Managing family finances is a breeze when you’re in control

MANILA, Philippines - Amid today’s busy lifestyle, managing family finances can be a daunting task, and end up taking the backseat. This can lead to overspending, acquiring huge debts, or being unable to provide money where it is needed.

Thankfully, MasterCard has come up with inControl Family Solutions, an innovative service that lets cardholders issue supplementary cards to each member of their household, easily track their family’s expenses, monitor the budget allocation, and limit or extend spending capability as needed.

Convenience and financial empowerment

The beauty of inControl begins with how it empowers families, by providing them a convenient and reliable means to obtain money. No need to arrange meetups, process remittance, distribute cash or scribble on a checkbook each time a bill has to be paid, or an item, bought. Everyone has his card to swipe.

Family members then develop financial management skills: they learn to work on a budget, and take responsibility. For instance, the kids can have easy access to funds even as they travel or secure school supplies on their own. Mothers, on whose shoulders the management of household finances often falls, can do grocery runs anytime they want.

At the same time, it relieves the head of the household from having to think about the “little things.” The family driver can pay for gas when the car runs out of it. The maid can pay for the phone bill when it’s due.

Efficient, real-time management

At the heart of inControl is its real-time online access to control the settings of the primary as well as the supplementary cards. As long as there is internet connection, the primary cardholder can log on and release – or limit – funds to all cards. If an emergency occurs, money can be made available immediately.

For this feature, inControl comes with an interface that provides a simple, user-friendly overall view for card usage. Cardholders may also opt for an alert service that will notify them should there be moments when users exceed established spending limits, preventing moments of head-scratching and finger-pointing come billing time.

“Let’s say a card given to a son registers an attempted card use for a purchase that’s more than his allocated P20,000 budget. The parent will be immediately informed, via text or email, to authorize the transaction. He can approve or disapprove it in real time,” explains Poch Villa-Real, MasterCard Philippines country manager.

Flexible controls for different needs

Every family is unique. One may have a college student studying abroad. Another may have an OFW father who sends money to the family in the Philippines. Yet another may have teens who like to shop and travel. For each of these families, inControl offers flexible controls to set exactly how, when and where money is spent.

For parents who want to make sure their kid is focused on school-related activities, spending may be limited to purchases of books and school supplies, perhaps not on coffee shops and certainly not on bars, under the service’s Merchant Control. For the OFW dad, the Budget and Usage Controls come in handy for ensuring that there will be enough to tide the family over until the next payday.

The said categories may be combined with Day and Time controls, which also filter out many possible misspending opportunities; for example, all transactions beyond midnight cannot be allowed.  Finally, Geographic Controls limit the use according to country, making the service ideal for those who like travelling.

Peace of mind, security

“inControl is about having peace of mind that every centavo of money hard-earned will be well spent,” shared Villa-Real, adding, “It’s also about every family member learning to manage and value the money they have that is based on the household budget.”

inControl also addresses security concerns in carrying cash, making it more convenient and secure than ever to just use plastic for paying. For online transactions, it can generate unique internet card numbers, which means there is no need to expose your real card number on the Web.

With these nifty features, MasterCard shows that it is possible for the head of households to find finance management to be a breeze. And when this happens, time can be more meaningfully spent on what truly matters to the family.