Digital Banking

leslieknope

atlantis187 wrote: »

why are majority of the comments about this from NEWBIES??

not a newbie and i've been using this for almost a year. i was interviewed by the independent for it too - closest i'm ever going to get to becoming a journalist :rotfl:

for me personally it's a great app. i struggle to save because i know that i can't save a whole lot, so it puts me into a spiral of thinking "well what's the point in only saving £25 a month?" until i got the app and saw how quickly it adds up. so for someone who doesn't have structured saving habits, i think it's a great app. and personally i love fintech, anything that makes my life easier.

i've personally never had any issues with it. i've cancelled a saving amount before 4pm on the day and it didn't go through just like it said. never had to contact customer services so can't comment on them but have spoken to members of the chip team and they seem friendly.

i believe they are actually working on becoming an actual bank like monzo and those other app only banks so will have the full protection for savings. but that never bothered me because i bank with barclays too so if they go bust, i have more problems than the little savings i have with chip!

Former_MSE_Andrea

Voyager2002 wrote: »

A minor concern about the sign-up process: we only get the higher interest by entering the referral code but there was no opportunity to do so. Do they get the code automatically when we enter a phone number on the MSE site?

Hiya! I've asked the team to get back to you on this. It's MSE Quiz day this afternoon though so they're unlikely to reply back today :xmastree:

jimroy

Voyager2002 wrote: »

A minor concern about the sign-up process: we only get the higher interest by entering the referral code but there was no opportunity to do so. Do they get the code automatically when we enter a phone number on the MSE site?

It asks you to enter the referral code at the end of the sign up process.

The higher starting interest rate of 3% is applied instantly.

And you then have the opportunity to invite/share your individual referral code (given at the very end) to increase that to 5% by getting two more acceptances. The app asks for permission to access your phone's contacts so you can send individual text messages or you can use the confirmation email to share via Facebook or Twitter or via email.

eskbanker

atlantis187 wrote: »

why are majority of the comments about this from NEWBIES??

While there might be other reasons that appeal to cynics, I suspect that it's largely because 12+ million people will have received the weekly MSE email, which contains a link to the article that this thread is about, and at the foot of said article is a link to the forum thread.

Therefore this thread will contain a higher proportion than most of people who've only come across the forum for the first time by following links from an email and then news article, rather than those who are on here regularly....

Couple that with the fact that many people making a conscious decision to try something new will be enthusiastic advocates and they'll feel the need to share their thoughts with the unconverted!

Former_MSE_Rosie

Voyager2002 wrote: »

A minor concern about the sign-up process: we only get the higher interest by entering the referral code but there was no opportunity to do so. Do they get the code automatically when we enter a phone number on the MSE site?

Hi Voyager,

You should be able to enter the code once you've installed the app and gone through the sign-up process. Do let us know if you're not seeing a place to enter the code once you've signed up.

Thanks,
MSE Rosie

Fiendarina

Chip seems to be getting a hard time on this thread, so as a long time lurker on the forums I'm finally posting to say I've been using Chip for just over nine months, and have been very happy with it.

I've been able to get my interest up with referrals, and where else could I earn 5% a year? For a freelancer like me with variable income, having Chip transfer small amounts every few days works better than signing up for a set amount into a regular savings account. I also used the manual saves bump up my balance when I could afford it - used to be able to transfer £100 every 24 hours but now it's restricted to six times a month.

When I wanted to withdraw some money, it was back in my account the next day. If I've ever had queries, it's been easier getting them answered on Live Chat than via the maze of help features on my normal internet banking.

Realise it's a start up, but I'm comfortable that my money is held in a separate Barclays account, so would be protected if Chip went down the tubes. Barclays seems safe enough!

Anyway really sorry to hear about problems experienced by others, but it's worked well for me.

camaj

jimroy wrote: »

It asks you to enter the referral code at the end of the sign up process.

Yeah, it says something like "one last thing, do you have a code?". I entered it and it said in the menu I was on 3% interest, although I got a message a few hours later telling me to make sure I entered the code, but I've checked and there's no indication that it hasn't gone through.

They didn't take any money out though and there's no direct debit set up with my bank, maybe it takes a few days

Oreo71

atlantis187 wrote: »

why are majority of the comments about this from NEWBIES??

NEWBIES, or not, we were asked if we could share our experience of using the chip app. This is the Thread that the link took us to.

jimroy

camaj wrote: »

Yeah, it says something like "one last thing, do you have a code?". I entered it and it said in the menu I was on 3% interest, although I got a message a few hours later telling me to make sure I entered the code, but I've checked and there's no indication that it hasn't gone through.

They didn't take any money out though and there's no direct debit set up with my bank, maybe it takes a few days

I got a text from CHIP this morning saying "Hey! Don't forget to sign up to that epic automatic savings app you were looking at..."

Err. i thought i already had? Lol

The new direct debit is showing as set up on my account this morning. So that's a good sign. I think it takes four working days for your first payment to come out?

jimroy

It states on this site and theirs that Chip are FCA regulated, yet I can't find them on the register: https://register.fca.org.uk/ShPo_Homepage

Maybe I'm not searching correctly. I filtered by 'e-money' and it brought up zero results under "Chip."

Maybe someone else could shed more light on this?