Chime: My experience so far

Morgan Bishop5 said:Hey everyone, I’m looking for some straightforward answers specifically regarding N26, so if there are any experts out there, please help me out.

I’ve been going back and forth with my sister for days about these online banks—I can't seem to convince her on certain points, so I'm not sure if I'm the one in the wrong here. I have a few questions, so if anyone knows the deal, please let me know.

1. Can an N26 card be used for ATM withdrawals in the US even though it operates in dollars rather than, say, a different local currency? Basically, can I withdraw cash from an ATM using my account if the account is set up in USD? (I know there’s usually a conversion fee, I just want to know if it's actually possible.)

2. Can a collection agency block an N26 account, and does that depend on which state the address is registered in? Has anyone dealt with debt collectors regarding this?

3. If the bank is based in Germany, but my sister is currently living at her address here in the States, could a German Equifax report or some other entity garnish her wages or seize funds in Germany if she has an unpaid bill over there?

4. I read somewhere that the virtual card in the app can be used for both payments and ATM withdrawals. How exactly do you pull cash from an ATM using just your phone or a virtual card? Do you actually need a physical card for that?

5. If an account is ordered here in the US, will it have an American IBAN or a German/Canadian one—for instance, if Canada is listed during setup? How do those different versions of accounts work, what do they apply to, and what are the actual differences?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help. Cheers.

1. You can use it normally to withdraw cash from ATMs; the fee is 1.75%. The only thing is that JPMorgan Chase doesn't charge extra fees for foreign cards yet.$7.25
2. A US agency can't block that account since they don't really have visibility into it.
3. Equifax doesn't handle debt collection; they just store data regarding your bank accounts, cards, and loans, as well as debts owed to specific companies, and calculate your Credit score based on that. If you have an unpaid bill and it goes to collections, they record that info with Equifax. However, only a court can actually authorize a seizure.
4. You can use a virtual card for cash withdrawals at ATMs that support the feature—basically, you add the card to Apple Pay/Google Pay and tap your phone on the contactless reader. I'm just not sure if that virtual card even has a PIN required for withdrawals.
5. The account will always have a German IBAN unless you use an Italian or Spanish address.
The difference between a German and a Canadian account is that the German one limits you to 3 cash withdrawals per month, while the Canadian one doesn't (as far as I know). Other than that, there isn't much difference.

Joseph Martin10 said:1. You can use it normally to withdraw cash from ATMs; the fee is 1.75%. The only thing is that JPMorgan Chase doesn't charge extra fees for foreign cards yet.$7.25
2. A US agency can't block that account since they don't really have visibility into it.
3. Equifax doesn't handle debt collection; they just store data regarding your bank accounts, cards, and loans, as well as debts owed to specific companies, and calculate your Credit score based on that. If you have an unpaid bill and it goes to collections, they record that info with Equifax. However, only a court can actually authorize a seizure.
4. You can use a virtual card for cash withdrawals at ATMs that support the feature—basically, you add the card to Apple Pay/Google Pay and tap your phone on the contactless reader. I'm just not sure if that virtual card even has a PIN required for withdrawals.
5. The account will always have a German IBAN unless you use an Italian or Spanish address.
The difference between a German and a Canadian account is that the German one limits you to 3 cash withdrawals per month, while the Canadian one doesn't (as far as I know). Other than that, there isn't much difference.

Thanks—turns out my sister was wrong about 4 out of 5 things! 😂
The replies were helpful.

I wonder what kind of installment plan limit you guys actually got... I barely even touch my Chase account, and they only gave me $500. My overdraft limit is still sitting at around $1,250, I guess.

Does anyone here have experience with these cards? I need to know which one is actually better for use here in the States. I heard that PayPal can handle both USD and EUR.

For my daily life in the US, I’m using a JPMorgan Chase Visa, but I want a single card that works seamlessly when I travel to Turkey, Portugal, Germany, or Russia (though I realize those places are their own thing). My goal is to pull local currency from foreign ATMs while keeping fees to an absolute minimum, if not zero. For example, if I hold both USD and EUR on the card, I want to head to Turkey for a few weeks and be able to pay for everything—from street food to hotels—directly with the card, or just withdraw some Lira from a local ATM without getting ripped off.

A while back, I opened an account with Chime, but I never actually ended up using it. Now, I can't for the life of me remember any of my login details or passwords... It's all a bit of a blur. If I wanted to reactivate the account and finally start using it, what would be the best way to go about that?

Brian Jones4 said:Does anyone here have experience with these cards? I need to know which one is actually better for use here in the States. I heard that PayPal can handle both USD and EUR.

For my daily life in the US, I’m using a JPMorgan Chase Visa, but I want a single card that works seamlessly when I travel to Turkey, Portugal, Germany, or Russia (though I realize those places are their own thing). My goal is to pull local currency from foreign ATMs while keeping fees to an absolute minimum, if not zero. For example, if I hold both USD and EUR on the card, I want to head to Turkey for a few weeks and be able to pay for everything—from street food to hotels—directly with the card, or just withdraw some Lira from a local ATM without getting ripped off.

PayPal is definitely the way to go since Chime doesn't support those specific currency needs.

Jerry Anderson87 said:A while back, I opened an account with Chime, but I never actually ended up using it. Now, I can't for the life of me remember any of my login details or passwords... It's all a bit of a blur. If I wanted to reactivate the account and finally start using it, what would be the best way to go about that?

Just download the app, plug in your email, and hit "forgot password"... then just follow the prompts through the whole process.

Yeah, I am, but now it won't accept my zip code😵I tried using an American one and even a German one, but nothing works. I already sent an email over to customer support🙄

Quick little update: about 24 hours later, I finally got an email saying my account had been wiped and that I could just reinstall the app with my preferred settings. I went ahead and reinstalled everything, which included a quick video chat with a support agent. The whole process took maybe ten minutes total. Everything is up and running now, and my account is officially active again.

analogjackal11 said:I wonder what kind of installment plan limit you guys actually got... I barely even touch my Chase account, and they only gave me $500. My overdraft limit is still sitting at around $1,250, I guess.

I can't seem to find that option—where exactly does that notification pop up?

Just head over to Google, look under Goldman Sachs products, and you'll see everything currently available to you, including Chase Overdraft and Affirm. Think of Chase Overdraft as your pre-approved line of credit and Affirm as your option for installment plans. If they aren't showing up yet, don't worry—it just means they haven't cleared you for them quite yet. Usually, you just need to have spent a certain amount of money over the last few months before those options pop up.

Has anyone here experimented with using N26 for installment payments yet? I’m curious to know what kind of fees you guys actually ended up paying. It’s pretty strange—for some reason, my unknown installments allow me to split them further into N26 payments, while others just won't let me. 🤔

So I gave it a shot and spread out $67.60 over a 6-month period, and I guess the fee ended up being about $1.72.

So, we're looking at roughly 2.5%? Honestly, that doesn't seem like much at all. 🙂

Once the US officially transitions to the dollar as the sole standard next year, these kinds of shifts are going to get even more interesting.

Kyle Jackson72 said:I’m currently in the States, and I tried to use that workaround where I set my shipping address here but listed the country as Mexico. During my first attempt at Identity Verification, the system just hung on that status for a few days. When I reached out to support, they told me they couldn't open the account due to legal restrictions. So, I requested to have the account deleted and tried again. This time, I did the video verification with my ID, which seemed to go perfectly. The agent even told me I was all set and gave me next steps. But once again, it gets stuck on verifying for a few days before hitting me with the same "account cannot be enabled" message. Does anyone know what's actually going on here?

I've been stuck on "Verifying your identity" for several days now too. I messaged them and they asked for a utility bill with my name and address, but I haven't heard anything back. I'm wondering how I can just wipe the account and start over from scratch.

I think I read somewhere that they aren't really taking new users right now, though I guess I might be wrong about that.

analogcyclist9 said:I've been stuck on "Verifying your identity" for several days now too. I messaged them and they asked for a utility bill with my name and address, but I haven't heard anything back. I'm wondering how I can just wipe the account and start over from scratch.

I think I read somewhere that they aren't really taking new users right now, though I guess I might be wrong about that.

Are you following this
procedure?

A bunch of folks here ran into similar roadblocks, but after trying two or three times, they finally broke through. The real key is making sure you actually get that code once the video call with the agent wraps up—once you have that, everything should click into place.

That’s exactly what I did.
I entered my address and zip code. I put 2221 instead of 22211 for the town of Water. I guess that might be why I got stuck during the Identity Verification process.

Is anyone else having trouble with Chase?
I can't get past the login screen no matter what I try.

I’m probably a bit late to the party here, but regarding 😁

Yeah, looks like it's working for me now too. Must have been some kind of bug.