The Money Merge Account is just a smoke-and-mirrors game. The cost is $3500, and $2500 of that is paid out in commissions to support the pyramid scheme that sells it.

The MMA directs the homeowner to use a HELOC (or lately, a credit card) to float their income and send advances to their mortgage. UFirst doesn't call this "float" - they call it "leverage" (they're wrong) and they tell you this will "cancel interest". Right away, you should see the folly in this plan. The MMA asks you to borrow at a high rate to pay your low rate mortgage.

As brooke1lyn said, there is a lot of information about the MMA out there, but you won find it at the address brooke1lyn gave - that's an agent website.

There is plenty of discussion, including comparisons between the MMA and the simple DIY method of mortgage acceleration at the links below:

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/topic_view.php?catid=52&threadid=767134&start=0
http://scam.com/showthread.php?t=23250
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/topic_view.php?catid=52&threadid=741118&start=0
http://scam.com/showthread.php?t=46373
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/03/03/money-merge-accounts-are-they-a-good-deal-for-home-borrowers/

The most high-profile review was by Kiplinger's:
http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2008/05/prepay_mortgage.html

UFirst agents may refer you to 5 or 6 publications that endorse the MMA. These are all small rags with limited distribution, little history, and less integrity.

UFirst agents also like to point out that Ernst&Young gave them an award. It was an actual award, but it was sponsored by E&Y, and the winner was not chosen by them. It was for "Entrepreneur of the Year". In Utah. Amway is a previous winner of the same award, if that helps clear things up.

Having saved a friend from wasting $3500 he could ill-afford on this scheme, I try to save others from it, too. It is an affront to common sense and I find the marketing of this "product" to be predatory. Avoid it, and caution anyone who asks about it to do the same.

There are many details to be found on the internet about the Money Merge Account.

Here is one specifically for canada http://www.mathnotmagic.com/canada

To be honest.. I've never seen it before... so i can't comment.
Try the free demo .. sounds like they're legit if they give a free demo.

Hey Monty, actually they aren't setting up a LOC for you, everything is though your existing bank, or whoever you choose. They aren't a lender, just a financial programmer. You enter everything manually and then go to your bank and pay bills/pay mortgage/make extra payments.

Oh and that link you provided is expired, but I would appreciate any other links you may have.

I was just wondering if you had heard of the program and had an opinion, or if you had anyone in the financial world that may know something about it. $3500 is big bucks, that could go directly on our mortgage to begin with instead of towards a spreadsheet program. It may take more work, but if the tools are available cheap or for free, thats even better.

We will see I guess, we have a free "evaluation" scheduled this week.

Hmmm..

I guess I would wonder what your goal is..
Anytime I see some offering advice, or a tool, and then a line of credit, I would think that they're selling a line of credit.

If you're looking for budgeting tools, there are plenty of those on the net.

Check out mvelopes as a budgeting tool.
http://www.mvelopes.com

Actually as of May 1, 2008 it is also in a Canadian version.

hey dbg..

from a quick glance this service is only for americans.

Monty, any opinion on this company and their program?

Hi there, just wondering if there are any opinions about the Money Merge Account program from United First Financial?

I attended an information seminar, after being asked if I would be interested by a buddy that is a Mortgage Broker. The program basically steers you away from using a checking or savings account through your bank, and using a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) to pay all your monthly expenses, including your mortgage, loan payments, and utility bills. Your salary is deposited in whole into the HELOC every month (your payment on the HELOC), and you use a credit card of some sort for all your daily expenses (gas, groceries, beer) and then pay it in full every month. The program tracks your expenses (by you manually entering it as it isn't connected to your account), and it calculates your monthly "spending trends". The program will calculate when you can "afford" a lump sum payment (ie. $5000) on your mortgage, therefore reducing the principal on your mortgage, and reducing the amortization period. This lump sum payment is taken out of the HELOC and you begin the process of paying it down again. The program seems to work as long as you have a positive cash flow (income is more than monthly expenses). The cool thing about the program is that if you punch in the cost of an item, say a new set of golf clubs that cost $1200 at the store, the program will compute the ACTUAL COST of the item of approximately $2600 if you were to save that money and put it on the mortgage payment.

The girlfriend and I are kinda excited about the program and the potential, however we are both skeptics since it seems like a glorified spread sheet that costs $3500 (that they suggest you pay out of the HELOC to begin). We kinda feel like that $3500 would be better just putting on the mortgage to begin with. However, we are getting a free analysis and trying to do some independent research on the product. I admit the program is pretty slick, but would it be better to buy a couple cheaper programs and put in the extra work?

Anyone heard of this program?

Any opinions of the theory behind the program?

Scam?

Check out their website:

http://www.u1stfinancial.com/

Another link I found:

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/46110