MyBudget

MyBudget was founded in 1999[1] by Australian entrepreneur and personal finance expert Tammy Barton. During one of her first jobs at a legal firm, Barton noticed there was a lack of assistance for people struggling with the damaging effects of financial stress. Using this as inspiration for MyBudget, Barton decided to help them herself and built the business from her kitchen table from the southern suburbs of Adelaide.[2] Barton’s main motivation was to help individuals improve their financial position by formulating a tailored budget and by managing their finances on their behalf.[3] The first office was located in Adelaide, South Australia. MyBudget was listed as number 52 on the BRW Fast 100 list 2009 and number 37 on the BRW Fast 100 list 2010. In 2007, BRW magazine announced that MyBudget had grown at an average rate of 50 percent each year since the company was founded. It also said that the service provided aid to a variety of Australians from differing backgrounds.[4]

MyBudget provides a personal budgeting service. The service analyses a client's finances, including income, expenses and debt. The budgeting system works by ranking each bill in order of priority categories, from those which are the highest, such as living expenses and mortgage repayments, to those with a lower priority, after charging its fee which averages $42 per week.[5] The budget is created with the objective of paying down debts in the most effecive way possible, whilst focusing on future financial and savings goals.[6]

Once this information has been collated, MyBudget then creates a complete working budget for the long-term for an individual or entire household.[7] The allocated budgets are then paid directly through MyBudget to their respective creditors to ensure each debt and expense is paid on-time and in accordance with the budget.[8] Living expenses are allocated in the budget and transferred to the client’s personal bank account to be spent accordingly, while savings and other expenses, including debt, are paid directly through MyBudget. This means that clients do not have to manage their budgets themselves and can make adjustments to their budget anytime either on the phone, via messaging or web chat on the MyBudget website. Through the MyBudget app, clients are able to see their goal trajectories and how much time is left until they reach a financial goal based on their current income, such as paying a debt or reaching a savings amount.[9] MyBudget currently holds a Trust Pilot[10] rating of 4.7 from over 1000 reviews, and a Product Review[11] rating of 4.4 from over 1300 reviews, and has helped over 130,000 Australians live their lives free from money worries.[12]

MyBudget also provides new home loans, refinancing existing home loans, debt consolidation, car loans and personal loans through their MyBudget Loans service offering.[13]

MyHomeBuild is a South Australian custom home builder.[14] It was founded by Tammy Barton and Adelaide builder Gary Dann in 2022. It brings together a team of industry professionals who are dedicated to delivering the highest quality service offering and genuine value for money, whilst delivering a stress free building experience.

In December 2013, MyBudget was named in a national current affairs television report as "profiteering at the expense of people who are struggling with debt".[15] MyBudget issued a statement responding to the report, claiming that "the segment was an unbalanced attack on our industry and that many of the comments made are inaccurate".[16]

In 2017, MyBudget was the object of a class action due to withholding interest accrued by clients.[17] In September 2018, the courts dismissed the proceedings, with Judge Lee stating that "MyBudget obtains and suffers the pluses and minuses of the bank accounts necessary to discharge its obligations to provide the services," and, in addition, "The Provision did not cause an overall detriment, financial or otherwise, to clients".[18]

In May 2020, MyBudget was the confirmed target of a malware attack as a result of the company quickly moving its employees onto work-from-home arrangements amid the coronavirus outbreak.[19] Automatic transfers were interrupted, but progressed manually. Customers expressed concerns as to whether the significant personal data held by MyBudget had been leaked or hacked.[5] Later, hackers claimed to have stolen data from MyBudget using ransomware and threatened to publish it unless paid.[20] During the ransomware attack "users were unable to view their account balance for at least seven days."[21] In a statement to the media on 15 May 2020, MyBudget stated that there was "no credible evidence that significant data was accessed or will be misused [h]owever we can't rule this out and are taking all cautionary measures".[19]