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Inspiration
As college students, we understand the challenges of managing finances while living independently for the first time. It can be overwhelming to keep track of monthly expenses, bills, and student loan debt. It is a disappointment that so many of us struggle to stay afloat financially despite our best efforts. In fact, each year, 30 to 40 percent of all undergraduate students take federal student loans; 70 percent of students who receive a bachelor's degree have education debt by the time they graduate. That's why we were inspired to create PennyWise - a next-generation budget management website application that empowers college students to take control of their finances and reach their financial goals.
What it does
Our app offers three key services to help you take control of your finances: Account Overview, Budgeting, and Education Debt Management. With Account Overview, you can easily keep track of all your financial transactions in one place. Our Budgeting tool helps you plan your finances by monitoring your income and expenses, ensuring you stay within your financial limits and reach your goals. And, with Education Debt Management, we help you calculate the time it will take to pay off your student loans and plan your financial future with confidence.
How we built it
We are proud to offer a solution that streamlines the budgeting process and helps college students reach their financial potential empowered by the most advanced and cutting-edge technology. Our server is powered by the Express and NodeJS framework, while our authentication system uses the powerful MongoDB database. The user interface is designed with HTML/CSS and Bootstrap to ensure an intuitive and user-friendly experience, with graphs generated by Google Chart. With our dedicated team, we aim to create a platform that is not only highly functional but also aesthetically pleasing. To ensure the most accurate and up-to-date financial information, PennyWise integrates with PlaidAPI to bring you real-time financial data. This includes your account balance, spending, and student debt information, making it easier for you to keep track of your finances.
Challenges we ran into
PlaidAPI is a remarkable tool for financial data management, delivering real-time access to financial information and enabling seamless integration with various financial institutions. Integrating with PlaidAPI was a challenging feat for us. The API offers real-time financial data, which requires robust and trustworthy connections to be established. Ensuring the privacy and security of our users' financial information was a top priority and demanded extra attention and resources from our team. Despite these challenges, we were able to persevere and successfully integrate with PlaidAPI, providing the backbone for our Account Overview and Budgeting services.
Accomplishments that we're proud of and what we learnt
As a team participating in this hackathon, we are incredibly proud of the accomplishments we have achieved in developing PennyWise. The entire process of creating this innovative solution was immensely rewarding, as we were able to overcome a multitude of technical challenges and incorporate cutting-edge technologies along the way. Despite the compressed timeframe of the hackathon, we were able to learn new technologies and incorporate them into our application, making the process all the more fulfilling.
What's next for PennyWise
After the hackathon, the next step for PennyWise,is to continue its development and bring it to the market. Our goal is to provide a user-friendly and efficient solution for college students to manage their finances and reach their financial goals. We plan to further improve the app's functionality and enhance its user experience. Additionally, we will be exploring potential partnerships and integrations to expand the app's reach and impact. Our aim is to revolutionize the way college students handle their finances and help them make informed financial decisions.
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