, Bills & Utilities, and more. Again, you can review your spending trends for the last 3 months in each of the categories, to see whether it’s gone up or down.

With this, you will know whether your efforts to curb spending have been successful, or if you need to put in more effort!

One of the drawbacks for me was that expenses on my Citibank credit card could not be further broken down into the various categories. Currently, the available bank accounts that we can connect to Dobin include: DBS, OCBC, UOB, Standard Chartered, American Express, HSBC, CIMB, and Bank of China (temporarily unavailable at the time of writing).

The Dobin team confirmed that more bank accounts would be gradually added to this list. Nevertheless, it is currently even more comprehensive than SGFinDex, which only includes 6 different bank accounts.

All screenshots in this article are for illustration purposes.

Get Discounts That Are Relevant To You

It’s impossible to sieve through the endless mountain of discounts and promotions available on the internet today. Making it even more tricky, they are located on many different platforms and websites.

Dobin solves this by crawling through tens of thousands of offers, and based on your spending patterns, surfaces those that are most relevant. It even crunches the savings you’re potentially missing out based on your current spending with the merchants.

I’ve recently booked a trip to Langkawi in October and have transferred some funds to my multi-currency account. I believe this was picked up by the app, as it has fed me travel-related discounts on the app’s home page.

All screenshots in this article are for illustration purposes.

It just so happens that my wife is from Hong Kong – and she’d just texted me about going back to visit family in December (while I was looking through the Dobin app). The discounts offered in Dobin might come in handy immediately!

As Dobin continues to collect more information, and once I’m able to connect my main Citibank credit card, I suspect Dobin will be able to recommend even more relevant discounts based on my daily expenses too.

If you prefer, you can browse the entire catalogue of discounts on the Dobin app to find the best deals as well.

In The Works: Credit Cards And Loans That Fit Your Spending Habits

One of the main selling points of using Dobin is that it is not a financial institution. Thus, it does not have an incentive to get you to sign up for any particular products.

While currently still in the works, Dobin’s plans are to provide recommendations for credit cards in the future based on your spending needs – regardless of which bank the card may be from.

As I don’t constantly try to optimise my credit card spending, I’m personally looking forward to this feature.

Also in the works is a loan aggregator that will offer the most attractive interest rates based on your credit profile. Dobin will also automate the application process, making it easier to access loan offers from different lenders.

How Dobin Ensures Security And Privacy Of User Data

Since you’re inputting not only your personal information but also your financial information on the Dobin app, it’s prudent to understand just how safe and secure it is.

Before collaborating to bring readers this article, we spoke to the operations team to understand how Dobin keeps our personal data secure. To summarise that conversation, Dobin maintains a view-only access to our data – and only with our permission through two-factor authentication via Digital Token or SMS OTP. That means Dobin can access our data but will not be able to send any transaction instructions.

If you want to understand exactly how this is done, the Dobin website provides detailed information about its Data Security controls.

In short, Dobin can only connect to your bank accounts with your permission. This is also why you may have to refresh the connection to your bank accounts to retrieve the latest information.

All screenshots in this article are for illustration purposes.

While you may have some questions about inputting your username and password details on the Dobin app, you can rest assured that this information never passes through the Dobin’s servers. Your bank credentials (i.e., username and password) are stored securely on your phone via Apple Keychain or Android Keystore.

Instead, they are sent from our phone to our bank via Dobin’s third-party service providers. This direct connection mitigates the risks associated with data interception on Dobin’s end.

Personally, I also had the privilege to grab a cup of coffee with Dobin’s Co-Founder and CEO, Khaled Bhenguerba, even before we ever thought about this collaboration. He is a man with extensive knowledge of not only the personal finance space but also deep experience in the banking and finance network, having held senior positions at American Express and Visa for the past 10 years.

He describes Dobin as a “smart financial assistant”. Its job is to unlock the value of your financial data to access the most suitable financial products and deals. In other words, since your financial data belongs to you, the benefits should also go to you.

 Re-inspired To Track My Finances More Closely (Without The Effort And Information Gaps)

After using the Dobin app, I have restarted tracking my finances more closely. This only makes sense because I no longer have to put in the painstaking effort to list down how much I spend each day.

You can choose to log in once a day, a week, or a month to see just how much you’re spending, and where you’re spending it. This can give you a good idea of how well or poorly you’re managing your budget. Similarly, if you want to find the best discounts and, in the future, credit card recommendations, you could refresh your accounts regularly.

Just looking at my own budget this month, while I can give very valid excuses, I have spent nearly as much as I earned this month. I’ve taken note of this and plan to evenly distribute my expenses, avoiding concentrated spending in any single month and cutting down unnecessary costs.

Thanks to the app’s auto-categorisation of expenses, I can pinpoint areas of overspending and make adjustments more easily.

In my wishlist, I obviously hope for Dobin to onboard Citibank soon! This will allow me to track my actual expenses within categories even more accurately.

If you want to give the Dobin app a go, you can download it from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Whether you uncover valuable insights into your spending habits or not, you’ll undoubtedly gain a clearer understanding of your financial outflows.

Based on spending patterns you are already incurring, you will also be served relevant discounts to save on your expenses. And, once the new credit card and loan features become available, you will have an even more powerful tool to optimise your spending.

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