I’ve tried out the Chip app for the last 3 months, since it gained popularity in 2023 for its impressive interest rates. But is it really worth the buzz?
In this review, we’ll closely examine the Chip app’s features, including its savings account, automatic savings, and investment options. We’ll also take a look at the company behind Chip to determine if your money is secure with them. Let’s get started.
Chip is an award-winning savings and investment app. They became popular with their high-interest savings account but also offer investment services and automatic saving.
- Market leading interest rates
- Easy to use app
- £85,000 Protected by FSCS
- 45p Per Autosave
- Limited Range Of Investment Products
What Is Chip?
Chip is a modern financial app that has multiple different financial products. They offer savings accounts, investment funds, and the ability to invest in alternative assets. People are mainly using Chip for their high-interest rates and auto-saving features.
It is one of many “New Generation” savings apps to hit the market and they’re doing a great job of it. Legacy banks are trailing behind these new app-only banks when it comes to ease of use and modern features.
Overall after using the app for a few months, I like using it as a savings account and the high-interest rate is great. In fact, it’s where I keep my emergency fund. However, for me, I won’t be moving my ISA or investment portfolio into the app anytime soon.
Let’s get into the details and see exactly what the app has to offer.
How Does Chip Work?
Chip works by connecting directly to your main current account. This takes a few minutes to do in the app. Once connected Chip can analyse your transactions and determine how much you can afford to save. Every 4 days Chip will make a withdrawal from your bank account and put it into your savings account.
For people who struggle to save this can make it much easier. By taking a seemingly insignificant amount regularly, it can be easier psychologically rather than taking one lump sum each month.
The app will alert you before it takes the payment, so you can cancel the transaction before it comes out if you need to. You also have the ability to completely turn off this feature and only manually deposit money into the account.
Chip Instant Access Savings Review
Currently Chips easy-access savings account is their most popular product and the main reason they have been able to reach 300,000 users. It offers:
- Instant access to your money
- 4.84% Interest Rate
- Start with as little as £1, up to £250k
This account was my reason for signing up for Chip as I wanted to take advantage of their high interest rate.
Depositing
You can deposit to the savings account using 4 different methods; Deposit through your linked bank account, apple pay, card, or regular bank transfer.
Personally, I used the linked bank account method and my money arrived in the Chip account almost instantly. I did initially try to deposit with my bank card but for some reason, it wouldn’t go through.
Withdrawing Money
When it came to withdrawing my money, I had a very similar experience. I withdrew my money through the linked bank transfer option and the money arrived back in my Santander account instantly.
Recurring Deposits
If you want to consistently save the same amount every month, then their recurring saving feature will work well for you. You can decide how much you want Chip to take from your current account each month and automatically have it deposited into your savings.
The minimum recurring deposit is £10 and you can decide how often you want the recurring savings to happen. Choose from, weekly, every other week, every 4 weeks, or every month. You also have the ability to select which day these saves happen. We recommend saving on the day you get your paycheck.
The intuitive app makes this feature easy to set up.
Autosave Feature
Another popular feature in the app is the AI autosave feature. This feature allows AI to decide how much you can afford to save. If you’re someone who isn’t disciplined with saving on your own this can be a good feature. Essentially, if you are spending more than usual, Chip will make smaller saves, if you’re spending less it will make bigger saves. Here’s how it works.
- Connect your bank account to Chip. The chip can then analyse your transactions and see how much you can afford to save.
- Set up your autosave settings:
- Overdraft Save – Ensures Chip does not take you into overdraft for an autosave. Ensure this is off as you don’t want to incur overdraft fees to save.
- Min Bank Balance – If your account is under this balance, Chip will not take any autosave.
- AI Save Allocation – Tell Chip which of your accounts to put this autosave money into.
- AI Save Level – There are 5 different levels of AI saving. 1 is very conservative and will save smaller amounts while 5 will be more aggressive and save larger amounts.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of this AI savings method although it may work for you if you are not disciplined with your own savings. I like to set a budget at the start of the month and know exactly how much I will be saving on the day I get paid. I put that money aside and then live off the remaining for the rest of the month. If you find it works for you and allows you to save more over time, that’s great.
It’s important to note that if you are on the free plan, it costs you £0.45 per autosave. Personally, I don’t think it’s wise to spend money to save. You can save manually in the app for free.
Interest
Your interest on this account is paid monthly on the 4th of each month. If you have £1,000 in your account at the start of the month you would get £1000 x 4.84% / 12 Months = £3.76. As your interest is paid monthly you benefit from your money compounding monthly.
I specifically like how the app shows you how much interest you have earned to date and how much interest you have pending for the current month. Pending interest is paid on the 4th of each month.
Compare Chip Accounts & Plans
Chip Plans
Chip currently has two different plans. One plan is free and the other costs £5.99/month.
| Chip Free Plan | Chip X Premium Plan | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Fee | £0 | £5.99/Month or £65.05 Annually |
| FSCS Protection | Yes | Yes |
| Auto Save Cost | £0.45 For Autosaves £0.25 For Recurring Saves | Free |
| Choice of Investment Funds | 3 funds Available | Full Choice of Funds |
| Platform Fee | 0.5% Per Annum (Investing Only) | Free |
| ISA | No | Yes |
It’s worth noting that the Chip platform fee on the free plan only applies to investing. You can use the savings accounts without incurring any charges.
If you only plan to use Chip for the High-Interest savings account then there will be no fees.
Chip Savings Accounts
Chip currently has 4 savings accounts available. Instant access, Easy Access, 90 Day notice account and a prize savings account.
| Account | Interest Rates | Withdrawal |
|---|---|---|
| Instant Access | 4.84% | Instant |
| 90-Day Notice Account | 4.1% | 90 Day Notice |
| Easy Access Account | 1.1% | Any Time |
| Prize Savings Account* | 0% (Offers Prizes) | Instant |
Clearly right now the instant access account is the best option. Not only does it offer the best rate at 4.84% but you have the ability to withdraw your money instantly.
*A prize savings account doesn’t pay interest but gives you 1 entry for every £10 held in the account. Each month they offer the chance to win up to £52,200 in cash prizes.
Chip ISA
Chip does have the option to open or transfer your ISA to them. However, this is only available on the Chip X plan meaning you’re paying over £65 a year just to have an ISA. There are many other providers out there who offer the ability to open an ISA for free and give you much more freedom with your investments.
Investing With Chip
Chip state that over 500,000+ people are using Chip to build their wealth. However, it also shows on their app that only 11,000 people are using their investing products. This shows that most people are currently signing up to use Savings accounts rather than the investing options available.
If you’re someone who is new to investing and finance Chip is an okay place to start investing. They have about 15 different funds available to invest in however there isn’t much control outside of that.
Each fund has a risk rating depending on how aggressive your want to be with your investing. A few of the funds they have, include a FTSE 100 Index fund, S&P 500 Tech fund, Balanced Fund, Ethical funds and more.
You can look into the detail of each fund and see its historical returns, fees and a fund projection based on how much you invest each month.
The funds they have chosen have relatively low management fees which is great. Most range from a 0.15% to 0.22% fee each year. This is fairly low compared to some other actively managed funds from other brokers.
Multiple of their funds are locked behind the Chip X paywall. To use them, you will have to sign up for their £5.99/Month Chip X plan.
Alternative Investments
The app also gives you the ability to invest in alternative assets such as Crypto and Gold. However, if I was purchasing these assets I would buy them myself where I actually can get the crypto and store it offline or I actually receive the gold and can put it in a safe.
Investment Accounts On Chip
There are two types of investment accounts on Chip.
Stocks and Shares ISA – A stocks and shares ISA allows you to invest up to £20k per year tax-free. This means you do not have to have to pay tax on capital gains or dividends. You will need a ChipX account to open a Stocks and Shares ISA.
General Investment Account – A general investment account allows you to invest in Stocks and Shares. However, this account is unfortunately not tax-free. You will have to pay tax on any gains over £6,000. This only applies when you realise your gains by selling.
Thoughts On Investing With Chip
As an investment platform, I don’t think Chip is there yet. Personally, if I solely wanted to invest I would use a cheaper broker which has access to all funds and doesn’t charge me a monthly fee to invest.
For me, Chips value currently lies in its high-interest savings accounts. Maybe in the future, they will expand their investment offerings and this will change.
Chip Customer Support
Customer support is available on Chip from 8 am to 9 pm during the week. The only way to get in touch is through their live chat in the app. Unfortunately, they do not have a customer service number you can call if you have problems. This is the biggest negative feedback point we have seen about Chip so far.
If you need help using the app, they have a full help center with guides on how to get everything set up.
Is My Money Safe in Chip Savings Account?
Yes, when using Chip your money is safe. All money deposited into a savings account with Chip is covered by the FSCS. This means that you are covered for up to £85,000. It’s important to note that this £85,000 is spread across multiple accounts within Chip. If you had £60,000 in the Prize savings account and £60,000 in an Easy Access Saver account you would only be covered for £85,000 out of the total £120,000 in your accounts.
Chip savings accounts are powered by ClearBank, a UK Authorised bank. If you own any other ClearBank accounts, you will only be covered up to £85,000 across all of them. This is because you are only covered up to £85,000 per customer per banking license. If you have more than £85,000 splitting your money across different banks and building societies will give you more protection.
Even if Chip was to fail your money would still be safe as it is held with their partner bank, Clearbank. It would have to fail before the FSCS would need to get involved.
If anything was ever to go wrong with ClearBank, the FSCS aims to make all payments back to savers within three months.
In Short: If you are saving less than £85,000, your money is as safe as it is in a high street bank.
What Are Customers Saying About Chip?
Chip has a 3.3/5 rating on Trustpilot.
64% of people gave the app a 5-star review, while 23% gave it a 1-star review. We need to take reviews with a pinch of salt. Most people will only leave a review when something bad happens and a lot of the time it’s something small, yet they give it 1 star. For someone to leave a positive review, service has to be above and beyond. So why are people leaving 1-star reviews?
Customer Service
Customer service is the main complaint Chip is currently facing. Most of the negative reviews come down to long wait times on their live chat. This is likely due to their rapid growth in the past few months. Hopefully, with time they will be able to hire more customer support staff to manage the load.
Positive Feedback
On the other side of the coin, there is lots of positive feedback on how easy it easy to open an account, use the auto-save functions, and of course the great interest rate.
Investing
There are very few people talking about their investment products. It makes sense, they’re not fully fleshed out brokerage and only offer a few select funds to invest in. For me, it’s not there yet as an investment platform. Most people are using the app for the high-interest rate.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, we think Chip is a great app for savers. The main selling point is of course their great savings interest rate on the account. While I’m personally not a fan of AI autosaving, it may work well for some people who struggle to save.
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