Aspiration Reviews

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Edited by: Jon Bortin

About Aspiration

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Aspiration is a financial tech company that offers an environmentally friendly solution to your banking. The company ensures that its money doesn’t fund oil and coal industries. Instead, funding goes toward initiatives like planting trees and neutralizing carbon footprints. Aspiration Spend and Save accounts have two tier options: Pay What Is Fair and Aspiration Plus. It also offers the Zero credit card.

Pros
  • Pay What Is Fair program
  • Tree-planting program
  • High-yield APY
Cons
  • No way to deposit cash
  • High cash back only with Aspiration Plus

What is Aspiration?

Aspiration is a financial services company with a goal of improving the planet. The company is committed to “clean money” and pledges that purchases and savings won’t be used to fund oil or coal companies. On the contrary, money transferred from traditional banks to Aspiration has a planet-saving climate impact. This is because every time you use your debit or credit card, Aspiration plants a tree.

How does Aspiration work?

Aspiration makes signing up simple. You can do so through the company’s website or mobile app. There is no credit check required, although the company will verify your identity. You must have an account with a bank in the U.S. in order to transfer money to your Aspiration account. There is a minimum opening deposit of $10.

Aspiration products

Aspiration has a few banking products you can choose from, including:

Spend and Save
As the name suggests, this is Aspiration’s cash management account. When you set up direct deposit, you can get access to funds up to two days early. You can use more than 55,000 free ATMs in the Allpoint network. Aspiration shows you the environmental impact of your spending and offers up to 10% cash back when you shop at socially responsible businesses.

Spend and Save allows you to earn higher interest on your savings than with traditional banks. Aspiration also promises that your deposits will never help fund oil or coal projects. It claims that every $1,000 you transfer to Aspiration has the impact of 6,000 fewer miles driven. There are two account options: Aspiration and Aspiration Plus. With Aspiration Plus, you also get out-of-network ATM reimbursement, Purchase Assurance (coverage for items damaged or stolen within 90 days) and automatic offsets of carbon dioxide for gas you purchase.

Credit
The Aspiration Zero credit card is a Mastercard issued by Beneficial State Bank. Zero has an annual fee of $60 and a credit score requirement of 680 minimum. Every time you use your Zero card, Aspiration plants one tree. You can also choose to round up your purchase to plant a tree.

Because of this initiative, using the Zero card once a day can help you become carbon-neutral. Every month you reach carbon zero, Aspiration rewards you with 1% cash back on all your purchases.

Investing
The Aspiration Redwood Fund is a mutual fund focused on sustainable investing. The company looks at several environmental, social and governance factors to find businesses that show sustainable thinking. You have the option of setting up automatic recurring investments. There is a minimum investment of $10, and there are no fees for withdrawing funds.

Aspiration fees

Aspiration promises to save you money in fees. The basic Aspiration Spend and Save account allows you to pay what you think is fair, ranging from $0 to $20 per month. Aspiration donates 10% of that amount to charity. Aspiration Plus costs $7.99 a month, or $5.99 a month if paid annually. For investments, the option is 0% to 2% annually, charged on a quarterly basis.

Aspiration FAQ

What bank does Aspiration use?

Aspiration uses a priority list of banks to hold your cash balance. Banks on Aspiration's list include:

  • Coastal Community Bank
  • Bremer Bank
  • Ion Bank
  • Progress Bank
  • Bank of New Hampshire
  • EagleBank
  • Manufacturers Bank
  • C3Bank
  • The Freedom Bank of Virginia
  • Bridgewater Bank
Is Aspiration FDIC-insured?

Aspiration accounts are FDIC-insured through the banks it works with. Deposits are insured up to $246,500 per bank.

Does Aspiration offer joint accounts?

Aspiration does offer joint accounts. Once you open your Spend and Save account and are approved, you can add your joint user to convert your individual account to a joint account.

When was Aspiration bank founded?

Aspiration was founded in 2013.

Is Aspiration legit?

Aspiration is a legitimate financial company. It has admirable sustainability goals and several appealing features. While it’s not a great option if you’re looking to deposit cash, making transfers and mobile check deposits is simple. The company helps you save on fees while providing several cash-back options and carbon-neutralizing initiatives.

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Aspiration Reviews

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    Page 1 Reviews 0 - 10

    Reviewed July 1, 2025

    NOTE: Bank is GreenFi, formerly known as Aspiration, with Banking Services provided by Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC. 4551 Glencoe Ave, Ste 300, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292.... COMPLAINT: On June 12, 2025, I submitted a Billing Dispute to Coastal Community Bank regarding 5 charges for Bitcoin that I purchased from a merchant that were never received / never deposited into my Bitcoin wallet. I was asked for more specifics by the bank, which I provided, including screenshots of my Bitcoin wallet showing that the purchases were never fulfilled by the merchant. On June 24, 2025, I was informed by the bank that the merchant is contesting my claims and they would therefore be sending the case to pre-arbitration.

    On July 1, 2025, the bank issued credits to me for the disputed charges, then immediately reversed those credits, telling me they had closed the dispute in favor of the merchant, WITHOUT following through with arbitration. Though these disputed charges are all related to purchases made online with my debit card, the bank is claiming that the disputes do not fall under Regulation E due to the "nature of my claims" against the merchant, even though Regulation E includes the definition of Electronic FundTransfers as purchases made with a debit card. I have provided proof to the bank to support my claims.

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    Customer Service

    Reviewed March 14, 2025

    Don’t get a paper paycheck on a Friday, Aspiration will hold money until the following Wednesday. Meanwhile homelessness occurs. I called. They said they are holding it until Wednesday, I asked to speak with a supervisor and was denied. I want all the fees I paid to have this account and all my money back.

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      Customer ServiceOnline & AppStaff

      Reviewed Feb. 14, 2025

      I've been an Aspiration customer for several years and am shocked at all the positive reviews online. I've never been able to access their website reliably. This has only gotten worse over the years. Customer service, though polite when you can get through to them, is largely futile if there's a problem. They excel at sending you your debit/credit cards, updating addresses--all the simple things. But if there's a problem, you'll get a litany of sweet-sounding but empty phrases.

      After years of finding no use in Aspiration, I tried closing my account. There's no way to do this on your phone or computer. You require Aspiration's PERMISSION via a special web form you MUST complete. But we can't access that website, either. We have no other problems accessing thousands of other websites. But our home computer system is set up to PROTECT US from data-harvesting, malware, and cyber fraud. Faced with the evidence we couldn't access their required web-form for permission to leave their bank, Aspiration demanded we remove all our home network's security protection. Why? Because their .... Security protection system ... Might not interact well with ours. So to protect themselves, they demand customers who want to leave first drop our own protection. So much for professional respect and dignity.

      We transferred all our money back to our local brick-and-mortar bank, but then Aspiration sent us a warning email that it would begin charging our account EVERY MONTH we didn't use it (inactivity fee). They won't let us leave, but then they threaten us with inactivity fees. Tasteful. There's so much wrong with the way this company does business that for it to have so many positive reviews nonetheless, we're convinced negative reviews are at least in part being censored. You can support the ecosystem while still retaining full control over your money with other institutions--Including when to end a financial relationship that's no longer working for your family. We're happy to share email correspondence proof with Consumer Affairs to corroborate our review.

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      Reviewed Dec. 27, 2024

      There is nothing, I repeat NOTHING convenient about banking with Aspiration. You will choose this platform if you are interested in making your banking experience the most frustrating experience of your life! Every check that I have ever tried to deposit that has been 1000% valid with guaranteed backing, Aspiration has rejected. They make you endorse your check in ink "for mobile deposit only at Aspiration" which when rejected leaves you high and dry. Nowhere else will do anything with a check endorsed in this way. A perfectly good check now made obsolete by this retarded bank. Aspiration is the middle man's middle man!

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      Reviewed Dec. 23, 2024

      At first this was a great banking options and fee were reasonable. However when I experienced hardships financially they closed my account then when I called to have my account reopened they said they only allow you one account and once it closes you are not allowed to reopen it. Worst part is my credit card refund was sent to that account and I was not able to receive my payment.

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      Staff

      Reviewed Dec. 3, 2024

      This is the worst "bank" ever. They are actually telling me my social is inaccurate-- which is concerning since they opened the account in my name??!! I'm wondering how to escalate this and what steps I can take to get my accounts closed and my money returned. Is this even legal? They are outsourcing to the Philippines-- clearly one office as the only supervisor "ARIAS" is the only person to talk to. This is a nightmare-- steer clear and hopefully, we can find a way to formally bring light to their fraud.

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      Price

      Reviewed Nov. 21, 2024

      If you are thinking about getting this awful excuse of a card, DO NOT DO IT!! They are a greedy, awful company that thrives on people not using it. I put $100 in thinking it was a prepaid credit card YEARS ago. They made sure to take every last cent of it for "inactivity". I also requested it be closed weeks ago, and they made sure to charge me AFTER that!!

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      Reviewed Nov. 4, 2024

      Been with them for years and I have zero complaints besides no tap to pay card yet. And the cards are not great in quality, but you can opt for no fees which is awesome! It should be number 1 on this list as the top banks on list are terrible. Not sure who got paid off to list ally but nah they suck! They're just rebranded GMAC finance company since the bailout!

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      Customer ServiceContract & TermsPunctuality & SpeedOnline & App

      Reviewed Sept. 7, 2024

      Apparently in April of this year, Aspiration's banking services began operating under their partner, Coastal Community Bank. This is where everything went downhill immediately. In May they sent an email to account holders that we would have to confirm that we accept the new terms of the bank to keep banking with them. I confirmed as soon as I saw the email. A few weeks later, my debit card stopped working. I checked online and they had closed my account without telling me. I spoke with a manager Rain, who said it looked like my account was not closed, even though it showed it was on my end on their website. She said she would give me updates soon.

      Several days later of me calling every day and there not being an update, I got a hold of Rain again and she said there was a glitch in their system that my account came up as "non-converted", even though I accepted the new terms and conditions. I had all of my bills set up through Aspiration, I was late on several and asked them to pay my late fees but they said they could not. Eventually, my account was re-activated the next week. I was content to leave this as a back-up account and re-routed all my autopay to another bank. Then in July, I discovered my account was closed AGAIN, and without notifying me. I called and they again have no idea why it was closed. This is the most unprofessional bank I have ever dealt with. Your money is not safe here.

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      Sales & Marketing

      Reviewed July 21, 2024

      This is a scam in my opinion. I signed up to give a $10 deposit with the promise of $100 bonus if I did and 4 years later I find out they’ve been taking my $10 out of my account every month and now charging me $10 a month for “pay what is fair”. I NEVER EVER AGREED TO THIS “pay what is fair”. I thought I was putting $10 in SAVINGS EVERY MONTH FOR 4 years!!!! I’ll be going to all authorities on this.

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      Aspiration Company Information

      Company Name:
      Aspiration
      Website:
      www.aspiration.com