Mint.com is a free online personal finance service that is aimed at being “easy and secure way to manage and save money online.” The service is accessible anywhere, anytime over the web.

Launched in September, 2007, the company states that Mint.com has over 1 million users, making it the largest and fastest growing service of its kind. Mint.com has received top awards from Kiplingers, Money and PC World magazines and is PC Magazine’s Editors’ Choice. Mint.com was acquired by Intuit in September 2009.

Users can get up and running in under five minutes. They register anonymously using only a valid email address. Mint.com automatically pulls bank, credit card, mortgage, loan and investment transactions from over 7,500 US financial institutions daily — giving users an up-to-date view of their money with no data entry, import or synching required. Mint.com’s patent-pending technology categorizes all transactions, showing users how much they spend on gas, groceries, restaurants, and more; their bank. credit card and investment account balances; the amount of interest they’re earning/paying, etc. It automatically calculates budgets by spending category and shows cash flow each month.

Mint.com also tries to save users money by suggesting ways to save that are personalized and objective. The company claims that users are presented with an average of $1,000 in savings opportunities in their first session. The service also sends users email and SMS alerts about upcoming bills, low balances or unusual spending. Users may text BAL to MyMint (696468) to receive current balances for all of the accounts they track using the service. Its iPhone app became the #1 iTunes Finance app on the day it launched.

For those worried about security, Mint uses the same online banking services providers and physical and encryption security practices as top US banks and is certified by VeriSign and TRUSTe.