Chime Review
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BLUEPRINT
Published 5:00 a.m. ET July 27, 2023
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Chime trumpets simplicity; the three types of accounts offered by the fintech company eschew monthly fees, overdraft fees and minimum balance requirements. You can sign up for an account relatively easily, even if you’ve made banking mistakes in the past.
Beyond those three accounts, though, it’s slim pickings. You won’t find loan products, certificates of deposit (CDs) or money market account options here.
Chime* is best if you want a straightforward money management platform for checking and savings, and if you may have a checkered financial history.
Chime® basics
- Checking accounts: Chime® Checking Account.
- Savings accounts: Chime High-Yield Savings Account.
- Money market accounts: None.
- Certificates of deposit (CDs): None.
- Other accounts: Credit Builder Account.
- Bank branches or online only: Online only.
Pros
- Limited fees: You won’t encounter many fees; there are no monthly fees, overdraft fees or instant transfer fees, plus you get a free debit card and have access to more than 60,000 fee-free ATMS¹.
- Highly-rated app: The Chime mobile app has a 4.5 star rating in the Google Play Store with over 10 million downloads and a 4.8 star rating in the Apple App Store, where it ranks fifth in the top free finance apps.
- Get paid early: When you set up a direct deposit, you can access your paychecks up to two days early², giving you more flexibility.
Cons
- Must start with Checking Account: You cannot access other Chime products until you open a Chime Checking Account (i.e. Savings Account, etc).
- Non competitive APY: Despite having “high yield” in its name, the High-Yield Chime Savings Account has a suboptimal annual percentage yield (APY).
- Online-only: Chime doesn’t offer any physical branches. If you want access to a brick-and-mortar bank, Chime isn’t the right fit.
About Chime
Chime is a financial technology company, also called a “fintech,” not a regular bank. Instead, Chime works with partner banks (Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank) to provide a savings, a checking and a credit builder account. But you won’t find other types of banking features, such as loan opportunities or certificates of deposit (CDs).
Similar to your credit score, you also have a banking score. You could be denied a new account because of black mark on your banking record (maybe you didn’t pay an overdraft fee). But Chime doesn’t look at such reports and touts that it can help you rebuild your finances.
Chime Checking Account
The Chime Checking Account has no minimum balance fees or monthly service fees, so you don’t need to dig into your wallet to open the account, nor pay to keep it open.
And, if you get short on funds, you automatically have a fee-free overdraft up to $200 with SpotMe®. The SpotMe limit starts at $20 and can be increased up to $200 depending on several factors, including how long you’ve had the account and your account history. It can also be increased with the SpotMe feature, which allows you and your friends to boost each other’s limit by $5.
If you want to avoid overdrafts altogether, you can set up daily balance updates. If you misplace your debit card, you can disable all transactions and freeze the account until you find or get a new one.
Chime High-Yield Savings Account
With no minimum opening deposit requirements, Chime’s savings account is also accessible and offers three ways to improve your savings.
You can choose to set aside a portion of your paycheck each and every payday⁴. If that’s a stretch (or you want to do this additionally), you could allow Chime to round up⁵ all of your purchases to the nearest dollar. For example, if you use your debit card to buy movie tickets for $15.50 and popcorn for $6.50, Chime will round up both and your savings will increase by $1. Such small things can add up.
And, finally, while Chime doesn’t offer the top rate on the market, the 2.00% APY⁶ can still help you to grow your savings. By comparison, the best high yield savings accounts offer yields above 4.00%, but the national average savings account rate, per the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as of July 2023 was 0.42%.
Chime Credit Builder
The Secured Chime Credit Builder Visa® Credit Card has no annual fees, no interest⁷ and no minimum security deposit⁸. The requirements are that you need to first have a Chime Checking Account that received a direct deposit of at least $200 from an employer or benefits provider within the last year. And since it’s a secured credit card, how much you spend on the card is limited to how much money you have in your account.
You don’t have to pass a credit check to be approved for the card and Chime reports to the credit bureaus, so you can work on building up your credit score, no matter what it is now.
How Chime stacks up
Chime offers a limited number of banking products. While the accounts offered are relatively basic, the limited fees and user-friendly features might make Chime the right fit for you, especially if you’re new to banking or desire simplicity.
Here’s a look at how Chime compares to the competition.
Chime vs. Sofi
In contrast to Chime’s bare-bones offerings, SoFi offers a full suite of banking products, including checking accounts, savings accounts, mortgages, student loans, personal loans, insurance and more. SoFi is a bank, which means it doesn’t have to work with a partner bank to offer banking services and it has higher APYs on interest-bearing products. If you want access to more financial products in a single platform, SoFi is an option.
Chime vs. Discover
Discover offers account holders a wide range of banking products. Through Discover, you can access credit cards, personal loans, student loans, mortgages, checking and savings accounts. Like Chime, Discover’s checking account doesn’t come with any monthly fees or overdraft fees. But the online savings account through Discover offers a more competitive APY.
Chime vs. Lending Club
Similar to Chime, Lending Club offers a limited amount of banking products. You’ll find a savings account, checking account and personal loans. But Lending Club’s one checking account comes with rewards of up to 1% cash back and interest-earning opportunities (you’ll need $100,000 to earn 0.15% APY). Lending Club also offers a financial toolkit to help you manage your funds efficiently. If you are looking for a cash-back card and hands-on money management tools, you might find more value in Lending Club.
Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. However, your deposits are still protected with federal insurance. Chime’s banking services are available through Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank, which are both banks and members of the FDIC.
Chime offers a credit building opportunity through its Secured Chime Credit Builder Visa® Credit Card.
With this secured credit card, you don’t need a minimum security deposit. Instead, you’ll move any amount you want from your Chime Checking Account to the Credit Builder Account, which will act as your credit limit. You can also turn on Safer Credit Building and payments will be made automatically on your monthly balance with the funds in the Credit Builder account.
This way you can build a history of on-time payments, which is an important factor in your credit score.
Chime is a fintech, not a bank. However, Chime’s bank partners do offer FDIC insurance. With that, the funds in your Chime account are protected for up to $250,000.
Chime often offers cash sign-up and referral bonuses. The details and requirements for the cash bonus change frequently. If you want to tap into a sign-up bonus, check out Chime’s website for the latest offer.
*Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and debit card provided by The Bancorp Bank N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A.; Members FDIC. The secured Credit Builder card issued by Stride Bank, N.A.
¹Out-of-network ATM withdrawal fees may apply except at MoneyPass ATMs in a 7-Eleven, or any Allpoint or Visa Plus Alliance ATM.
Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.
