New Version of Mvelopes Released
On Tuesday, January 3, 2012, the Mvelopes Team announced the release of the newest version of Mvelopes and Crown Mvelopes. The new Mvelopes includes a completely redesigned user interface, extensive database upgrades to improve speed and program responsiveness, and expanded report features.
The new Mvelopes also introduces a new, free version of Mvelopes with a limited feature set. The free version of Mvelopes will allow users to fully experience the automated envelope budgeting power of the Mvelopes system. The free version of Mvelopes limits users to 25 budgeting envelopes and to four online bank or credit card accounts. The free version of Mvelopes does not include the Debt Center or electronic Bill Pay, and free account users do not have access to online Live Chat support.
All current Mvelopes and Crown Mvelopes users will be grandfathered into the new, full version of the program, which is being renamed Mvelopes Premier or Crown Mvelopes Premier. Premier members will continue to enjoy full, unlimited access to all of the features of the Mvelopes system at their current subscription price. The lifetime membership program is being renamed Mvelopes Lifetime or Crown Mvelopes Lifetime, and all lifetime members will continue to receive their full lifetime membership benefits, with all the features of Mvelopes Premier, without interruption.
Members with current trial memberships will be granted full access to Mvelopes Premier and will become Premier members at the end of their trial subscriptions based upon the subscription and pricing they have selected. The previous version of Mvelopes will continue to be available to all Mvelopes Premier members for the next several months. Any questions should be directed to Live Chat Support.
We are excited to bring the new Mvelopes system to you. We look forward to working with Mvelopes and Crown Mvelopes users to further develop and advance the most complete online envelope budgeting program available today.
Teresa
16. Jan, 2012
I have been a huge fan of Mvelopes until now — cannot believe how upset this new version makes me! Please let us keep the old version forever — it is great. If you force me to go to the new version without making all the changes (mentioned so articulately by others), then I will cancel my subscription and have to find something else. I’m a long time user (referred through Debt-Proof Living) — I wonder if Mary Hunt has tried your new version? I certainly will give her my feedback on your changes.
Drew
27. Jan, 2012
Settle down now… “upset” really! Give Mvelopes a break, they are just trying to improve our user experience and make things more user friendly! And obviously they are still tweaking things, so maybe wait a while on spreading your negative feedback. Why don’t you give your feedback (in a constructive way) to the mvelopes team so they can try to improve things even more….
The old version is still available and always will be… When you log in it gives you the option to log into either version and says “You’ll continue to have ongoing access to the old version of Mvelopes indefinitely.”
Jerry
05. Feb, 2012
Drew, FYI - The old version will NOT “always” be available! I will only be available for a few months. The biggest problem, at least for me, is that many of the buttons and other functions do not work! When chatting with support, they have to had to tell me on several occasions that I would have to log onto the old version to perform what should be a simple function…like auto-assign transactions!
Jason
19. Jan, 2012
I have to agree with 99% of the comments. The new version is vastly inferior to the old version. I give you credit for spending time and money attempting to make your current and competitive, but this new version took a huge step backwards. Maybe the old version was fine the way it was. I have a life time membership, please keep the old version.
Antoine
21. Jan, 2012
I like the new Automation Manager, especially the ability to match transactions of a specific amount. I had been hoping for two years that such an option would be introduced.
A great enhancement to the Automation Manager would be the alphabetical sorting of Auto Assign rules. I have a lot of rules, more than a screen worth. With so many rules, it is difficult to scan the list and find the one I am looking for.
Sarah
22. Jan, 2012
I don’t like the new version either, and I’m a lifetime member, have been on the program since 2007. The people who are getting the new version for free are getting what they paid for…. not much! Is it possible to keep the old version? What was wrong with it?
Sarah
22. Jan, 2012
I don’t like the new version either, and I’m a lifetime member, have been on the program since 2007. The old version was easy to navigate and explain to others that I recommended the program to (because I liked it so much). In fact, I was about to teach a class on the program before I found out it was about to change, and now we’ve postponed it… indefinitely. Please keep the old program, especially for those of us who have paid or are paying for it. Go ahead and launch the free version for others who don’t know the difference yet, but please don’t penalize the current members.
JBSPuddintane
25. Jan, 2012
I have been referred to Mvelopes by a lifetime member who is now wondering why he has been paying $120/yr.
I emailed Crown Financial about their website, about how their charges and costs were not accessable, which is not conducive to budgeting, asking about the “FREE 14-day Trial”, which had been online when I checked them out, and they got back to me today with the information about this thing, saying, “We don’t have a free trial, Mvelopes is free for life”…etc
I’m not sure this is for me.
It sure sounded good. .
Ryan K
25. Jan, 2012
Wow. Everyone is so HARSH!
I was reading the comments and expecting the absolute worst. I have been waiting and waiting for Mvelopes to move away from cumbersome Flash. I was just too curious, so I signed up for a fake free account just to see it in action without hurting my real account.
I actually disagree with the negative sentiment. It’s time for Mvelopes to move away from Flash and modern up a bit. I think the new version is just fine and shows a lot of promise. None of the functionality is lost. It is just presented in a different way. As a matter of fact, I think the new version brings some nice features (like the 3 month spending chart, graphical reports, tile view of envelopes). I’m sure they will round it out as they go.
So just get over it and learn the new GUI.
Ryan K
25. Jan, 2012
nm. Just realized the new version is flash too. Either way, I still like it.
Randy L
28. Jan, 2012
Ryan, everyone is harsh because this long awaited version is NOT better, and it is STILL flash. All the time and money spent in development using old technology that will not help them moving forward in the rapidly increasing mobile world. The interface is clunky and not as efficient with the information. They made a change, seemingly, for the sake of change. But it is definitely NOT for the better. Someone should really lose their job over this.
Jerry
05. Feb, 2012
Ryan, If you already have an old version account that you have been using, you need to log onto the new version and try using it! After just a short time, you will see what all the HARSH is about! It’s not just getting used to the new UI, it is that many of the functions that the old version had, does not work on the new version! Also, you will find many bugs in the new version (unless they have made many updates since i logged on a week or so ago)! Again, try it and you will understand!
Jerry
05. Feb, 2012
Ryan,
One thing i forgot….
Have you tried to use the reports? If you ever used many of the reports in the old version, go to the new version and try to run the same reports. I never ran many reports, but there were a few I used fairly often, and CANNOT access any of them in the new version! Just FYI
David Flowers
27. Jan, 2012
Are you guys serious? The new version is AWESOME. I’m just bummed that it appears to still be in Flash. HTML5 would have been a better approach, IMO. 90% of you who don’t like it just don’t like change. There is no substantial reason not to like this. It’s faster, looks better and more modern, is more intuitive, and was a long-overdue change.
I have used Mvelopes since around 2005 — since before the update BEFORE this one. Mvelopes continues getting better and better. I hope you who are down on it will give it a chance. Don’t just react negatively to change but give it a few weeks.
Great job, Mvelopes team. Long overdue change.
Jerry
05. Feb, 2012
David,
How much time have you spent using the new version? Have you not run into an ‘bugs’? Just wondering! So far, every time I have logged on, there are many things I cannot do, because some particular feature does not work, or I will try something like adding a transaction that won’t save, or a button does not work. Then, when I talk with support, they sometimes have ended up telling me to log onto the old version to do what ever it was I was trying to do. I too have been a member for several years (2006 I think) and am very frustrated that it takes me double or triple the time to complete my work, compared to the old version.
I do really like what they are trying to do with the new version. However, there are sooooo many things it will NOT do, I am very frustrated.
Mary Ann
06. Feb, 2012
I agree with you 100%. Each time I log in to Mvelopes, I go to the new version, just to see if I can do my daily activitis in the version. Every time, I run into some king of bug. I have not once been able to complete a daily session without running into an issue.
It’s not an “I don’t like change” situation. It’s an “I can’t use this version because of the issues” situation.
Here are a couple of my recent finds: The only way to change the frequency of pay is to delete you entire income and reenter it. In the previous version, it was a couple of clicks. Also, there is no report when you can pull your spending plan into a CSV. I often did that so I could balance everything in Excel and simply key it into Mvelopes. Those are just two of the most recent…many others have already shared issues that I’ve also experienced.
Also, I agree with support’s solution is to go to the previous version. That is a sign that this version was not ready and is still not ready.
Jerry
05. Feb, 2012
Oh yes,one more thing. Have you tried to use the reports? If you ever used many of the reports in the old version, go to the new version and try to run the same reports. I never ran many reports, but there were a few I used fairly often, and CANNOT access any of them in the new version!
Jerry
05. Feb, 2012
Ryan,
One thing i forgot….
Have you tried to use the reports? If you ever used many of the reports in the old version, go to the new version and try to run the same reports. I never ran many reports, but there were a few I used fairly often, and CANNOT access any of them in the new version! Just FYI
Sam Gardner
28. Jan, 2012
Lifetime member, used Mvelopes for nearly as long as it has been around.
Don’t like many aspects of new version:
- Fonts are too large, information about transactions and envelopes doesn’t fit well in display, even if window is maximized
- Drag and drop to assign transaction to envelopes doesn’t work well. You have to click around the transaction many time until you get it into a mode where it can actually be dragged. Drop downs for classifying transactions is slow and clunky.
- Pending transactions window pane is now replace by a separate view for pending transactions. Dislike.
- Looks like the emphasis was on making UI pretty, but functionality has taken a step backwards.
- on positive note, i do like the accounts window a little better.
I’m going to stick with the old version for now…
Mary Ann Miller
01. Feb, 2012
I see that some pieces of the previous Mvelopes version are slowly being removed. We’ve been told that it would be kept for 6 months.
I am unable to pull spending reports and the answer from support is the issue has been sent to engineering to be prioritized and could take weeks.
Am I surprised, no. I had faith in Mvelopes and my faith has waned. I haven’t lost all hope, but add the fact that no new updates to the “new and unimproved” version have been announced since Jan 19th and reports from the previous version aren’t working—seems like they are giving up.
I don’t know what I’ll do because I absolutely depend on the previous version. (I’ve tried the new version, ever time I logged in, I tried it and something always happened—freeze, glitch, something.)
Please, please, please, Mvelopes, restore my faith. Bring back my beloved previous version along with it’s wonderful reports.
Respectfully—
Barb
06. Feb, 2012
I could adapt to the new version much easier if the data was accurate. My net worth in the old version is correct. My net worth in the new version is not. i submitted a ticket and was told that the problem was being turned over to the programmers.
Not good when numbers do not match between the two versions
Becky
13. Feb, 2012
I’ve been disappointed with the new version that came out (for all the reasons stated above). I saw that you recently made a bunch of fixes so I wanted to check them out to see how the fixes actually turned out.
Currently when logging into the new site it attempts to load the page and ultimately shows a blank screen. In other words: the new site is down.
The snarky side of me likes the irony - I sort of wish the new site would go away. It’s really not worth the effort. Really. I’m not getting all upset because it’s new and different and just need to get used to it. If that’s the rationale you’re using (that everyone will just get used to it) I think you’re deluding yourselves.
Jim
21. Feb, 2012
Every time I log in I give the new version of Mvelopes a try. Each time I hold out hope that maybe, just maybe, the new version will work at least as well as the previous version and each time I am disappointed as i find some other bug such as amounts in various envelopes are incorrect, program freezing, matching transactions like $78 to 32.88 (not even close). I became a lifelong member 3 years ago and now will have to look for another program to use if Finicity insists on fielding this version. It seems that your trying to drive this once fine program into the ground and chase away all of us longtime loyal customers if you ditch the previous version.
Randy
26. Feb, 2012
Are there any lawyers here? Should we consider a class action lawsuit? No, seriously. As a lifetime member, I feel cheated since the new version does not have all the features of the old version. Specifically, the reports feature is no longer useful and I realied on that feature heavily for tax purposes. Bottom line is I am no longer getting what I paid for. Any one agree?
Brian
16. Apr, 2012
Ok, I feel better now that I have read a bunch of postings. I am a new member, free member; the site is terribly cumbersome in my opinion. I was wondering if the problem was me when things wouldn’t work. I am glad I didn’t pay for a membership right off the bat. Looks like I’ll stick with my paper envelopes or Mint for now and check in occasionally for updates and improvements.