Chime Bank Review: What it is and How it works

Banks without physical branches are on the rise. This might make some of you a little uncomfortable, but it actually makes complete sense for many Americans. Because there are no brick-and-mortar locations to acquire, staff, and manage; online banks like Chime Review can pass along those savings to you by offering some pretty impressive rewards.

“What if I ever need to physically go to the bank to do something?” You ask.

Well, I would ask in return, “When was the last time you really needed to go inside a physical bank branch?”

I’m not talking about using the ATM outside the bank. I’m talking about actually parking your car and walking through the doors of your local bank branch.

Most people I know hardly ever (or never) walk inside their bank. Their check is direct deposited, they use their Debit card, ATM, or the bank’s website for money transfers and withdrawals. No physical bank branch was needed.

Think about the switch to buying Mp3’s instead of physical CDs. Once you realized that you haven’t actually pulled out a physical CD in years, you finally decided to make the jump to just getting it on iTunes. In the same way that CDs are pretty obsolete, physical bank branches might not be far behind.

So, can Chime Bank work for you? You tell me.

Chime Review

Chime Checking Accounts

Or, as Chime calls them, “spending accounts” are completely free. No Minimum balance required. No monthly fees, and no overdraft fees. What’s the catch? So, how do they make their money?

Well, you will get a VISA debit card for your spending, and VISA gives Chime Bank a kickback each time you swipe your card. So, they make their money from VISA, not you. Actually, they give some of that back to you in the form of Cash Back Rewards. We’ll get to that in a second.

The only fee you can get charged is $2.50 for using an out-of-network ATM, but that’s normal. When it comes to over drafting, your card will just be declined, or on the rare occasion that your account does go negative, they will pull money from your savings account to cover the deficit after 15 days to give you time to put more money in the account. If you want to avoid overdraft fees for good. This is one great way to do it!

Chime Savings Accounts

The savings account has no minimum balance requirements either. And you can easily transfer funds between your Spending Account and Savings Account via the app or online. The interest rate on the savings account is a teeny, tiny .01%, but when was the last time there were decent interest rates on savings accounts? Trust me, though; the low-interest rate is offset by the fact that you can earn an extra $500 each year in rewards.

They have their own form of a “keep the change” program aptly called “automatic savings“. They will round up every purchase you make with your Chime VISA debit card to the nearest dollar and deposit it into your savings account. On average, if you swipe your debit card twice a day every day for a year, you’ll have deposited $400 into your savings account. Pretty impressive.

Cash Back Rewards

Here’s where the goodness is. You can earn cashback (aka FREE MONEY) in two ways:

1. On regular purchases – You can earn instant cashback on purchases from specific retailers, or in general categories like groceries, entertainment, utilities, and more. The cashback categories change regularly, but you can find an up-to-date list in their app. These cashback rewards are deposited into your spending account typically within 24 hours. Cashback incentives like this are how credit card companies get people to use their cards, but… you have to go into debt to get those rewards. So, having these reward incentives right on your debit card will remove some of the temptations of using a credit card.
2. On your Automatic Savings – When enrolled in the automatic savings program, each week, you will get a bonus reward equal to 10% of the total automatic savings deposits you made that week, up to $500 a year. That free money is better than any savings account interest rate from a traditional bank.

With Cash back rewards like these, this could be an excellent option to help you with that Emergency Fund.

Free ATMs

Since Chime Bank does not have its own ATMs, they use ATMs that are part of the MoneyPass network. There are over 24,000 MoneyPass locations nationwide. And you can get fee-free cashback at over 30,000 locations. They have an ATM locator right in their app or you can check on their website HERE. As long as you use one of those ATMs, there are no fees. So, if you think about it, you probably have access to more free ATMs than with most other banks.

Deposits

1. Direct Deposit is the way to go for sure. No problems there!
2. Paper Check Deposits – Currently, they are “actively working” on a way to allow mobile deposit of paper checks, but that feature has not been rolled out yet, unfortunately. There are some legit third parties you can use, but they will charge for their service.
3. Cash Deposits – You can deposit cash into your Chime spending account at any Green Dot Location. There are actually over 60,000 of them nationwide. There can be some small fees when you do this, which stinks.

These could be deal-breakers for you, but maybe not. For many people, paper check and cash deposits are a rare thing. A lot of people I know to transfer money to each other using SquareCash or Paypal, and then from there, they can put it into their spending account. It’s really quick and easy.

Transfers

• Transferring money between your Chime Spending and Savings account is instant and free.
• Initiating a transfer from an external bank to your Chime account is also free and easy to do. If you decide to switch to Chime Bank, this is likely how you will get your money into the account to start.
  • Think of this as pushing money into your Chime account from another bank.
• Initiating a transfer from your Chime account with other linked external banks into your Chime account is also possible, but there are limits on how much you can move, and it will typically take 5 days for the money to be available in your Chime account.
  • Think of this as pulling money into your Chime account from another bank.

More details on money transfer are available here.

Paper Checks

If you happen to need to mail a paper check for a bill or something. Chime Bank will create and mail a paper check for you at no charge. This “Chime Checkbook” feature is available right in their app and is like the bill pay offered by other banks.

One thing to note is that the money is pulled from your account when the check is drafted NOT when the check is cashed. I personally prefer it this way.

The App

The Chime App is the cornerstone to the account’s convenience and simplicity. Anything you could think to do with your accounts you can do from their slick App. Besides the obvious of checking balances and moving money between your spending and savings account, the Chime app has some other cool features:

• Daily Balance update –  This is my favorite feature! Each morning you’ll get a notification of how much money is in your account, so you can remain on top of your balances… and notice when maybe you’ve gotten lax in your budget. If you aren’t sure How to Budget, now is a perfect time to start!
• Instant transaction alert so you can confirm when a transaction was made and if you recognize it.
• Find ATMs near your location
• Pay bills
• Send paper checks
• Get Customer help
• Temporarily Block your card instantly if you can’t find it and you aren’t sure it’s been stolen. That’s right – no need to call and talk to someone, just do it by clicking a button.

Joint Accounts

Only individual accounts are allowed. That’s right, no joint accounts, and no second card as a workaround. So, if you’re married and like having a joint checking account, this could be disappointing. They have said they are “actively working on this feature”.

How Do I Switch?

If this seems like a great option for you, signing up only takes about 5 minutes. Click HERE to sign up for a Chime account. If some of your non-negotiables are not fulfilled by Chime Bank like joint accounts or paper check deposits, maybe check back with them later and see if they’ve launched them.

Honestly, if just using a Chime Bank account can help you keep an eye on your account balances and give you the opportunity to get free cashback rewards on your savings and checking accounts, it could be totally worth it. You don’t even need to deposit your whole paycheck there… just do part of it and use their spending accounts to get some rewards.

Check out Chime today.

Chime is a financial technology company. Banking services provided by The Bancorp Bank or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC