Chip +1 Account

DireEmblem

I fell out with Chip for that reason OceanSound, and sadly I am an investor.  A lot of decent people that worked for them have also left.  Its evident on their forum.

They dont have any USP, but use incentives to sell an overly complicated product.

quirkydeptless

OceanSound said:
yep, it must be my fault for not reading the terms and conditions of the account (not just the terms and conditions of the prize draw). 

Exactly. Read the T&Cs

Emmia

The app allows you to easily see which plan you're on - Chip Lite is free but has lower limits on the 1.25% bonus and no auto save.

Chip+1 charges £1.50 every 4 weeks, but has the autosave, and a higher limit to attract the 1.25% bonus. 

Chip's USP is the AI calculated autosave - so if that's not a feature you want, and you're ok with the lower limit on the 1.25% bonus then you can have the free account...

If you want the £10k limit on the bonus, it's really simple,  you need to pay the £1.50 every 4 weeks (which works out as £19.50 a year) - it's really not complicated.

Fletchasketch

My concern is the slow speed of deposits and withdrawals. I’ve deposited a large chunk of my salary which will be needed back in my current account throughout the month to pay bills. Am
I going to need to do this three days in advance? Will be a pain if so!

n.b already downgraded to ChipLite to prevent charges & autosave.

Emmia

Fletchasketch said:

My concern is the slow speed of deposits and withdrawals. I’ve deposited a large chunk of my salary which will be needed back in my current account throughout the month to pay bills. Am
I going to need to do this three days in advance? Will be a pain if so!

n.b already downgraded to ChipLite to prevent charges & autosave.

I don't (personally) use Chip for money I will (or expect to) need during the month. It's very much a savings account that I don't dip into as the money transfer isn't instant, in the same way that a cash savings account from the same provider as my current account is.

That said, I've made withdrawals and the money hit my account the next day (morning withdrawal) so it's pretty instant in the grand scheme of things. 

If you want instant transfer for day-to-day bills/spending, I'd suggest Chip isn't the right provider/product for this.

MittMonkey

If you want more instant access, perhaps it's worth having a Virgin Money M Plus current account, which pays a healthy 2% (that counts as pretty healthy at the moment) up to £1000. This is something that I personally am looking to do. Also, apparently they will let you open multiple accounts, so you could use them to get the 2% on multiple accounts with £1000 in. 

Perhaps use the Chip+1 for money you wouldn't want to withdraw as quickly. I agree about the delay in processing deposits though. I've not withdrawn any of the money in my Chip+1 yet so can't comment on that process. 

Fletchasketch

Thanks for the feedback. On reflection I should have done a bit more research, just so used to every bank having pretty much instant transfers (even cross bank and internationally!) and don't understand why any bank would do things differently. 

I've now had to take out a loan to cover the payments I won't have funds with. Luckily if repaid within 14 days no interest will be charged, so no issue there other than the faff!! 

eskbanker

Fletchasketch said:

Thanks for the feedback. On reflection I should have done a bit more research, just so used to every bank having pretty much instant transfers (even cross bank and internationally!) and don't understand why any bank would do things differently.

You do realise that Chip isn't a bank?  By their own admission, on their website:

Chip is a financial service and not a bank

Emmia

Fletchasketch said:

Thanks for the feedback. On reflection I should have done a bit more research, just so used to every bank having pretty much instant transfers (even cross bank and internationally!) and don't understand why any bank would do things differently. 

I've now had to take out a loan to cover the payments I won't have funds with. Luckily if repaid within 14 days no interest will be charged, so no issue there other than the faff!! 

Chip is a platform, rather than a bank...

To quote them

"Chip is not a bank. We provide access to savings accounts with UK authorised partner banks that are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), and an e-money wallet with a UK authorised e-money provider."

Fletchasketch

Emmia said:

Fletchasketch said:

Thanks for the feedback. On reflection I should have done a bit more research, just so used to every bank having pretty much instant transfers (even cross bank and internationally!) and don't understand why any bank would do things differently. 

I've now had to take out a loan to cover the payments I won't have funds with. Luckily if repaid within 14 days no interest will be charged, so no issue there other than the faff!! 

Chip is a platform, rather than a bank...

To quote them

"Chip is not a bank. We provide access to savings accounts with UK authorised partner banks that are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), and an e-money wallet with a UK authorised e-money provider."

Excuse my ignorance, but why would being a platform rather than a bank make transferring money slower?