Chip - Is this company FCA regulated and safe to use for savings?

eskbanker

https://www.getchip.uk/

Chip is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Payment Service Regulations 2017, firm reference number no. 911255, for the provision of payment services. 
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Note that Chip is not a bank. We provide access to savings accounts with UK authorised partner banks and an e-money wallet with a UK authorised e-money provider. 
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Only the money held in our Interest Accounts and Chip+1 account is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). To find out more and to check your eligibility please visit: https://www.fscs.org.uk/about-us/ 

Funds held in your e-money wallet are not covered by FSCS. This money is safeguarded with Prepaid Financial Services Limited.

mrkds

Thanks @eskbanker. That makes thing more clear. 

Topazman

I opened a Chip +1 account last week following the MSE newsletter and deposited more than £3k and set up autosave.  All this was easy, but after 2 autosaves I noticed that that money had gone into a 0% interest Chip account.  That account is shown as having immediate access but every attempt to withdraw has met with failure.
On raising the issue with the Chip online chat I was advised to 'hang in there' and try later as there were problems with access through Android.  I have now been trying without success for a week and am still fobbed off with the excuse that the problem is being investigated.

DireEmblem

*I think* autosaves can be directed to an account if that's you're preference.  The withdrawals, I suspect is an AML check type thing, might not be.  A week does seem a long time though.

VXman

I gave up on my account. To much fuss for 1.25% on  a max of £2000. I couldn't work out how to turn the auto save off and I was concerned about ending up getting charges. Also the 1.25% isn't really interest. It's a bonus after 12 weeks. All to complicated. It's not really a account for savings of that kind. It's aimed at helping people save by automatically moving 'spare' money from your main account.

Ed-1

VXman said:

I gave up on my account. To much fuss for 1.25% on  a max of £2000. I couldn't work out how to turn the auto save off and I was concerned about ending up getting charges. Also the 1.25% isn't really interest. It's a bonus after 12 weeks. All to complicated. It's not really a account for savings of that kind. It's aimed at helping people save by automatically moving 'spare' money from your main account.

No charges on the ChipAI plan apply anyway until the app has saved at least £100 in autosaves (you get a free trial until then). So you can save £5k and still not pay a fee.

shafiq

richardnadin7 said:

Hi all
Yesterday I opened a Chip+1 saving account following the MSE email on Tuesday night (08/12/20) which notified of the code to allow you to open an account and get 1.25% interest.
The account opened fine, but when I tried to deposit £5k it got blocked twice by verified by visa and then again by the Nationwide fraud team. After a lengthy conservation with verified by visa and then Nationwide, they said Chip were not regulate by FCA and it would be at my own risk if I wanted to deposit any funds with them.
Has anyone had any dealing with this company before or know whether it is safe to do so?
Many thanks
Rick

I used the MSE code to get the Chip+1 account and it put it to a max of £2k instead of 5k in the 1.25% account. They first did a small charge of £1.01 to my FirstDirect account as a pending transaction. This took a week and then finally I transferred £3k and that took 5 working days (they say 3 working days). It also takes 3 days to get the money out so it is really not an easy access one like Atom and Marcus where the funds put in or taken out are done almost instantly (they say max 2 hours). The Chat function is useless as they take a day to get back to you and it all seems automated. I'm surprised MSE didn't check this out as this has been a really bad experience and I will close my Chip account.

eskbanker

shafiq said:
I'm surprised MSE didn't check this out as this has been a really bad experience

Worth reading the caveats at the foot of every MSE page if you were under the impression that they were doing anything other than listing best buys according to factual interest rates:

This info does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances and remember we focus on rates not service.

mrkds

shafiq said:

I used the MSE code to get the Chip+1 account and it put it to a max of £2k instead of 5k in the 1.25% account. They first did a small charge of £1.01 to my FirstDirect account as a pending transaction. This took a week and then finally I transferred £3k and that took 5 working days (they say 3 working days). It also takes 3 days to get the money out so it is really not an easy access one like Atom and Marcus where the funds put in or taken out are done almost instantly (they say max 2 hours). The Chat function is useless as they take a day to get back to you and it all seems automated. I'm surprised MSE didn't check this out as this has been a really bad experience and I will close my Chip account.

Yeah, I'm also not impressed at the time it takes to deposit / withdraw funds. The term "easy-access" is a bit misleading. Even very small obscure banks / building societies have the money in your account within a couple of hours of requesting a withdrawl.  Also the phrasing of interest as "bonus' is suspicious.  Although I only planned to keep money there a few months, I am thinking this is not the best idea now.