Using AI to tackle your debt
Feb 13, 2024, 11:38 PM | Updated: Feb 15, 2024, 7:29 am
SALT LAKE CITY — We’ve seen the power of artificial intelligence used to help navigate all sorts of complex problems: Medicine, education and customer service, among many others. Well, it doesn’t get much more complex than Americans grappling with debt.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York just released its latest data on household debt. It’s another stunning record – U.S. households now owe $17.5 trillion.
The solution, all experts agree, requires discipline. Having the right tools can certainly assist you. And few tools are getting more buzz these days than AI.
“I’m so passionate on this topic,” said Jeff Mandel, president of monetization and emerging markets at IDIQ and chief executive officer of Credit & Debt – a company that provides financial coaching and other tools aimed at helping folks out of debt.
Mandel’s company has been developing debt-reducing AI which uses “personalized AI to understand your finances and help empower you to make better money moves.”
“It’s giving you insights and alerts in advance,” he said.
For example: the AI could look at your finances and see that, in a few days, you have an automatic payment scheduled but, uh-oh, you don’t have enough money in your account. It would alert you! That gives you the chance to maybe move money into the account or to ask your creditor about skipping a payment before they hit you with late fees or overdraft charges if it’s a bank account.
“To give people information not reactively after something’s occurred, but proactively, so you can take action before something bad happens,” Mandel said.
Like most AI, it’s best when used as a tool by people who know how to use it, Mandel said. His company uses AI to help their human coaches keep their clients on their debt-reducing track. But in the end, your success at reducing debt still comes down to you.
“You got to have that discipline and structure to follow through and see it through at all times,” Mandel said.
His top advice for getting out of debt is to make a plan that sets little, attainable goals that can be measured. He says that really helps people keep their eyes on the prize.
