Company:MyBudget

From HandWiki
MyBudget
TypePrivate
IndustryFinancial services
Founded1999
FounderTammy Barton
Headquarters
Adelaide, South Australia
Key people
Tammy Barton
ServicesPersonal Budgeting

MyBudget is an Australian financial services company based in Adelaide, South Australia, which provides personal budget management services.

History

Tamara Jill Barton (née Monaghan; formerly May) started MyBudget as a home-based business in Adelaide in 1999 at the age of 22 after working at a debt collection agency.[1][2] On 26 October 2012, Barton was appointed to the BankSA Advisory Board,[3] however, she remains director of and spokesperson for MyBudget.

Product

MyBudget provides a personal budgeting service which analyses a client's finances, including income, expenses and debt. The budgeting system works by ranking each bill in order of priority categories, from those which are the highest, such as living expenses and mortgage repayments, to those with a lower priority.

Criticism and malware

In December 2013, MyBudget was named in a national current affairs television report as "profiteering at the expense of people who are struggling with debt".[4] MyBudget issued a statement responding to the report, claiming that "the segment was an unbalanced attack on our industry and that many of the comments made are inaccurate".[5]

In 2017, MyBudget was the object of a class action due to withholding interest accrued by clients.[6] In September 2018, the courts dismissed the proceedings, with Judge Lee stating that "MyBudget obtains and suffers the pluses and minuses of the bank accounts necessary to discharge its obligations to provide the services," and, in addition, "The Provision did not cause an overall detriment, financial or otherwise, to clients".[7]

In May 2020, MyBudget was the confirmed target of a cyberattack. As a result, the company quickly moved its employees into work-from-home arrangements amid the coronavirus outbreak.[8] Automatic transfers were interrupted, but progressed manually. Customers expressed concerns as to whether the significant personal data held by MyBudget had been leaked or hacked.[9] Later, hackers claimed to have stolen data from MyBudget using ransomware and threatened to publish it unless paid.[10] During the ransomware attack "users were unable to view their account balance for at least seven days."[11] In a statement to the media on 15 May 2020, MyBudget stated that there was "no credible evidence that significant data was accessed or will be misused [h]owever we can't rule this out and are taking all cautionary measures".[8]


Awards

Template:Primary sources section MyBudget's industry recognition is primarily attributed to its founder, Tammy Barton (formerly Tammy May), who has been acknowledged by various Australian business organizations for her entrepreneurship and female leadership in the financial services sector.

Awards and recognition received by founder Tammy Barton
Year Awarding body Award category Result Ref.
2017 SmartCompany Top 30 Female Entrepreneurs Listed [12]
2017 Telstra Business Women's Awards South Australian Business Woman of the Year State Winner [13]
2017 League of Extraordinary Women Female Entrepreneur of the Year Recipient [14]
2016 League of Extraordinary Women Female Entrepreneur of the Year Recipient [14]
2015 League of Extraordinary Women Female Entrepreneur of the Year Recipient [14]
2012 Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence (Young Entrepreneur) Honouree [14]
2008 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Central Region) Regional Winner [15]
2007 Telstra Business Women's Awards South Australian Business Woman of the Year State Winner [16]


References

  1. "Financial freedom just a budget away". 10 May 2012. http://www.afr.com/business/financial-freedom-just-a-budget-away-20120509-jyzl4. 
  2. Moss, Cory (2 March 2004). "South Australian Tammy May's MyBudget business aimed at helping people budget is making an impact in different ways". http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/sa-business-journal/south-australian-tammy-mays-mybudget-business-aimed-at-helping-people-budget-is-making-an-impact-in-different-ways/news-story/2dc8b758510104f36de7ca6d9c1fc676. 
  3. Booth, Meredith (22 October 2012). "MyBudget founder Tammy May and former Ernst & Young SA managing partner Mark Butcher join BankSA advisory board". http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/new-faces-for-banksa/news-story/fe8c4f9652819cf0257f13806ec45604. 
  4. The businesses cashing-in on people under financial stress 7:30 Report, ABC TV, 9 December 2013. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  5. "ABC 730 Report Response From MyBudget :: MyBudget". http://www.mybudget.com.au/abc-730-report-response-from-mybudget. 
  6. "'Debt vultures' 'preying' on the financially vulnerable, lawyers say". ABC News. 5 April 2017. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-04-05/consumers-warned-of-debt-management-companies/8419400. 
  7. "Judge dismisses MyBudget consumer class action – Lawyerly". Lawyerly. 18 September 2018. https://www.lawyerly.com.au/judge-dismisses-mybudget-consumer-class-action/. 
  8. 8.0 8.1 Siebert, Bension and Krishnan, Shuba (15 May 2020) MyBudget blames ransomware hack for system outage affecting thousands of customers ABC News. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  9. Slessor, Camron; Martin, Patrick (13 May 2020). "MyBudget system outage leaves thousands of Australian customers in financial limbo". ABC News (ABC). https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-13/mybudget-system-outage-leaves-customers-in-financial-limbo/12244926. 
  10. Martin, Patrick (2 June 2020). "Hackers threaten to release data stolen during MyBudget cyberattack". ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-03/hackers-threaten-to-release-data-stolen-in-mybudget-cyberattack/12313464. 
  11. Collett, John (2022-10-11). "Budgeting apps share your financial data, but how safe are they?" (in en). https://www.smh.com.au/money/investing/budgeting-apps-share-your-financial-data-but-how-safe-are-they-20221006-p5bnrt.html. 
  12. "Australia's Top 30 Female Entrepreneurs 2017". SmartCompany. 7 March 2017. https://www.smartcompany.com.au/lists/australias-top-30-female-entrepreneurs-2017/. 
  13. "MyBudget founder Tammy Barton named 2017 Telstra Business Woman of the Year". The Advertiser. 17 October 2017. https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/mybudget-founder-tammy-barton-named-2017-telstra-business-woman-of-the-year/news-story/4d65174759770783133053d86325435e. 
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 "Tammy Barton: Speaker Biography". Keynote Entertainment. https://www.keynoteentertainment.com.au/speakers/business-speakers/tammy-barton. 
  15. "Fearless Conversations: Innovation & Enterprise". Flinders University. https://www.flinders.edu.au/fearless/conversations/ep09-innovation. "Young's Young Entrepreneur of the Year (Central Region)" 
  16. "Tammy Barton (May) in 1999 at 22 grows her Adelaide personal budgeting service idea into national success". Adelaide AZ. https://adelaideaz.com/articles/tammy-barton--may--in-1999-at-22-turns-adelaide-personal-budgeting-service-idea-into-fast-growing-national-success.