Best apps for splitting bills among housemates

Sharing is a brilliant way to keep living costs down, but when one or more housemates aren’t pulling their weight, the savings can quickly evaporate.

Here are four cutting-edge apps to take the pain out of splitting bills and other expenses.

Easy to share the bills

Made specifically for share houses, easyshare is simple to use. Download the app, add payment details (credit or debit card or direct debit) and invite housemates to join.

Input the bill, each person’s share, and details of the organisation being paid, then easyshare does the work of splitting the bill and making the payments. It works for rent and other regular shared expenses, such as power and internet.

The app also manages IOUs, like if someone needs to be reimbursed for the grocery shopping. Easyshare will get the user’s permission to debit their account before honouring a housemate’s IOU request.

The app is free, but takes a 1.5 per cent fee for each transaction (2.5 per cent for Amex). Users also have to pay standard credit card charges.

Payments in a snap

Splitr uses photos of printed bills to split the cost between housemates. It relies on one person paying the bill and then seeking reimbursements, essentially IOUs. To set up, the app is downloaded and payment details provided.

Even splits are easier, but for itemised accounts, such as a grocery bill or if everyone is going to chip for a house party, the user can drag and drop to assign specific costs to specific people –meaning the craft beer drinker pays their own way!

Splitr allows transfers via credit card (not Amex) and direct debit.

Wise up to bill splits

Splitwise is a somewhat more mature offering, featuring “fairness calculators” and mediation services. It’s also available online, as well as on smartphones.

Again, get started by entering payment options and the people who will be splitting the bills.

When a bill arrives, input the info into the app and indicate who needs to pay what. As well as being able to pay a single IOU, Splitwise uses an online ledger system to keep track of who owes who what, and allows the user to choose to pay a larger lump sum as a one-off rather than multiple back and forth between users.

Splitwise’s fairness calculators, based on crowdsourced data, can be used, for example, to work out how rent should be divided based on factors such as room size, dedicated air con or shared or private bathroom.

Splitwise is free to download and use, except for regular banking/credit card fees, with the company raising money from advertising.

It’s a cinch

Finch differs from similar options by providing a Finch account, which users can add funds to, as well as the standard credit/debit card and direct debit options. Those making payments from their Finch account avoid the 2.4 per cent transaction fee.

For share houses, start by downloading the app, adding payment details and setting up a “household group”. The app offers instant transfers between users, a bill splitting option and group tabs.

With an emphasis on assisting Gen Y with its finances, app users can also get “actionable financial insights” to keep their budget on track.

Finch will only transfer money between Finch users, however users can send an IOU to a non-user’s phone, encouraging them to sign up.

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