Financial Wellness /

MercMoney®

MercMoney® is an online money management tool, securely integrated into online banking, that empowers you to take control of your finances and simplify your life. 

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MercMoney Insights

MercMoney® Insights brings you a personalized feed of intelligence that puts you in better control of managing your finances. MercMoney Insights delivers visibility into spending trends, savings opportunities, cash flow, tracking bills/subscriptions, and much more automatically delivered on our mobile and desktop home pages.


Account Aggregation

MercMoney® gathers basic financial information from all of your financial accounts and organizes it into one place.


Bubble Budgets

MercMoney® allows you to create relative budgets based off your actual spending history, income, debts, and expenses. Visualize and interact with your budgets in new and meaningful ways. Using circles, or "bubbles," to represent budgets allows you to quickly identify budgets that need the most attention. At a glance, you can determine a budget's health (color), significance (size) and progress (meter) relative to other budgets.


Expense Tracking

MercMoney automatically categorizes and tracks spending from your various financial accounts, allowing you to get powerful insights on where, when, and how you spend.


Debt Management

MercMoney™ has been designed to give you step-by-step instructions to help you get your debt under control. See all of your debts, along with corresponding balances and interest rates, in a simple view that gives you a clear picture of your financial situation.


Net Worth

Get a contextually accurate data visualization of your assets vs. liabilities. Quickly determine if you are moving in the right direction - and to what degree. Even the smallest changes are easy to see and place in context.


Cash Flow

The Cash Flow tab combs through your transactions to help you understand your historical spending and predict your future spending.


Transactions

Get down to the details! See all your transactions from your various financial accounts - in one place! Along with giving you the BIG picture, MercMoney™ allows you to drill down into your finances and take meaningful actions.


Trends

The Trends tab is helpful for viewing spending trends over time. It displays up to 12 months of spending by category, along with overall income. represented by the bold line. This comparison can help you quickly determine if you are living within your means.


Goals

Goals can help you plan ahead and visualize long-term financial objectives, such as saving for a home or vacation. This tool provides a timeline of prioritized goals, and projects how long it will take to complete each goal based on your saving plans.


Mobile

Mobile devices

Powerful and engaging financial information within MercMobile that will change the way you feel about financial management.


MercMoneyâ„¢ FAQs

1) Set up your account, 2) Add all accounts, 3) Categorize transactions, 4) Create budgets.

  1. Log in to online banking and find the link for "MercMoney" in the left menu. Accounts from Mercantile Bank will automatically begin syncing to MercMoney. Follow the instructions in the setup wizard to add your accounts with other financial institutions. Enter your profile information to complete the setup.
    Online Banking menu image
  2. When the initial setup is complete, open Accounts and verify that you have added all of your financial accounts. Add any missing accounts and manual accounts for property, like homes or vehicles. You can also create manual accounts for accounts that are not supported or are broken. See "How do I fix an account that is ‘broken’?"
  3. After all of your accounts have been added, open Transactions and review your transactions for accuracy. Transactions are automatically categorized for you, but they are not always accurate and may need to be re-categorized. Your changes will be applied to future transactions. You may want to enter additional details about your transactions; see "How do I manage my transactions?"
  4. With your transactions correctly categorized, you can easily create budgets based on your actual spending history. Open Budgets and follow the instructions to generate a budget. You can also create budget manually. See "How do I create a budget?"

Login to Internet Banking from a desktop or mobile device and choose MercMoney from the Navigation menu. 

Open Accounts and click on the + icon. Type the name of the institution to search our database, then select the correct option from the list and enter your login credentials.

If the institution is not supported, you can add and manage your accounts manually. This will require that you periodically edit your account to update the balance. See "How do I edit an account?" Entering manual transactions will also update your balance accordingly. See "How do I add a transaction?"

It depends on the institution, but you will usually need to add each account separately. This means that if you have 3 accounts with an institution, such as checking, a loan, and a credit card, you will need to enter your login credentials for that institution for each account.

Open Accounts and click on the account you wish to change. This opens the account detail view where you can change an account name, type, and interest rate. You can also edit the account balance of manual accounts.

Not all institutions are able to send us that information. You should always check your loan details to make sure they are correct in MercMoney.

Open Accounts and click on the account you wish to delete. Click on the trashcan icon and confirm your decision to delete the account. You cannot delete an account from your primary institution, so the trashcan icon will not be present.

Note that deleting an account also deletes all historical balance and transaction data associated with that account. Do not delete an account unless you are sure you are okay with losing all associated data.

No, so only delete an account if you're okay with losing all history for that account. Otherwise, try adjusting the Show/Hide account settings for the account instead. Also, know that if you delete an institution, all accounts under that institution will also be deleted.

From Accounts, broken accounts will be displayed with an exclamation point in red over the top right corner of the account name. Click on the "broken" account to open the account detail view, then click on the red bar across the top to attempt aggregation again. You may be required to re-enter your login credentials.

If the account continues to fail:

  1. Login to the financial institution's online banking to verify your login credentials are correct and that there are no holds on the account preventing you from signing in.
  2. Add the account again, and pay special attention to the URL to make sure you are attempting to add the correct financial institution. Many institutions have similar names and websites.
  3. Contact Online Support, M-F 8:00am - 6:00pm and Saturday 9:00am - 1:00pm at 1.800.453.8700 . See "How do I get help?"

There are many types of online banking accounts, and not all are compatible with common aggregation methods. MercMoney utilizes multiple aggregation sources and uses an aggregation engine to provide the best possible coverage, but when an unsupported institution is encountered, a manual account can be created in the Accounts widget.

Yes! Open Accounts, click on the Cash or Property account types on the left, then click on the "+" icon in the menu bar. Change the account type and enter your account details, then click "Create This Account".

You will need to update this account manually by updating the balance and entering transactions periodically.

Open Accounts and click on "Property" from the list of account types on the left. Then click on the "+" icon in the menu bar. Enter the account details and click "Create This Account".

Manual transactions can only be added to manual accounts. Transactions associated with linked accounts will be imported automatically when you sign on. To add a manual transaction, open Transactions and click on the "+" icon in the menu bar.

Select a manual account from the dropdown menu, enter the transaction details, and click on "SAVE TRANSACTION".

Click on a transaction to open the transaction detail view. To categorize a transaction, click on the category field of the transaction line and select from the dropdown menu. You can also edit other transaction details like payee description, tags, flags, and memos, as well as split a transaction from this view.

When transactions are imported, they are auto-categorized based on how you and other users have categorized similar transactions. When you change a transaction category, MercMoney will remember your preference for next time.

The transactions list provides an easy way to review or find transactions from any account, over any time period. You can use the date range selector to determine what time frame the transactions represent, or you can use the search field to filter by payee, account, tags, amount, category, or date.

You should always take a moment to review newly imported transactions. Not only does this help you keep track of your spending, but will also help you to quickly identify fraudulent charges. When reviewing your transactions, make sure you recognize the transaction, and verify that it is categorized correctly.

To view more or edit detail on a transaction, just click on it. You can customize your transactions using the following features:
  • Category - Categorize transactions so your spending will be accurately reflected in Spending and Budgets. Click on the category field and select the correct category from the dropdown list.
  • Flags - Flag a transaction "B" for business-related, "P" for personal (default), or mark it with a flag to make it stand out in the transaction list.
  • Tags - Create custom tags to label transactions for searching. For example, you may wish to tag tax-related expenses, or expenses related to a vacation or family goal.
  • Memo - Add a memo when you need to remember special details about a transaction.
  • Split - Split a transaction between multiple categories to account for specific amounts in Spending and Budgets.

MercMoney will import 90 days of transaction history from your primary institution. The amount of data that will be imported from other institutions depends on the institution.

After the initial account setup, MercMoney will pull new transactions from the last 30 days, so you must sign in at least once every 30 days to avoid creating a gap in your data.

MercMoney will save your history for as long as you keep your account with Mercantile Bank.

Click on the transaction you wish to change to open the transaction detail view, then click on the category field to view a list of existing categories. You are able to create a custom subcategory beneath any of the main categories, but you cannot create a new main category. Hover over the main category your custom subcategory will belong to, then click on "+ Add A Category" in the side menu. Name your subcategory and click "+ Add" to confirm.

There is a special category called "Transfer" for loan payments and transfers that will exclude those transactions from Spending and Budgets.

A word on loan payments - All loan payments have two transactions: the negative transaction of money leaving your bank account, and the positive transaction of money paid towards the debt, decreasing what you owe. (Note: This is not the case with credit cards. Keep reading to see more on credit cards.) The negative transaction should be categorized as the expense, so your budget will reflect your spending on that category. The positive transaction should be categorized as a transfer, so it does not void the expense of the loan payment.

For example: The negative transaction of a mortgage payment would be categorized as Home: Mortgage & Rent, and the positive transaction would be categorized as Transfer: Mortgage Payment. You can create custom subcategories for all of your loan payments if you wish.

A loan payment essentially is a transfer. The money leaves your bank account, but you then own that much more of the asset associated with the debt, like a home or car. Credit cards are different, because there is no asset associated with the debt. A credit card payment is repayment for money borrowed, on transactions already accounted for in your budget. If you actively use your credit card, payments on that card should be categorized as Transfer: Credit Card Payment. If you are paying off your credit card, and would like to track your progress in Spending and Budgets, see "How do I budget for paying off debt?"

If you are working on paying off a credit card, congratulations! We recommend that you create a custom subcategory to track your progress, such as Bills & Utilities: Credit Card Payoff. This will allow you to see in Spending and Budgets how much you have spent towards paying down that debt.

It is recommended that you do not use your card for purchases while you are paying it off. Not only will it be easier to stick to your goal if you just don't use the card, but it is more difficult to account for your credit card payoff if you are actively accruing debt on the card.

If you must use your credit card while you are paying it off, you can split the transaction between Transfers: Credit Card Payment for the portion that pays back what you spent, and Bills & Utilities: Credit Card Payoff for the amount that will be applied to the previous balance.

If you also want to track separately how much of your credit card payment is applied to interest vs. what you owe, see "How do I account for interest paid on a loan?"

Some institutions send a separate transaction for principle paid and interest paid on a loan, but some institutions only send a single transaction for the total amount paid. If your institution sends a single transaction for principle + interest paid, you can split the transaction.

Click on the transaction to open the detail view, and click on "+ Split This Transaction" at the bottom. Use the Fees and Charges category to track your interest paid. You can add a custom subcategory for all your loan payments if you wish. You will need to obtain the amount spent on interest vs. principle from your financial institution.

Note: The debt account balance will always be accurate, as the institution sends us the remaining balance regardless of the transaction is displayed.

The Spending Wheel displays your spending across all categories for the time period selected. Use the date range selector to specify what date range you would like to view.

You can click on a category from the list, or in the wheel, to view your subcategory spending. Then click the center of the wheel or from the list to view the specific transactions in the selected subcategory.

Note: Your transactions must be categorized for the Spending Wheel to show actual spending. If your spending in a given category looks wrong, review your transactions for inaccuracies.

Open Budgets, click on the "+" icon in the menu bar, and select a category from the dropdown menu.

Budgets can help you track and control your spending in select budget categories. You can use budgets to track all of your regular household expenses, or just specific categories that you want to monitor more closely. Budgets are useful for setting and working towards financial goals, or simply being more aware of your spending habits.

Review your transactions to make sure they are categorized correctly. A "missing category" is caused by a large income transaction that has been categorized inappropriately.

Click on the gear icon in the menu bar to open Settings, and then click on the Alerts tab. Click the envelope icon next to each alert you want to receive.

Click on the gear icon in the menu bar to open Settings, and then click on the Profile tab.

Click on the gear icon in the menu bar to open Settings, and then click on the Mobile Devices tab. Enter your old password, choose and confirm your new password, and click "Change Password" to save.

Absolutely. Industry leading encryption technology is used to protect your data. MercMoney places your privacy and security as its highest priority. The MercMoney desktop applications are as secure as your regular home banking.

Click on the "?" icon in the menu bar to open the help options. You can watch a tutorial on the widget you're using, search our knowledge bank for answers, or submit a support request.

To get help from an iPhone or iPad, open Settings and tap on "Feedback".

Email and print functionality is currently available exclusively on the iPad MercMoney mobile app.

Browser support will vary based on the browser version. More than 74% of all Internet users now use a modern browser like Google's Chrome where less than 14% still use limited browsers like Internet Explorer 7 and 8 because of their inability to take advantage of the newest features. If your browser is incompatible, the software will alert you and ask you to upgrade.

Please note that by using this link, you will be leaving Mercantile Bank's (the 'Bank') web site. The Bank takes no responsibility and makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, for any of the services, products or information available via this outside web site. The Bank is not responsible for and does not monitor the content, performance, policies (including any privacy policies) or administration of this outside web site, which are the sole responsibility of their creators and do not represent, explicitly or implicitly, positions, policies or opinions of the Bank, its affiliates, its employees or its Board of Directors.