I write about budgeting and saving for a living. So I know that one of the simplest tactics to meet your spending goals is to reduce your monthly bills. And one way to do that is to negotiate with your service providers. But who needs to wait and chat with customer service?I recently switched to Rocket Money and I’m curious to know that they will offer an invoice negotiation service.
To prove it, I asked Rocket Money to lower my Spectrum web bill and was pleasantly surprised when they reduced my annual fees to $300. But there was a problem: I had to pay $90 for this convenience, which ate into my savings. Here’s how the procedure went so you can check the service yourself if you need.
Testing Rocket Money’s invoice trading offer is simple: you just need the Rocket Money app and an active account (either a free or premium user). There’s a problem, though: Even if the service is free, pay some of the money it saves you upfront.
I agreed to this payment in exchange for not having to call Spectrum myself. If you don’t need to pay, the app can still help you identify if you can negotiate and will give you a percentage of the visitor service numbers so you can speak to a representative yourself.
If you’re in a position to give it a try, here’s how it worked for me:
On the app dashboard, scroll down to Ways to Save and Reduce Bills.
Next, you’ll see a list of service providers to choose from, but you can also enter your provider’s call in the search box. If this doesn’t generate any results, select Can’t locate your service?and enter it here.
Keep in mind that Rocket doesn’t negotiate with each and every vendor, so if you can’t locate yours, you’re probably out of luck.
Then, I gave Rocket the required data to verify my Spectrum account with the provider. You can enter your provider username and password or download one of their billing information. Verification may take several minutes. I entered my Spectrum login credentials because I didn’t have billing on hand.
Once your account is verified, Rocket will ask you for more information, such as your phone number, address, and answers to security questions, to make it less difficult for Rocket to work on your behalf. Different providers may ask for other information, such as your account PIN or the last 4 digits of your Social Security number.
Finally, you want to charge a payment method for Rocket fees. Rocket will place a $1 transient hold on this payment method while you verify it, but it won’t qualify you unless you effectively negotiate your bill.
Rocket charges between 30% and 60% of your first year’s savings and you how much to pay. I chose 30% because why pay more than necessary?
Once you’ve submitted your application, keep an eye on your emails for updates from Rocket. They may ask you for more information to help them negotiate your bill, and sometimes they may receive messages letting you know they’re still working on it. Once the negotiations are complete, they will send you the result via email.
In my case, Rocket controlled my Spectrum bill by $300 for 12 months. The total procedure took approximately 3 weeks. Rocket’s 30% relief on those savings amounts to $90. You can pay all of this off at once or create a payment plan to pay in installments.
In the confirmation email, Rocket informed me that they would evaluate my payment method within four days if I did not request a payment plan. I chose to pay the full amount in one lump sum.
Rocket said my new Spectrum rate would possibly take a bill cycle or two to go into effect, but I’ve noticed the adjustments reflected on my next statement.
Using the service is simple, but it may not have been for everyone.
Rocket Money and PocketGuard, another budgeting app, can negotiate your spending to ease your savings (PocketGuard charges 40% of the amount it saves you for up to two years). Negotiate with your service providers. You can do it yourself if you’re willing to invest a little time and effort. Here’s how to do it.
While I appreciate the fact that Rocket Money negotiated my Spectrum bill for me, I have no plans to use this service again. The allure of not having to contact visitor service didn’t make up for the pain of having my savings cut by a third. , and for me, maximizing my savings is more than a minor hassle on my part.
But I can see how much it may be worth it for other people who need to avoid waiting for visitor service. And finally, I was pleasantly surprised at how much Rocket stored for me and how undeniable the procedure is.
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