Thumbs Up Mint.com; Thumbs down PayPal...

A view from Hoover Dam, Dec 2009

     I have been using Quicken for more than a decade and average a desktop session a couple of times a week with the application. In Quicken, I do a sweeping download of all transactions in all accounts. Most accounts are set to auto-reconcile with the online balance and 95% of transactions are automatically classified into their respective budget categories. When Intuit acquired Mint.com, I joined in and let Mint monitor my active credit cards and a few other accounts. That little effort returned an effective result.

     Yesterday, I received an alert from Mint that my Visa card was charged a $10 fee. This was a welcome alert because this Visa from

Charles Schwab allows a download of transactions only when the statement closes. So, for an entire month my Quicken remains out of date. Without this alert from Mint, I may not have seen this service fee for an entire month.
     When I went digging on the credit card website, I saw what may have triggered this $10 service fee: a charge for 30 cents from PayPal.

Normally, PayPal defaults to your linked bank account to draw funds, so one doesn't have to do anything unless they want to use a credit card. However, for fees, it appears that PayPal hits the credit card. Further, this is classified as a 'cash advance' not a purchase. Thus causing the 'cash advance' transaction fee.
     A little tidbit to file away in the back of your head for use when transacting with these entities. Charles Schwab promptly reversed the charge when I pointed out that this was rather punitive, so all's well.
     With kids going to college and starting to manage their own money, mint.com should figure as a potential platform for prudent personal money management.