Rocket took a percentage of my savings for its troubles, but for me, it was still worth it.
Budget surprises are rarely welcome. Which is why I was delighted to find an email in my inbox from my budgeting app, Rocket Money, telling me it had reduced my Spectrum bill and increased my internet speed.
Better yet, I didn't even know it was negotiating this deal for me. It had saved me on my Spectrum bill last year when I asked it to, but I hadn't asked it to renegotiate this year. The app just did it and informed me of its success.
Here's what happened.
Read more: Drowning in Subscriptions? I Saved $400 in 15 Minutes With Rocket Money. Here's How You Can, Too
Why did Rocket do this for me?
Last year, I asked Rocket's bill negotiation service to lower my Spectrum bill. It succeeded, cutting my cost by $300, or $25 a month for 12 months. As is often the case with expenses like subscriptions, which many of us lose track of, I mentally noted the 12-month deadline and then promptly forgot about it.
Fortunately, Rocket did not. When you sign up for its bill negotiation service, there’s an option to enable renegotiations when any discounts they get you expire. Even if the savings don't expire, Rocket will still periodically negotiate more savings.
When my Spectrum promotional rate ended this month, Rocket automatically renegotiated my bill for the next 12 months, this time netting me $13 off per month for a total of $156 for the year.
All told, the budgeting app saved me $456 over two years. Not too shabby, especially considering I didn't even need to do anything this time around.
Plus, Rocket upgraded my plan, boosting my internet speed from 600Mbps to 1,000Mbps -- a 66% increase. I received a box from Spectrum with a new modem and instructions to replace my old one.
I was already a fan of Rocket Money, which won CNET's 2024 Editors’ Choice award for best budgeting app. Getting faster internet at a lower cost is icing on the cake.
It wasn't free, but it was still worth it for me
Rocket didn't renegotiate my internet bill out of generosity. If its bill negotiation service is successful, it takes a 30% to 60% cut of the amount it saves you. It charged me 30% for both of its Spectrum negotiations. So, it took $90 of last year's $300 savings and $46.80 of this year's $156 savings.
I could have contacted Spectrum myself to try to get some savings, but there's no guarantee I would have gotten the same amount. And, more importantly, I simply wouldn't have remembered to do it. So any savings Rocket netted me are a bonus in my mind.Â
Rocket also saved me $400 with its subscription cancellation service last year. To have Rocket cancel your subscriptions for you, you'll need to pay for the premium version of the app, which costs $6 per month. With the free version, you can see a list of your subscriptions and cancel them on your own. One day, when I'm ready to spare a little elbow grease, I might go that route.
