Getting started with Tally
Getting started with Tally is relatively straight forward. After downloading the app, you’ll be asked to enter your credit card information. You can scan or enter your credit card info for each credit card you carry a balance on.
After you’ve entered your cards, Tally will check your credit history to ensure you are approved for a line of credit from Tally. If approved, you no longer need to pay your cards direct, Tally will do that for you and you simply pay Tally. Tally uses an algorithm to minimize the number of interest payments you make by making paying the right card at the right time.
After that, you are good to go. You continue using your credit cards as usual and Tally advises you on how much you should pay and when.
Using Tally
Americans collectively owe more than $ 1 trillion in credit card debt. Those who have decided to take action and pay off their credit card debt face two hurdles.
- Deciding on a debt repayment strategy
- Staying motivated to see the task through to the end.
For someone who has multiple credit cards, it can be confusing to know which credit card to pay off first. They might be left wondering should I pay off the card with the lowest balance or the highest interest rate first?
Once they decide on a debt repayment strategy, paying off those high-interest credit cards can take years and many people will lose focus along the way.
What I like about Tally is that it addresses both of these hurdles.
Tally removes the guessing game of which credit card to pay off first by consolidating credit card debt into a single payment.
The Tally advisor feature is like your own debt-repayment coach. It analyzes all your credit card debt and advises you exactly when to make payments and how much those payments should be to reach your debt-free goal. Tally also updates you on your progress and encourages you along the way.
I wish a tool like Tally existed when I was paying off my debt. The hardest part of paying off debt is not knowing when you’ll finally be debt-free. I remember constantly feeling like I would never be out of debt and I would have to keep making monthly payments for the rest of my life.
The feeling of hopelessness causes many people to give up and accept living with debt. Having a constant reminder on your phone every time you make an extra payment that you just got a few days or weeks closer to being debt-free is a huge motivator.
Ease of Use
Like with any app that requires you to link bank accounts or credit cards, getting set up with Tally will require a bit more work than some apps.
What I Liked Most About Tally
Personally, I have never seen an app in the Fintech space as useful as Tally. There are plenty of apps that help track your spending or net worth. Tally is the first app that I have seen that completely simplifies the debt repayment process while providing real-time feedback and encouragement along the way.
What I Liked Least About Tally
The main drawback of Tally is that it is currently only available in some U.S. states* and is not yet compatible with all credit cards.
* As of May 2020, Tally is available in the following states: Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington DC, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin. Tally claims they are adding new states on a regular basis.
Who Is This Product For?
Tally is for anyone living in an eligible state carrying a balance on one or more credit cards. If you are ready to get out of debt and aren’t exactly sure about where to start or find the task before you too intimidating, Tally is definitely worth a look.
Who Is This Product Not For?
Tally is not for anyone living outside the U.S or anyone who does not have any credit card debt.
Ready to give Tally a try? Click here to get started!
Behind the Curtain: The Company and People Who Created the Tally App:
- Co-founded by Jason Brown and Jasper Platz in 2015, Tally has grown considerably, raising $50 million in new venture capital funding in June 2019 to invest back into the business.
- Based in San Francisco, Tally was voted one of the Best Places to Work in the Bay Area in 2019
- Fast Company included Tally among its ‘Most Innovative Companies' for Artificial Intelligence in 2019.
- Tally has been sponsoring videos on TikTok, the short video format social media platform, to attract new users which it has found to be an effective marketing spend over sites like Instagram.
Michael Lewis Interviews Tally Founder Jason Brown in Against the Rules Podcast \\”the Invisible Coach\\”
On May 5, 2020, Michael Lewis, prominent author and current host of the podcast Against the Rules, released a new episode featuring Tally Founder Jason Brown.
The podcast episode is worth a listen to gain an appreciation for the lifelong journey that led Jason to his decision to build the Tally app.
With credit card companies making billions of dollars off people who don't understand ‘the rules of the money game', you'll learn how Jason sneaked into the Chicago Booth School of Business classroom of Nobel Prize winning professor Richard Thaler to use insights from his behavioral economics course to build the Tally app and help level the playing field.