Chip savings app - is it worth it?

Kriminal

Hi all,

I've recently been assisting my Mum with her banking, and so far have moved money to make her an additional £2,200 per year in interest.

I am trying to get her in to banking apps, but as she doesn't have a mobile phone with access, me and my sister have power of attorney and I was able to open a Chip account for her over the weekend.  I only moved £10 for now, so she can see how it works, but have noticed on the app that I need to provide confirmation from Santander (the bank the money came out of) to transfer any money out.

Doing this takes me to an online banking link, of which she won't have an online account.

I'm very uncomfortable with this bank, and would like to completely withdraw and close it, as it's not as simple as other accounts I have myself.

Will this be possible, as I'm still waiting for a response from Chip customer services?

Kind regards,

Dave

grumbler

Would it not be easier to register for online banking with Santander?

Band7

Kriminal said:

  I only moved £10 for now, so she can see how it works, but have noticed on the app that I need to provide confirmation from Santander (the bank the money came out of) to transfer any money out.

Doing this takes me to an online banking link, of which she won't have an online account.

How did you manage to make a deposit if she doesn't have an online current account from which to pull in money? What account did you open, in whose name?

CHIP are not a bank but a financial services company which provides FSCS and non-FSCS protected accounts. Their instant access account comes with FSCS protection and is perfectly ok, and much discussed on this forum.

If you/your mum don't like online access to her Santander account, your next best savings rate is with the Family Building Society which can be operated by snail mail.

Though as above, wouldn't it be easier all round to get online access to the Santander account?

Kriminal

Band7 said:

Kriminal said:

  I only moved £10 for now, so she can see how it works, but have noticed on the app that I need to provide confirmation from Santander (the bank the money came out of) to transfer any money out.

Doing this takes me to an online banking link, of which she won't have an online account.

How did you manage to make a deposit if she doesn't have an online current account from which to pull in money? What account did you open, in whose name?

CHIP are not a bank but a financial services company which provides FSCS and non-FSCS protected accounts. Their instant access account comes with FSCS protection and is perfectly ok, and much discussed on this forum.

If you/your mum don't like online access to her Santander account, your next best savings rate is with the Family Building Society which can be operated by snail mail.

Though as above, wouldn't it be easier all round to get online access to the Santander account?

The mad thing with chip is that you can deposit money using the card, but need an online Santander account to withdraw, and have to jump through more hoops.

I thought chip was a savings account as that what it says on the Martin Lewis app

VXman

Kriminal said:

I thought chip was a savings account as that what it says on the Martin Lewis app

Chip is a financial organisation. (Not a 'bank') You can access it's products  through it's app. The Instant Access savings account (I assume that is the account you are referring to) is just one of their products and has only recently become available.

It's the way Chip work - linking your account to a bank account to move money in  and out.

Its  bonafide organisation and the savings account is protected by the FSCS (up to £85K like all major banks) and I have used them for a couple of years with no problems - however it will need to link online to another account to withdraw money. (I think one of the reasons it works like this is because their original account worked by moving money automatically from your main current account when it went over a predetermined threshold. A way of encouraging you to save excess money.)

Martin Lewis was probably just simplifying it rather than explaining CHIP fully.

In answer to your question -'is it worth it?'  I think so. Once set up it is simple/quick/easy to use and is the best instant access rate out there.

Kriminal

I've sent to them directly this morning, as it seems to take a long time for them to process or respond to anything, and how I don't think it makes sense how they can accept a deposit with just the bank card details, but seem to require online banking to refund the money. 

It should be straightforward enough to pay back to the card.  We wouldn't get these problems just purchasing anything through a shop, so why should it be so difficult with banks?

flaneurs_lobster

For the third time, they are not a bank.

They offer a market-leading interest rate and the price for that is a clunky interface which needs a (real) bank account to be associated with it and less than fast customer support. That debit card deposit will take three days to credit your account, from a bank account it would be near instant.

It's clearly not to your liking, don't use them. Who do you currently bank with? Which savings products have you used that will get you £2.2K interest in a a year?

Kriminal

flaneurs_lobster said:

For the third time, they are not a bank.

They offer a market-leading interest rate and the price for that is a clunky interface which needs a (real) bank account to be associated with it and less than fast customer support. That debit card deposit will take three days to credit your account, from a bank account it would be near instant.

It's clearly not to your liking, don't use them. Who do you currently bank with? Which savings products have you used that will get you £2.2K interest in a a year?

Apologies, but when Martin Lewis has included it under Easy Access Savings Accounts, and included the word Banks with the category listed under, it seems very misleading.

The account with the better interest rates was a Fixed Account with a high street building society.

I've sent an email back to Chip explaining how I'm disappointed with the slow response and poor customer services, and asked for the money to be refunded to the card, as their reviews I have since read are very disappointing

phillw

Kriminal said:
Apologies, but when Martin Lewis has included it under Easy Access Savings Accounts, and included the word Banks with the category listed under, it seems very misleading.

The account with the better interest rates was a Fixed Account with a high street building society.

I've sent an email back to Chip explaining how I'm disappointed with the slow response and poor customer services, and asked for the money to be refunded to the card, as their reviews I have since read are very disappointing

Chip isn't a bank. Money deposited into the easy access account is held by clearpoint, which is a bank.

Fixed rate accounts usually have a higher rate of interest than easy access.

I haven't read any reviews, my experience with chip has been fine. I don't see how you can make a complaint to chip because other peoples experience is bad.

They recommend using faster payment instead of debit cards, so I'm not sure that you can complain about that either.

PloughmansLunch

phillw said:

They recommend using faster payment instead of debit cards, so I'm not sure that you can complain about that either.

Chip CS explicitly say they do not recommend using FP - it is only funded via Open Banking or debit card. Faster payments will fail to be deposited and will eventually skulk back to the originating account.

masonic

All explained here: https://intercom.help/get-chip/en/articles/3583349-why-we-need-a-card-and-bank-connection
Along with an invitation to contact them if you cannot set up a bank connection. It is not an account for those without online banking facilities, but perhaps they will be able to cancel the debit card transaction and close the account, given that it is unsuitable for the OP's needs.