Chime – Mobile Banking 4+

I’ve been with Chime for years now and I can honestly say that this is truly the easiest and most reliable banking app that I’ve come across . I love the fact that Chime uses spot me so anytime I’m ever in a tight spot, I can get a little extra cash to help out and how can you not love getting paid two days early I mean seriously the fact that I get paid on Fridays, but I receive my paycheck on a Tuesday is so helpful and I’ve used this app since before the pandemic and through the pandemic and I haven’t had an issue with getting any type of direct deposit or any Cash withdrawal or honestly anything for that matter when it comes to any of my finances on Chime and every time that there’s ever been an issue, which has been very very few, the support team has instantaneously taken care of and made sure that I either received my money back or the situation was taken care of without sweat off my back. Chime has always been a huge support when it comes to taking care of me as a customer and as a user of their application, so the reason I chime is because it truly does make my every day life and life in general just that much easier to be able to have all of my finances right there at my fingertips and be able to use them safely without having to worry about my account’s stability or security.

Chime is just what you would expect out of a bank. You can open a checking and savings account just as you would with any other banking service. One of the main things that stand out to me over other banks is their app UI, it’s very simple and clean, making it easy to find what your looking for. I absolutely hate that most bank apps have so much stuff on their UI that you can forget where things are. Chime keeps everything neat by keeping what’s important easy to see and the rest of it under the settings. The SpotMe feature kind of feels like a gimmick. I thought it was cool at first but the main problem with it is that they are turning overwithdrawals into a “I got your back” feature; almost as if they are encouraging it. The only difference with the SpotMe feature is that you will not be charged a fee for doing so. I personally think it’s a bad idea because this feature can encourage bad financial decisions, especially because they offer boosts that increases the amount you can overwithdraw. It’s a nice feature to have when your struggling but it shouldn’t be encouraged. Also, one of the downsides to it is that you can only use the SpotMe for online purchases but not for paying bills which begs the question, “is this really to help you or is it to encourage spending over your balance for things you want?”. Aside from this feature it’s a pretty good making service.

Perfectly reasonable and useful app and service. I've used this service for 2 years and rarely see bugs or glitches in the app. Typically my paycheck is deposited on the same day that it is processed by my payroll (2 days before traditional banks). There is no option for joint accounts at this time, but it's very easy to move money to or from another Chime user. The credit builder service is excellent, particularly when used in "safe" mode. The app allows you to set out a portion of each deposit for Credit Builder and Savings automatically, which makes setting up auto-pay super easy for recurring bills. Spot me is a nice plus for the occasional overdraft, and the MyPay loan option is useful for tight weeks as long as you budget appropriately around paying it back. Mobile check deposit is easy to use and typically processes quickly (often same-day) unlike other banking apps I have used.

I deducted one star due to the fact that a not-insignificant amount of other money/budgeting services do not work well with Stride bank, but that is not a reflection of the app.

Overall, I would recommend this app to people who either do not have any mingled finances but do frequently send money to friends/family and to those who have mingled-but-not-merged finances as it allows easy transfer between users (and non-users) while maintaining an individual account.