Chime Review: Checking and Savings

Chime offers an annual percentage yield of 2.00%, and it has no minimum balance requirement. It will also round up every purchase on your Chime card to the nearest dollar and deposit that difference into your savings account. Or, you can have the company automatically transfer 10% from your paycheck into your savings account. Both features are optional, but handy, and not all savings accounts have them.

Keep in mind that you need to have a Chime spending account before you can open Chime savings.

Chime’s spending account is free: It has no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirement. It also gives users access to over 38,000 fee-free ATMs. And with direct deposit, customers can receive paychecks up to two days earlier than at a traditional bank. Plus, Chime doesn't charge fees to use your card abroad; other banks typically charge 1% to 3% of the amount of your purchase.

However, Chime does charge $2.50 per transaction at out-of-network ATMs, and you'll have to deposit cash at Green Dot locations, which may charge a fee. Chime doesn't offer a physical checkbook, but you can pay bills by sending a check online through the Chime Checkbook feature. There are limits of $5,000 per payment and $10,000 in a calendar month. You can also provide billers with your Chime account number and the routing number.

Further limitations to Chime are the daily and monthly transfer limits. When you initiate an online transfer through Chime, the maximum you can send from an external bank is $200 per day and $1,000 per calendar month. There is a workaround, though: You can initiate a transfer from your external bank account, which likely has higher limits.

Chime's mobile app excels where it counts — customers have rated the iOS version 4.8 stars and the Android app 4.6 stars, both out of 5. What's more, daily balance updates and real-time transaction alerts can help customers stay on top of their spending. And if your card goes missing, you can block transactions using the Chime app.

In addition to having low fees, Chime opts out of using screening tools that most banks use to determine whether a person will be blocked from getting a bank account if they’ve had one closed in the past. This can make Chime a helpful banking solution if you’re trying to restart your financial life.

Customer service is available by phone Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. CST, and on the weekends from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CST. Customers can also get help via the app or email.

Complaints to the Better Business Bureau allege that when some consumers have reported suspected fraudulent transactions to Chime, their accounts were closed or locked, leaving them without access to funds. Kendra Boccelli, Chime's head of public relations and communications, confirmed that if Chime identifies suspicious activity in an account, it can be suspended during the review. Boccelli also says that the account review teams can request information from a customer without suspending the account. Chime isn't the only company that has suspended accounts as a response to potential fraud.

Chime doesn’t charge overdraft fees, and for certain customers who make a debit card purchase that drops their account as low as negative $100, the company will cover it without a fee. Your next deposit will be applied to the negative balance. You need to receive at least $500 in monthly direct deposits to be eligible for this program, called SpotMe. Outside of that, if you don’t have the funds, transactions will likely be declined.