Cleo built a beloved personal finance experience by meeting their users where they are, through a witty AI chat that makes money decisions feel approachable. Cleo’s mission is to transform people's relationships with money by providing personalized financial advice and tools that help users manage, save, build credit, and reduce debt. With Method, Cleo launched Debt Reset, a subscription feature that gives members a clear picture of what they owe and a plan to pay it down faster.

This is a story about product partnership, not just an integration. Cleo brought an engaged audience and a bold vision. Method brought real-time liability connectivity, data that powers payoff planning, and the dedicated team to make launch day a success.

Key launch facts

• Product: Debt Reset inside the Cleo app for Plus and Builder tiers

• Go‑live: July, 2025

• Expanded coverage: To serve under-served communities–users early in their career, low credit scores, and thin credit files

• Week‑one adoption: 10x growth over pilot in week one

The problem Cleo set out to solve

Most budget and coaching tools stop at advice – Cleo wanted better financial outcomes for their users. To deliver on creating Debt Reset, Cleo needed:

1. Ease of onboarding users: fast, reliable connectivity to liabilities without credentials

2. Complete coverage: of up-to-date liabilities across a diverse user base

3. Updated data: Build trust as financial hub and deliver dynamic payoff strategies 

4. Easy implementation: the ability to test before rolling out a full implementation

5. Dedicated team: to build and partner with on future roadmap

What Cleo built with Method

Debt Reset is Cleo’s premium subscription feature that turns real-time liability data into an actionable payoff plan. Members see every eligible debt in one place, pick a strategy, and follow a monthly schedule that updates automatically. Method’s financial connectivity and real-time data powers: 

One tap to see all debt. Users opt in, authenticate, and Cleo fetches their accounts through Method. Balances, interest rates, next payment dates, and total open debts appear inside a friendly Debt tracker.

Personalized payoff strategy. Cleo labels each liability as high, medium, or low interest. Users select their payoff strategy: snowball or avalanche. The app generates a month-by-month plan with a projected debt-free date and interest saved.

Orchestrated flow and data sync. Method’s APIs handle user connectivity and up-to-date data so Cleo can focus on UX, voice, and coaching.

Under the hood: the hard parts

Launching at Cleo’s scale required serious data work.

Enriched data to expand user coverage: Cleo serves many users who are newer to managing debt. Method worked hand-in-hands with Cleo to make the experience feel simple by supplying Cleo clean, categorized liabilities details that are up-to-date. That lets Cleo show their users all debts at a glance, label payoff priorities in plain language, and keep the payoff plan current without extra steps.

Early results

Seven days in, engagement exceeded internal targets. Usage has continued to scale as Cleo rolls out notifications and in‑app prompts.

• 10x growth over pilot in week one

• 60% of eligible Cleo users engaged with Debt Reset week 1 

• 80%+ happy‑path eligibility for payoff planning

• Won Money2020 Grand Prix Award

Strong leading indicators for retention and value expansion within Cleo’s subscription tiers.

Why it matters

For Cleo, utilizing Methods composable API’s means they were able to:

• Activate users instantly by pre-filling dashboards with liability data — just a name and phone number unlocks visibility across all accounts

• Engage users with actionable insights from fresh liability data spanning credit cards, personal loans, auto, and more

• Retain users with data that automatically stays up-to-date, keeping coaching tools and progress bars accurate

• Monetize premium features like Debt Reset into higher subscription tiers

For end users, it means less guesswork, more confidence, and a clearer path to zero debt.

What's next

We are exploring with Cleo:

• Direct debt payments from the app to the liability 

• Credit score insights tied to payoff progress

• Deeper coaching prompts that react to real changes in balances and due dates

• More debt insights through Method attributes on credit utilization, new accounts, and delinquenciesResults

Each step makes the plan more trustworthy and the experience more rewarding.

Cleo’s #BuiltWithMethod Advantage

• Instant & continuous connectivity: liability data with just a name and phone number

• Real-time accuracy: liability data that stays current without extra steps

• Breadth of coverage: spanning credit cards, personal loans, auto, and more

• Dedicated partnership: a team that sprinted with Cleo across product, data, engineering, and CS to hit launch day.

Cleo x Method was a true village effort. Shoutout to the teams across product, data, engineering, and CS who sprinted through extended data categorization, QA, and launch support.

Want to build your own Debt Reset?

If you want to ship a debt payoff experience, let’s talk. Book a demo today.