Bills.com's Free, Online BillsIQ Test Measures Consumers' Financial Wellness

SAN MATEO, Calif., June 11 /PRNewswire/ -- To help millions of Americans acquire the knowledge to master their financial well-being, Bills.com is launching a new, free financial IQ test that measures financial awareness and offers real solutions to tackle money problems.

The test is one of the first of its kind to not simply measure credit as a proxy for financial stability, but to measure the full picture of a consumer's financial health.

BillsIQ (available at http://www.bills.com/iq) tests five different areas: credit, debt, budgeting, wealth and life plan. Questions incorporate overall life and financial goals, financial life cycle, and spending, budgeting and saving habits. Upon completing the test, consumers receive a grade and a percentage score -- their BillsIQ. Consumers can see their answers and receive specific tips tailored for their financial issues, and they can compare their scores to those of other test-takers.

"The recent mortgage meltdown is a prime example of how Americans overspend, over-leverage, under-save and under-plan for their financial well-being. But individuals are starting to take responsibility for their financial future. We're moving beyond just the credit score to deeper knowledge," Brad Stroh, co-founder and co-CEO of Bills.com, said. "BillsIQ can help people learn exactly where to apply their energy to earn a higher financial 'grade' and increase their stability."

Americans' collective financial IQ is low, Stroh said. Individuals carry median credit card debt of $6,600(1) -- or 14 percent of the U.S. median household income of $48,200 in 2006.(2) Total U.S. consumer debt is $2,558 trillion dollars.(3) In March (the most recent data available), the personal saving rate in the United States was 0.2 percent of income -- a figure that easily could be negative if saving was financed by borrowing.(4) And only a minority of Americans keep track of how much they spend and where they spend it.(5)

Bills.com also offers a free Bills.com Personal Finance Budget Guide at http://www.bills.com/guide/.

Based in San Mateo, Calif., Bills.com (www.bills.com) is a free one-stop portal where consumers can educate themselves about complex personal finance issues and comparison shop for products and services including credit cards, debt relief assistance, insurance, mortgages and other loans. In 2008, Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Bills.com as the No. 3 fastest-growing U.S. company on its Hot 100 list.

(1) CardTrak.com, June 2007.

    (2) U.S. Census, August 2007
(www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/010583.html)

    (3) Federal Reserve, May 2008.
    (4) Bureau of Economic Analysis, May 2008
        (http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/national/pi/pinewsrelease.htm)
    (5) Princeton Survey Research Associates, April 2007
        (http://www.nfcc.org/NFCC_SummaryReport_ToplineFinal.pdf)