Stretch Financial Wellness Review: Can it Help You Pay Down Debt? 

Stretch Financial Wellness is a newer name in the debt repayment game. At first glance, it seems like a fantastic idea. But, as I’m sure you know, no financial offer is right for everyone. So, let’s take a look at what the platform really offers and find out if this solution will be right for you. 

No need to get in and test out features, because I’ve done that work for you. 

This is what’s in Store: 

• What is Stretch Financial Wellness?
  • Stretch Financial Wellness Cost
  • Company Overview
• How Stretch Financial Works for Debt Repayment
  • 1. Sign Up, Verify, & Activate Your Account
  • 2. Share Your Personal Information
  • 3. Link Your Credit Cards to the App
  • 4. Start Doing Your Stretches
  • 5. Work Toward Your Goals
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Conclusion: Is Stretch Financial Worth it?

So, let’s jump in! 

What is Stretch Financial Wellness? 

Stretch Financial Wellness is a tech platform that aims to help you pay down debt with the snowball method. The platform empowers you to establish and commit to a personalized Zero-Debt Day Plan and provides a clear framework for debt reduction. 

In the meantime, it teaches you financial wellness concepts to help you have a better relationship with money. It’s a pretty simple, yet potentially powerful offer. 

Stretch Financial Wellness Cost

Before we learn what the app can do, let’s look at the pricing. 

Stretch is free if you only have one credit card to pay off. And, it’s free to try for seven days if you have multiple cards – After that, it’s only $5.99 per month.  

With a Premium Stretch Financial Wellness account, you can connect an unlimited number of credit card institutions, which enables more comprehensive financial tracking. 

And, the paid account offers unlimited entry to the Premium Stretch Financial Wellness educational library, which allows you to boost your financial knowledge and make informed decisions. 

If you think that might be worth six bucks a month, keep reading… 

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Company Overview

I was surprised to learn that Stretch Financial Wellness is owned by Progressive Next Inc., aka PNI, aka, a subsidiary of “Progressive” insurance company. Progressive is a massive home, auto, and commercial insurance company that is well-known for providing affordable rates, particularly on car insurance. 

The Great Lakes-based company was founded in 1937 and is still a publicly-held, for profit business – Progressive Next Inc. is registered as a foreign corporation in Ohio, with its base in Delaware (a more corporation-friendly state) — It launched in March 2023. 

While Stretch Financial Wellness is a new offer, this tells me that, if it’s a success, we’re going to see big growth in the coming years. And, it explains why the first thing the app recommends is to, “save money on car insurance.” 

Now, let’s see what the platform has to offer, in more concrete terms. 

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How Stretch Financial Works for Debt Repayment

The Stretch Financial Wellness platform, in a nutshell, allows you to connect your credit card accounts to the system via Plaid, and then guides you through the debt repayment process. Let’s break it down into the steps you take when you opt-in, and what you can expect along the way. 

1. Sign Up, Verify, & Activate Your Account

First things first…Sign-up with Stretch Financial is super straightforward. You sign up in a few clicks with your email address, the platform verifies your account, then, you enter your phone number for two-factor authentication (2FA). 

Here, you need to agree to receive marketing texts from Stretch (I tried to skip out, but the platform wouldn’t let me do it). Then, you verify your phone number, and boom! You’re in! 

2. Share Your Personal Information 

Next, the platform wants to know more about you, so they ask for your name and birthdate before you’re transferred to the dashboard. And, this is where the customization begins. 

Stretch Financial guides you through a four-minute questionnaire where you can tell the app more about yourself: 

1. Choose your current financial goals
2. Choose your long-term financial goals
3. Choose your greatest obstacle to reaching your goals
4. Marital status
5. Children in the home 
6. Annual income
7. Income sources
8. Which financial topics you’re most interested in

It’s best if you answer honestly so that the platform can work its magic. When you’re done, you click “Complete” and you can move into your Stretch dashboard. 

3. Link Your Credit Cards to the App

Afterwards, you’re going to connect your credit cards to the app using Plaid. If this is your first encounter with Plaid, it’s the industry standard for secure, encrypted financial information collection from most financial institutions. However, I’ve found that not all credit unions and small community banks have opted in to offer this system. 

🛑Let’s pause for a second – Some local credit unions or community banks and a few newer fintech companies aren’t on Plaid’s radar yet and some connect but don’t deliver account information properly with Plaid’s API. 

So, if you have credit card debt with a smaller lender and your online account isn’t compatible with Plaid, Stretch isn’t going to work for you right now. 

Still, you have a couple of options: 

1. Choose a more manual debt repayment solution (in this case, these credit repair books and resources will probably come in handy). 
2. Transfer your balance to another credit card with a more technologically advanced bank. 

🟢Alright, green light. Let’s get back to the app. 

At this stage, you’ll want to connect all of your credit cards that you’re carrying a balance on, one at a time. You’ll need online account login information for each. In case you don’t have a list of all of your accounts in front of you, I find that referencing my credit report is the easiest way to keep track. 

This was the most frustrating part of the process for me because I had to track down passwords to connect accounts, then it took the system a few minutes to import all of the information – at one point, I waited so long that I thought I broke the website. But, the rest was basically smooth sailing!  

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4. Start Doing Your Stretches

Once your debt is accounted for in the Stretch platform, you can start “stretching.” The app recommends “Stretches” (educational modules) that align with your goals. Even before you import your debt information, for example, the app recommends you learn how to save on car insurance (this is, in fact, an often overlooked aspect of financial health).  

After that, you’ll access a list of 5 to 15-minute Stretches that you can move through at your own pace – These bite-sized informational tidbits are all about learning how to make the best financial decisions. 

The modules are topic sets of related tips and tricks related to finance, for example: 

• Common credit card fees
• Is it okay to have debt?
• Knowledge is power
• Save on back-to-school

In all, education is pretty fundamental. While I didn’t see any knowledge here that you can’t find elsewhere, I can see how it could be helpful – Some of these tips, you may not even think to search for otherwise. 

You can only move through a few of these modules with a free account. You’ll have to subscribe to a paid account to access the full library. 

5. Work Toward Your Goals

In addition to Stretches, the platform gives you access to “Goal” modules based on the objectives that you set during sign up – this is the main, advertised offer. 

These goals will be different based on what you set during sign-up, and they’ll guide you on the path to become free of credit card debt. For those with more debt, it will obviously take longer. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion: Is Stretch Financial Worth it? 

Stretch Financial Wellness is a motivational platform to help you get out of debt. It’s free if you’re only paying off one card, but is it worth the $5.99 monthly price tag if you’ve got more than one? I think that’s pretty low, but I’m not so sure. 

In sum, Stretch might be a good fit for those with credit card debt alone, particularly with accounts at larger, technologically-modern banks that can connect seamlessly to Plaid. It’s also better for those who want to learn the fundamentals of financial wellness and prefer guided, bite-sized modules. 

It’s a fairly basic platform with a fair price. Another perk is that I don’t see a ton of affiliate links inside the user dashboard – This is super common inside the platforms I see, and it could change in the future.   

Unfortunately, the Stretch Financial Wellness platform isn’t a good fit for those with debt from smaller lenders that aren’t up-to-date with technology – Personally, I prefer small banks and credit unions because they seem to offer the best rates on financial products (as long as I maintain a positive relationship with them). 

And, Stretch doesn’t help you pay down installment loans like auto loans, mortgages, personal loans, and student loans. So, if you’re in need of help paying off installment debt, you may want to look elsewhere.

If your credit is shot due to factors other than debt (i.e. missed payments, bankruptcies, financial liens, etc.), I would recommend you look for a more robust, credit repair-centered solution. 

To dive into the world of credit repair and get that credit score up fast so you can move forward with your life, check out Credit Secrets and start your journey to better financial health.