Prism App Review: Free App Takes The Stress Out Of Bill Management

Creating and sticking to a budget is a can’t-go-wrong move for anyone. There are many apps available to help you create a budget. But one app is taking a different angle on budgeting. It’s called Prism and its only focus is on paying bills.

Yes - your bank lets you pay bills. So how is Prism different? It provides different functionality from the bill payment feature in your bank account.

In this article, we’ll show how Prism is different and why it might be worth trying out.

Who Is Prism?

Prism is a bill pay app owned by BillGO. It's legal name is Mobilligy, Inc. It was founded in 2011 in Bellevue, WA. by Steve Gordon and Tyler Griffin. 

Prism has been acquired twice. In May 2016, PayNearMe (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Handle Financial Inc.) acquired Prism. Then, in October 2018, it was acquired by BillGO. The CEO of BillGO is Dan Holt.

What Do They Offer?

Prism is a fintech and a free mobile app that is focused on bill payments. Since most banks already offer bill pay, what is the advantage of using Prism? Bill pay features that are integrated with banks are usually limited to just sending out payments. It takes bill pay to another level and is meant to help people budget their income against bills.

Prism makes it easy to organize and stay on top of their bills, which could help you avoid late fees and improve your credit. Unlike most banking bill pay services, with Prism there is calendar that shows when all of your bills are due. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have an Auto Pay feature, so each payment must be initiated manually.

Getting Started With Prism

To get started, you’ll first need to connect all of your billers to Prism. If you have used financial desktop or web apps, you’ll be familiar with this process.

Prism uses the same bank-grade encryption and token-based scheme to authenticate biller accounts. There are over 11,000 billers available that can connect directly to it. Available biller types include:

• Phone services
• Credit unions
• Electric utilities
• Cable companies
• Mortgage lenders
• Insurance providers
• Student loan lenders
• Water and waste utilities
• Various subscriptions types

If a biller isn’t listed, it can be manually added.

Once your added billers have been synced with Prism, balances, amounts due, and due dates will all display. You can use the calendar to see the next upcoming bills. Prism will also send notifications about due bills. Accounts automatically sync every morning but you can manually sync bills at any time.

Paying Bills

As mentioned earlier, Prism doesn’t have a recurring payment feature. For some people, this might be a negative. But it also means that you remain in full control of every payment. If the money is available to pay a bill, you can pay it immediately or schedule the payment.

Payments can be made from your bank account, debit, prepaid, or credit card. After sending a payment, you’ll have 10 minutes to cancel it. Once the 10 minutes have elapsed and the payment has been paid, it's no longer cancellable.

Customer Support

With any free app, something has to give. And Prism is no exception. You won't find any phone support with Prism. While they do have 24/7 support, it's only available through the Prism app or by email at [email protected].

Are There Any Fees?

Prism is free to use. In fact, with Prism Payment Promise, you'll be reimbursed for any late fees (up to $1,000) that you incur if your payment doesn't arrive by the day that Prism indicates.

The only fee you might incur is a returned item fee of $15. This can happen if a payment is attempted but the funding source doesn't have enough money to cover it.

Wondering how Prism makes money? For now, it’s through receiving small fees from billers and sometimes charging a convenience fee for debit or credit card payments. But Prism also says that it hasn't ruled out charging a subscription fee in the future.

How Do I Open An Account?

You can visit https://www.prismmoney.com to download the app and create an account.

Is My Money Safe?

Yes - Prism uses bank-grade encryption and offers pin, biometric, and two-factor authenticity schemes in its app.

Is It Worth It?

The main idea behind Prism is that you can balance income against expenses and create a workable budget. If you want to see when every bill is due on a calendar and don't mind paying each bill manually, you'll probably like Prism. And since it's free to use, there's no risk in giving it a try!

If setting up recurring payments is a priority, however, you'll want to look for a different bill pay system. Your bank's bill pay may be the easiest solution. Or if you need advanced expense tracking and reporting, you may want to consider a paid software option like Quicken or Moneydance.

Prism App Features