In what I believe is a first in the United States, a financial institution has begun charging a small fee for online personal financial management (PFM) services.

Portland, OR-based Unitus Community Credit Union, with 68,000 members and $800 million in assets, launched its new Geezeo-powered PFM Total Finance in late 2010. Members pay $2 per month for the service following a 30-day free trial.

According to Laurie Kresl, VP planning & biz development at Unitus, the CU has 661 members signed up for the service as of this week, or about 1% of its member base, which is a solid start considering the monthly fee is not mentioned on the public website, but is disclosed as members sign up for the service (note 1). 

Quick take: While online/mobile access will remain relatively fee-free, we’ll begin to see more fees for optional value-added services such as advanced financial management. Congratulations to Unitus for taking the lead on this one.

Unitus CU homepage features its new PFM offering (6 Jan. 2011)

PFM landing page (link)

Note:
1. To sign up, customers first log in to online banking. The CU says it plans to add fine print to the landing page (above), disclosing the monthly fee.