For former Mint users: bring your history back

The real problem

Mint closed in March 2024. For many people it had been the one place they could see every account, a budget with bars that turned amber and red, and alerts when something looked off, all for free.

The replacements people tried tend to fall into a few groups: apps that cost more than they wanted, apps that started from scratch with no history, or spreadsheets that never quite stayed up to date. Years of categorized transactions often ended up sitting in a CSV file in a downloads folder.

A practical approach to moving on

Whatever you switch to, a few steps make the move easier:

1. Find your Mint export. It’s usually called transactions.csv. Look in your downloads, cloud storage, or an email you sent yourself. How to find your old Mint export lists the places to check.
2. Write down today’s balance for each account, from your bank’s website. Mint’s export doesn’t include balances, so any new app needs them.
3. Decide what you want from the replacement. Mint users often name the same things: budget bars, alerts, a bill reminder, net worth, and a price they can live with. What Mint users miss goes through the list.
4. Budget from real spending. Use your history to set budget amounts instead of guessing.

A worked example with round numbers. Your Mint history shows groceries averaging $650 a month, dining out $250, and gas $180. Start your new budget at those amounts, then trim the one you most want to change, say dining out to $200. A budget based on what you actually spend is one you can keep.

How Kemback helps

Kemback has a Switch from Mint wizard that reads Mint’s transactions.csv directly:

• Every account and transaction from the file, with Mint’s categories.
• Labels become tags; notes stay with their transactions.
• Balances set once. Enter each account’s balance today, and Kemback sets each opening balance to match.
• Transfers and card payments linked, even when the two sides are a few days apart, so they don’t count as spending.
• A budget from your Mint history, with bars that turn amber and red as categories fill up.

After the switch, the Free plan covers what most Mint users relied on:

• Category budgets with optional rollover per category, or envelope budgets if you want to try them; switch at any time without losing anything.
• Alerts for over budget, unusual spending, large purchases, bank fees, low balance and bills due, by email, in the app or on iPhone, plus a weekly summary email.
• Bills and recurring transactions on a calendar, with a warning when a bill goes up.
• Net worth and spending reports by category, payee or tag.
• Rules that rename payees and categorize new transactions, and a review inbox for what comes in.
• Shared with your household, each person with their own sign-in, and accounts that can stay private.
• Export everything as JSON or CSV at any time, so your history never gets stuck again.

Kemback is paid for by its plans, not by ads or selling your data. It also helps people switching from Quicken, YNAB and Monarch.

What it doesn’t do (yet)

The biggest difference from Mint: Kemback doesn’t connect to your banks automatically yet. You import OFX, QFX, QIF or CSV files you download from each bank. Automatic bank sync through Plaid is planned for the Plus plan ($79 a year or $7.99 a month), which isn’t on sale yet; the first 500 people on the waitlist get $59 a year while they stay subscribed.

Kemback doesn’t track investments (holdings or cost basis). It runs in any browser at kemback.com and as an iPhone app in beta; Android and Windows apps are in development.

Ready to bring your history across? See switch from Mint.

Questions

Can I still use my old Mint data?

Yes, if you saved Mint's transactions export, usually called transactions.csv. Kemback reads it directly: accounts, transactions, categories, labels and notes.

Why does Kemback ask for my balances?

Mint's export has no balances. Kemback asks for each account's balance today once, and sets the opening balance so your history adds up to it.

Does Kemback connect to my bank like Mint did?

Not yet. Today you import OFX, QFX, QIF or CSV files from your bank. Automatic bank sync through Plaid is planned for the Plus plan, which isn't on sale yet.

Is Kemback free like Mint was?

Kemback has a Free plan with no time limit. It's paid for by its plans, not by ads or selling your data, so you won't see financial product offers.

I can't find my Mint export. What can I do?

Check your downloads folder, cloud storage and email for transactions.csv. If it's gone, you can still start fresh by importing files from each bank, which often go back a year or more.