Chime Review: Is it the Best Mobile Bank for You?
Updated: Feb 27
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Chime is a great online banking option. Its operational mantra is very similar to credit unions. They want to pass savings on to their customers as often as possible. It's this philosophy that makes Chime a great option for those of you who are comfortable with an all-online bank.
How does Chime Score:
Cost and Fees: 10 out of 10
Security: 9 out of 10
Ease of Use: 9 out of 10
Features and Tools: 7 out of 10
Overall: 8.5 out of 10
Chime Basics:
FDIC Insured
No minimum balance
0.5% APY on Chime Saving Accounts
Checking and Savings accounts offered
Free online bill pay
Early pay (if direct deposit is setup)
Nationwide ATM network
What is Chime?
Chime is a mobile banking app that has gained popularity in recent years due to its range of features and benefits. They offer a slimmed-down set of banking options to streamline and simplify your experience. Like any other bank account, they are FDIC insured and keep interest rates high, and fees low through their slimmed-down approach. The main features of a Chime account are:
No hidden fees or minimum balance requirements
Early direct deposit
Automatic savings
High-yield savings account
In addition, they don't have to manage true retail locations so their overhead is much lower than your local branch (running a physical location is quite expensive). These strategies allow Chime to be a highly attractive banking option for a wide variety of customers.
In this review, we will cover the pros and cons of using Chime, how it works, whether it's an actual bank, how it affects your credit score, and what's required to open an account.
How can Chime help you?
The concept of Chime is brilliant. Keep overhead low and pass the savings on to your customers. Focus your attention on building a super easy-to-use app that folks love, ask them to invite their friends, and build a community around the app.
This concept makes Chime a very attractive banking option for first-time account holders, college students, and those that have less complex personal finances. Because they have all but eliminated fees for their customers anyone who moves from a traditional bank to Chime can probably benefit from the move.
The challenge comes with building a relationship and leveraging that relationship to negotiate better rates at some point in the future. If you don't care much about building a relationship with your personal banker and care more about finding a no/low fee checking and savings account then you are someone that should check out Chime.
Chime Features
Chime Spending Account - This is their version of a checking account. The reason they don't call it a checking account is because they don't offer checks, the key term in "checking account". So they call it a spending account. Which makes sense because if you are paying attention to your personal finances you should have at least two accounts, one for spending and one for saving (at least).
Chime Savings Account - This is your traditional savings account, but the benefit of a Chime Savings Account is that you get a better rate than you would with most other savings accounts from big box banks. As of Jan 2021, they are offering 0.50% on a savings account. Other than that, this is your normal savings account.
Get your paycheck early or early direct deposit - Chime has set up their key features to focus upon folks that live paycheck to paycheck (and sometimes a bit short between each). If you set up direct deposit they will allow you to spend your paycheck before it hits your account. Meaning, if you set up a direct deposit, and your company pays you on the 1st of the month, then if you get to the 28th of the previous month and need to spend money on something then Chime will work with you and allow you to spend a portion of your paycheck prior to it being directly deposited in your account. This is like a payday advance without the huge fees. A giant plus for folks that sometimes forget home much money they have in their account.
Invite friends - Chime is all about word of mouth advertising and they will pay you for it. If you allow them to access your contacts when you download the app they will reach out to your contacts. If anyone signs up then Chime will give you $75. Pretty awesome deal if you ask me.
Link other accounts - Linking other accounts help you get a sense of where your money is. If you are setting up an account with Chime then you care about your money and are probably keeping all your money in one place. If you aren't consolidating all your money into your Chime account then you are probably using Chime for the extra earnings from the savings account. In either case, linking other accounts might not be the most important thing for you. If it is, then this is a great feature to help you understand where all your money is.
Grow your savings - This is an awesome tool to help you increase your savings over time automatically. If you are someone that needs a little help growing your savings then take advantage of this tool
Earn more & Save money - Chime has partnered with a ton of different partners in a variety of categories to save you money. To date, they are offering discounts on insurance, Doordash, and more. As they continue to grow, more and more discounts are expected to be available.
SpotMe - The SpotMe feature is one of the most customer-centric features I've seen from a bank. Many other banks call this overdraft protection, but I like the marketing twist that Chime Bank puts on this feature. SpotMe provides overdraft protection up to $200 without fees (you need to set up direct deposit to qualify). You can gain additional credit from Chime as you sign up your friends so a bonus for spreading the word.
Pay or Request money from friends - If you know what Venmo or Paypal is, then you know what this feature is. Send or ask for money from folks with this feature right in the app
Pros
Super simple setup (see steps below)
Touch ID compatible (iPhone users will love this)
Direct deposit available
Early direct deposit allows you to get paid before you get paid
No hidden fees or minimum balance requirements
Referral bonuses
Pay friends
No ATM fees - see map of approved ATMs
High yield savings account (more on HYSA here)
Cons
Limited banking-related offerings
Limited physical locations
No joint account options available
Chime Alternatives
How to get started with Chime
If you are interested in what Chime has to offer, click here. If you want to know more about setting up your account read the details below and follow along. The Chime app is available on both the Play Store and App Store for a quick and easy download.
Before you get started you will need:
Be at least 18 years of age
Have a valid government issues ID
Have a valid social security number
Email address
Home address
Before you follow the steps above you'll want to download the app from the Play Store or App Store, then follow the steps below.
Steps to sign up:
Step one is entering your email address. Pretty much the exact same step as setting up an account with every other thing ever!
Next, adding your first and last name are pretty standard parts of setting up a bank account. The following steps will be your basic personal information setup.
Adding your date of birth is a standard part of getting a checking or savings account.
Because this is an online-only bank they want your mobile phone number so they can text you a link to quickly and easily set up their app.
Having your home address allows them to send you a debit card and verify who you are.
Pretty simple next step, setting up your password. There are cool tools out there for passwords. I suggest LastPass as a tool, its free, and it can keep your passwords organized.
You can't set up a bank account without providing your social security number.
Now we are starting to get into the meat of your account setup. This is where Chime beings to understand more about where your money will be coming from. They need to be assured that you will have money to put into your account if they are going to offer you an early payment on your checks.
Finally, you are almost there. The fine print here is that you are signing up for a bank account and need to agree to the federal guidelines of opening an account.
Now it's time to download the app unless you have already. If you haven't you will receive a text message that can help you add the app to your phone, otherwise go to the App or Play store to download the app, log in, and get started.
After you have gone through the steps above and downloaded the app you will get a series of prompts letting you know that your account is ready to roll.
This is another step in the notification and setup process. Here you can make the decision to link your Chime account with your current money or future money via direct deposit.
The final step before you are 100% ready to roll with your Chime account. One additional chance to connect all your accounts to Chime and track all your personal finances in one place.