Chime Reviews
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About Chime
Chime is a financial technology company that aims to provide helpful and easy-to-use online banking services. You can open a checking account, a savings account with a 0.5% annual percentage yield and a secured credit card that helps increase your credit score. Chime charges no monthly fees and no overdraft fees. U.S. citizens and permanent residents who are at least 18 can apply on Chime’s website or using its app.
- 0.5% APY on savings account
- No-fee overdraft protection up to $200
- Secured credit card with no fees
- Over 60,000 fee-free ATMs
- Some services require direct deposit
- No joint accounts or secondary cards
Featured Reviews
What is Chime?
Chime is a fintech company partnering with two banks to offer “member-first” banking services online to members in all 50 states. It offers a checking account with a Visa debit card, a savings account with a 0.5% APY and a secured credit card that helps build credit. Other benefits include fee-free overdraft protection, early direct deposit and over 60,000 no-fee ATMs. There are no monthly fees or minimum balances.
Chime is based in San Francisco and has offices in Chicago and Vancouver, British Columbia. Members can reach customer service by phone seven days a week.
How does Chime work?
Chime is not a bank; it’s a fintech company that partners with two banks: The Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank. It's online only, with no physical banking locations. Members can log in to their accounts on Chime’s website or using the app. There are no fees to set up and maintain a Chime checking account, savings account or secured credit card.
To be eligible to sign up with Chime, you need to be at least 18 and a citizen or permanent resident of the U.S. with a valid Social Security number. Once you open an account, you get a Visa debit card. You also have the option to open a savings account and apply for a Credit Builder secured credit card. Chime also lets you:
- Set up direct deposit and get access to the funds up to two days early
- Send (including paper checks) and receive money without fees
- Withdraw cash without a fee from any MoneyPass ATM
- Deposit checks with mobile deposit
- Get fee-free overdrafts up to $200
- Get balance notifications and instant transaction alerts
Chime accounts
Chime has three types of accounts. When you become a Chime member, you open a checking account and receive your Visa debit card. You then have the option to open a savings account and apply for a secure credit card.
Checking
Chime offers an overdraft protection program, SpotMe, which gives you protection up to a limit (between $20 and $200) with no fees.
Savings
Two optional savings features allow customers to automatically transfer money to savings. With Round Ups, all purchases you make with your debit card are rounded up to the nearest dollar; Chime transfers the amount to your savings account. The Save When I Get Paid feature automatically transfers 10% of direct deposits of $500 or more from checking to savings.
Credit Builder
You can pay the monthly balance automatically with the Safer Credit Building feature. You can also pay manually. Chime reports to all three major credit bureaus. There is no credit check when you apply for the card, no annual fee and no interest.
Chime fees
Chime has no monthly fees and no overdraft fees. The only fee at Chime is a $2.50 charge for out-of-network ATM withdrawal or a withdrawal at a bank or credit union where you present your debit card.
You can also be charged a fee by an out-of-network ATM operator, third-party money transfer services or retailers other than Walgreens that allow you to make cash deposits to your checking account.
Chime FAQ
What bank is Chime?
Chime’s banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank. Both are FDIC-insured; accounts are insured up to $250,000 per depositor.
How does Chime Credit Builder work?
Chime Credit Builder is a secured Visa credit card that is designed to help members build credit. Chime reports to all three major credit bureaus. To apply, you need a Chime checking account and qualifying direct deposits of at least $200; no credit check is necessary.
Once you have the Credit Builder card, you can use it anywhere Visa is accepted and start building credit. Your credit limit is based on the amount of money you move from your checking account to the secured account. There are multiple ways to pay off your card each month, including Safer Credit Building, which automatically pays your balance.
What time does Chime direct deposit hit?
Direct deposit funds are available as soon as Chime receives the payment file from the payer. This can be up to two days earlier than the scheduled payment date. Chime recommends contacting the payer if you have questions about the timing of direct deposit.
How do I add money to Chime?
Members can transfer money electronically from other banks. They can also add money via direct deposit and mobile check deposit and by depositing cash at thousands of retail locations (free at Walgreens).
Is Chime a prepaid card?
No, neither the Chime Visa debit card nor the Credit Builder secured credit card is a prepaid card. The Credit Builder card is secured by the money you move into the secured account.
What are the cons of Chime?
Some of Chime’s services have eligibility requirements. SpotMe, the fee-free overdraft program, requires a qualifying direct deposit of at least $200 over the previous 34 days. Credit Builder, the secured credit card, also requires a $200 qualifying direct deposit.
Other cons of Chime are it doesn’t allow joint accounts or secondary cards, and it doesn’t have a rewards program.
Is Chime legit?
Chime is a legitimate financial technology company working with The Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank, which are both FDIC-insured. Members in all 50 states use its mobile banking services, including Chime’s checking account, savings account and secured credit card, and benefit from overdraft protection, early access to direct deposit funds and easy sending and receiving of money — all with no fees. There are many fintech companies in the mobile banking space; consider comparing Chime with several others before deciding on the right one for you.
Chime Reviews
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Reviewed Oct. 13, 2025
I really like the ease of Chime banking! I like the daily reminders of my balance. I think their app is the most simple app I have (and I have many!). If I could only have one app, Chime would be it. That said, my Chime wish list would include a sound notification when getting my direct deposit like a "Chime" alert - lol I find myself checking for hours waiting for my deposit, which is annoying. I also wish there was a way to connect Chime with Zelle. I have had a couple of issues with vendors that do not like working with Chime. Finally, I also heard Chime does not "report" as a credit card on credit reports and was advised to get rid of it by a debt consolidation business.
Reviewed Oct. 12, 2025
I have used Chime for almost 2 1/2 years and while it seems to take a while to get my direct deposit. I do get it two days early. My credit score has gone up over 100 pts. They offer spot me which is very much appropriated. My pay and small loans to be paid in parts monthly. With very minimal fees! I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't use chime banking.!!!
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Reviewed Aug. 17, 2025
Only reason for not 5 stars? Changes fees have started when transferring funds. Not a lot but it's a slippery slope. Okay first let me say I have had time since the first year it was doing its thing.... There was a lot of stigma for a long time didn't matter to me though because in my opinion I was the smartest person I knew for having Chime instead of the other guys. However I will say this a handful of things have changed since I opened my account as time has went on chime is starting to now at the end of last year 2024 and now 2025 started trying to be more like it's competitors stupid? Very!
Is it nearly as bad as any of the other banking institutions or credit unions? No, nowhere's near. But I would like to add that I have certainly peeped the changes in the direction they are seemingly trying to head and I would love to cut them off before they get there and remind them that the only reason why they have all of the customers they have is because they are so different from the other guys. NO FEES. NO BS. NO FUSS. NO MUSS. It's the one bank where you truly feel like you're in the driver seat of your own finances. You want to checking account, Great. You want direct deposit, perfect. You want to savings account, even better. You want a credit builder because you need to build credit and your credit sucks and nobody will give you anything to help make it better? Chime's got your back there too!
You want to automatically have a percentage of your direct deposit go into your savings account, No worries. You want all of this with no additional fees, no BS, no oh we have to charge you for this and then we have to charge you for that and then we have to charge you for swiping your card then we have to tell you you have to pay so much money to just keep the account open. No you don't have to deal with none of that through CHIME! AND YOUR MONEY COMES EARLIER THAN EVERYONE ELSE YOU WORK WITH EVEN THOSE WHO WORK AT A CREDIT UNION!
They have virtual cards any card that you have a physical in. They can give you a virtual. You can put the virtual onto your Google Pay. You can turn it off, freeze it, unfreeze it, same with the physical card. There's so many neat features and ways to help you even links to tell you how to get paid for doing surveys and for someone who has banked with them for well over 5 years, probably going on closer to 8 years or more now who had to try to adult with other banking institutions and failed epically, chime is unbeatable! The only thing that could do them in is trying to be more like the other guys!
You have full control over your money. They even have a thing called spot me and once you are starting to get direct deposits into the account, They loan you a little bit of money here and there, you pay it back, you have a choice on whether or not you pay the like dollar or two fee. But you don't even have to and then if you need to access your savings account money they're not going to charge you for that. It all sounded too good to be true for me in the beginning after everything that I had experienced with other banks surviving into my late twenties having nothing else but those guys.
Now almost a decade later I swear by time and I don't care about the stigma, I don't care about the looks that I get, it works for me. It's the only reason why I had the credit boost that I got, had it not have been for chime I honestly don't know what I would have done as a single working mother. The spot me feature save the day on more than 100 occasions for well over 3 years! I really don't have enough time or energy or probably space in this box to give you the list of reasons why this is the best bank to have! And it's the only bank that's not stealing from you that's a big plus!
There is a bit of a stigma around it and I've learned from other people who have chime that sometimes when you go to a hotel they won't accept that as a payment method which is insane. I guess maybe because you can turn off the card? So if they want to charge more. When you leave they can't if you have your card frozen. But I did customer service for Citibank for 2 years when I told almost every customer that called mad they should download the chime app 💯‼️
Reviewed June 28, 2025
I started out very happy with Chime but then a bad thing happened when my phone took a crap. They will no longer let me have access to my account on my new phone which means I can't check my balance like I used to and being a disabled ** veteran on a very strict budget, I need to keep track of my account balances and also since I have no access I cannot authorize the extra money part they promised and was able to use until this happened!!!! Just so everyone knows as soon as my SSDI is given to my new card account, I am cutting up my Chime cards and throwing them away as fast as possible since I am that dissatisfied with them. I know that since this review is so negative, it will probably be hidden and never show up, but if it even helps 1 person will make me happy.
Reviewed April 14, 2025
I had to pay a 1,600$ deposit to my new apartment which I was in a rush to move in, the customer service gave me info how to do that since the limit is 1,000 daily to upload, I was told to add a 1,000$ on my debit card then add the 500$ and then the 100$ onto my credit builder card and I found a 24/7 711 store at the airport in Portland Oregon and was able to PAY MY SECURITY DEPOSIT THAT NIGHT. THANKS MILLIONS CHIME.
Reviewed March 7, 2026
Chime is not helpful at all and they railroaded me on a mobile deposit. Then they say security reasons why they can’t. But it doesn’t matter that you already wrote all over the back of the check. They don’t care about that. That’s your problem to figure out. Is what they told me. I will never use Chime again. They were horrible Customer Service to everything. The supervisors are not helpful nothing. They just basically railroaded me and don’t care. So I’m gonna close this account and never use this company again.
Reviewed March 4, 2026
My account kept getting hacked and they refused to close it putting me at risk for fraud. They couldn't protect the account and they didn't do a thing about it. I don't have a lot of money so I feel they took advantage of me.
Reviewed March 3, 2026
Signed up. Chime offers a $350 sign-up bonus for new checking account members who complete three qualifying direct deposits of $200 or more. Used their link, called to inquire as to why I hadn't received the sign-up bonus. I was told I didn't use the link. I had screen shots of the offer and the information it also included once you sign up you can invite a friend for a $100 sign up bonus. I had a copy of the link I sent to a friend. They said you didn't use the link. I would not recommend Chime to anyone.
Reviewed March 2, 2026
I signed up for Chime because a friend referred me. I was having issues purchasing a vehicle with my other account so I opened a chime account in order to save money in it for a downpayment. Chime also advertises a $100 referral bonus for the person that refers it to you and to you for opening the account when you sign up for direct deposit. I attempted to set up the direct deposit about 15 times and it’s impossible to do so the referral bonus is impossible for me to get. When I went to put down the down payment for my car I found out that there is a $2500 daily limit that you cannot raise so we attempted to lower my downpayment to half and I would pay it over two days, but chime refused to process any payment no matter how low we made it even though my account had over $5000 in it. Because of this, my sale fell through and the car was sold to someone else.
TLDR Chime sets low daily limits and there’s no way to raise them and even if you try to make large payments that are below your daily limit, it will still deny them and when you call customer service, you only get the option to speak to an AI operator so they will not help you and it’s very hard if not impossible to set up direct deposit through them.
Reviewed Feb. 24, 2026
Zero stars. Completely worthless unless you have direct deposit. Well some people don't have that option. It's complete garbage otherwise. The world's longest and worst advertisement. I just want them to know that. There's a reason I can't leave a review on the app. They know they're garbage!!!! Only picked one because they won't let me pick ZERO!!!!
Chime Company Information
- Company Name:
- Chime
- Website:
- www.chime.com
