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Financial Rates:
1.0
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Customer Service:
3.5
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Website Experience:
5.0
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Bank Fees:
5.0
Pros:
- No monthly maintenance fees
- Pay friends through the mobile app
- Chime Automatic Savings
- No credit check to open accounts
Cons:
- Limited accounts with low interest rates
- Does not offer ATM fee reimbursement
- No overdraft protection
- Daily withdrawal and spending limits
What You Need to Know
Chime accounts do not have monthly maintenance fees. The Spending and Saving account are completely free. There is not an overdraft fee or a monthly maintenance fee. There is no minimum balance required to keep in the account.
On the Chime app is a Pay Friends feature. You can send money to others instantly. You must have the person’s name, phone number, or email to transfer money. The intended person must have a Chime account or be approved for a Chime Spending account. You can only send up to $2,000 each month with this feature.
Chime offers an Automatic Savings tool. Each time you use your Chime debit card the amount rounds up to the nearest dollar. The extra amount is automatically transferred to your Chime Savings account. With direct deposit, you can have ten percent of your check automatically deposited into your savings account.
When you open a Chime account, they do not check your credit score or ChexSystems. If you have bad credit or no credit you can still be approved for a Chime account. Applying for a Chime account will not hurt your credit score.
Chime only offers a Spending account and a Savings account. The savings account with Chime does not earn a competitive interest rate. It does earn a small percentage of interest, but the rate is lower than traditional bank rates. The rate is not competitive with online or traditional bank interest rates. The checking account does not earn interest.
Chime offers 38,000 fee-free ATMs. If you use an ATM not included in the Chime network, you are charged a fee of $2.50 per ATM transaction. There is also a $2.50 fee for over the counter cash withdrawals. Chime does not reimburse these fees.
Most banks offer some type of overdraft protection. Chime does not. There is not a fee for over-drafting your account. But, if you do not have sufficient funds to cover the purchase, the transaction will not go through. You must have enough money in your account to cover transactions.
Chime limits the amount you can withdraw and spend with their Visa debit card each day. You are only allowed to withdraw $500 each day from an ATM, cash back during a point of sale transactions, or by an over-the-counter withdrawal. You are only allowed to make $2,500 in purchases with the debit card per 24 hours. The 24-hour period starts once the transaction is complete. Each of these different ways applies to the $2,500 allowed each day. No matter how you spend or withdraw the money, it cannot exceed $2,500 per 24 hours. Payments from the Chime Checkbook cannot exceed $10,000 in one month. You cannot make a check payment over $5,000.
Cool Things
Chime Blog
The Chime blog offers financial articles on a variety of topics. The articles include spending money, wealthy habits, and making money. There are articles about personal Chime customer stories and news articles about Chime.
History
Chime launched in 2014. Their goal is to help customers manage their money more efficiently. They hope to build the bank accounts of the future. Chime offers a Spending account and a Saving account.
In June of 2018, Chime reached the threshold of one million bank accounts. Chime customers have saved more than $150 million with their Chime Saving account. Chime had a total of $2.5 billion in transaction volume at the beginning of 2018.
Awards and Recognition
- Featured as ‘New Apps We Love’ by Nerdwallet in 2017
Additional Drawbacks of Chime
To transfer money to other bank accounts, you must link the accounts. Only certain banks are able to link to your Chime account. You are only allowed to transfer $200 a day and $1,000 per month to these accounts.
To open an account with Chime, you must download the app. Once you download the app, you can open the Spending account. You must first open the Spending account, and once you do, you can then open the Savings account.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Chime is FDIC insured. The FDIC is an agency of the United States government that protects funds deposited in banks, up to $250,000 per customer, per bank. The money deposited in FDIC insured banks means money is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government.
Electronic transfers or the Chime checkbook feature. They do not offer traditional checks. The checkbook feature acts more like bill pay. You send the checks directly from the mobile app. If you want to withdraw cash from a retail location, you could be charged a fee of $2.50 per withdrawal.
Yes. The mobile app allows you to transfer money, send checks, and upload checks. You can also pay others with the Pay Friends feature.
Yes. There are no monthly maintenance fees. These accounts do not have overdraft fees. If you overdraft your account the transaction will not go through.
There are no monthly fees. It is an entirely online account, with no branch locations. You can contact customer service by email or phone. The interest rates on the savings account are very low. The checking account does not earn interest. Chime only offers a checking and savings account.
Chime encrypts personal information. With the mobile app, you can turn off your debit card if you notice unauthorized transactions. Chime debit cards offer Zero Liability protection. You must notify Chime immediately if you do see unauthorized transactions.
No. The checking account does not earn interest. The Chime savings account earns a very low rate. This rate is not competitive with online or traditional bank accounts.
No. Chime offers personal deposit accounts. If Chime sees you are using their account for a business account, they may shut down the account.
Chime accounts do not have any fees. There is no minimum balance requirement. Chime accounts are entirely online.
No. The Chime checking account does not earn interest.
Through phone or email. You can follow Chime on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Chime does not offer bill pay, but the Chime checkbook feature is similar to bill pay. You can pay others by making out a check through the mobile app. The check is then sent by the bank. This feature is free. Checks generally take three to nine business days to arrive. Each check cannot exceed $5,000. There is also a limit of $10,00 per month.
Yes. You can make a cash deposit at more than 60,000 retail locations. Some of those locations include Walgreens, CVS, and some 7-Eleven stores.
Chime only allows you to link certain banks to their accounts. Transfers between that account and your Chime account may take five business days. There is a limit of how much you can transfer to an external account. Transfers from an external account to a Chime account take three business days. Cash deposits at a Green Dot location are available two hours after the transaction.
Yes. Signing up for direct deposit makes you eligible to receive your paycheck two days earlier.
Bank Contact Information
support@chimebank.com(844) 244-6363
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| Savings (Rate as of 11/21/2024) | |
| APY | 4.00% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 3.92% |
| Min to Open | $0 |
| Min to Earn APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Min to Avoid Fee | $0 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC | |
| Savings (Rate as of 11/21/2024) | |
| APY | 4.75% |
|---|---|
| Rate | 4.64% |
| Min to Open | $0 |
| Min to Earn APY | $0 |
| Monthly Fee | $0.00 |
| Min to Avoid Fee | $0 |
| Checkbook | No |
| Member FDIC No monthly maintenance fee, $0 to open, easily grow your money | |
The rate information is obtained by Bankrate from the listed institutions. Bankrate cannot guarantee the accuracy or availability of any rates shown. Institutions may have different rates on their own websites than those posted on Bankrate.com. The listings that appear on this page are from companies from which this website receives compensation, which may impact how, where, and in what order products appear. This table does not include all companies or all available products.
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1 APY stands for Annual Percent Yield. It's different from Rate because it takes into account compounding interest for the year.
2 MMA stands for Money Market Account. It's a savings and checking hybrid, allowing you to earn interest and use checks 6 times a month.