Online personal finance service Mint.com has added an inbound SMS feature to help consumers avoid overdrafts and other fees and maximize reward points.

The new addition gives consumers instant access to an overview of their entire net worth via their handset. The free online service now supports more than 7,500 financial institutions.

"This new inbound SMS capability is the latest in a series of innovations to help our users stick to budgets, avoid unwanted fees and ultimately save and do more with their money," said Aaron Patzer, founder/CEO of Mint, Mountain View, CA. "Because Mint now supports over 7,500 financial institutions, we're essentially offering free mobile access to the majority of U.S. banks."

Consumers can text keyword "Bal" or "Balance" to short code "MyMint" (696468) to receive real-time balances for the checking, savings, credit union and investment accounts they track using Mint.com.

Mint.com users can now find out in the checkout line whether they should use debit or credit, and which of their cards to use.

With nearly 600,000 users, Mint.com claims to be the fastest-growing personal financial service, tracking more than $50 billion in transactions and $15 billion in assets.

Mint's "Ways to Save" feature has identified more than $100 million in potential savings for its users, the company claims.

This new inbound SMS capability is the latest in a series of Mint.com features designed to help its users stick to budgets, avoid unwanted fees and ultimately save and do more with their money.

A January Mint.com survey found that more than four in 10 people spent more than they had planned during the 2007 holiday season.

At that time, six in 10 respondents said they planned to make some changes to their holiday spending this year.

The majority of Mint.com users have adjusted their budgets downward since the beginning of the economic crisis in September, reversing a more typical seasonal trend to increase budgets for the holiday season.

Overall, Mint.com users are planning to spend 3 percent less in the coming months, with the largest reductions planned in travel -- down 20 percent -- and personal care, down 24 percent.

Users are planning to maintain, not increase, their average monthly spending this holiday season by shifting spending from general shopping purchases -- budgets down 7 percent -- toward gifts, up 8 percent.

Thousands of Mint.com users have already added customized gifts and shopping budgets since Mint.com introduced personalized spending categories last month, the company claimed.

In addition, Mint.com's blog features tips and tricks for surviving the holidays.

Among Mr. Patzer's key recommendations: Don't spend more than one paycheck on the holidays.

For consumers making $60,000 per year, that means spending no more than their average $1,500 bi-monthly paycheck on gifts, decorations, food and drinks for parties.

Mint.com has recently released major updates to the product, adding support for thousands of new banks; mortgages, loans and investment tracking; customizable spending categories; and automatic budgeting features.

Mint applies patent-pending technology and proprietary algorithms to categorize transactions; provide a unified view of all account activity; and alert users to low balances, bank fees, upcoming bills and potentially suspicious account activity.

Mint maintains a dialogue with its users through weekly emails to customers, through the Mint blog at http://blog.mint.com and through social media tools Facebook and Twitter.

"Mint only makes money when we can save users money," Mr. Patzer said. "Our revenue model is based on an unbiased 'Ways to Save' feature, which has already identified more than $100 million in potential savings for our users based on their individual spending patterns.

"This season, money is especially tight, and we're happy to report that 90 percent of our users tell us they understand their spending better after using Mint, and about half have already changed their spending behavior," he said.