Having trouble managing the plethora of financial accounts you've acquired over the years? Tired of sorting through check books and online accounts to figure out which bills you've paid and which ones are about to be late? These days it is not uncommon for individuals to be faced with 20 to 30, or even more separate accounts to keep track of. Even with online access to all your bank accounts, credit cards, investment accounts, cell phone, cable, utility bills, mortgage, and auto loans it becomes a task can eat up hours of your time. With everything spread out it can be maddening to wrap your brain around your financial position. Unless you are Warren Buffet, this is where online aggregator accounts can save you the aggravation.

Account aggregation is an accounting method of showing many different types of accounts in one place. Logging into one system can give you a bird's eye view of your financial situation. These systems utilize "screen scraping" to compile data from each of your accounts and will display them on one page for you to review.

Various types of account aggregation solutions are available. With client based systems you download an application that runs from your computer. This type is more secure because all the financial data is stored on your computer. Server based systems store the data on web servers. While less secure you can access the data from anywhere in the world. Some companies offer a hybrid solution. Mobile systems download the data to a portable USB drive you can plug into a computer anywhere you go. Just don't lose it!

Some people are concerned about possible security risks of these systems, however it may not be as great as one might suspect. Most financial institutions have rigid procedures in place for transferring money out of an account. In the rare circumstance someone is successful in initiating this type of transaction; in most cases it will not take place instantaneously. With regular use of your account aggregator you will most likely notice it before it is processed and be able to cancel it. The reality is that there is more risk handing your credit card to a dishonest store employee than someone accessing your aggregated accounts. The greater risk is to your privacy rather than financial damage.

While account aggregators still need to be setup and managed as well it is far less difficult than dealing with each account on its own. For small businesses that rely heavily on credit card processing there are professional services through internet merchant account providers that can custom tailor a plan that best meets your specific needs.

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