Chime: My experience so far

So, Revolut finally went and got their banking license. They’ve already started onboarding users over in Lithuania, and word is they're planning to roll it out to everyone else across Central and Eastern Europe by the end of the year.

ironcyclist58 said:So, Revolut finally went and got their banking license. They’ve already started onboarding users over in Lithuania, and word is they're planning to roll it out to everyone else across Central and Eastern Europe by the end of the year.

They hold both a banking license and an e-money license over in Lithuania. Only the Lithuanian users will be under the actual banking license; everyone else will continue to operate under the e-money license.

Nah, they’re actually looking at opening up the bank to everyone else too.

Joseph Martin10 said:Out of all those options, SoFi is the only one that's an real bank, meaning your deposits are insured up to $250,000. Chime is just an e-money service; there's no actual protection for your funds.

SoFi is way more practical than, say, a foreign exchange account at a traditional big bank. Once things fully stabilize here in the US, SoFi will be the only true alternative to a standard checking account among the
Stripe
players.

Thanks for the input. I'm aware that Chime is a bank, but I’d argue Revolut is well on its way to becoming one too.
First off—why even bother mentioning foreign currency accounts if you have Revolut (or Chime) in your pocket? Also, I'm struggling to follow your logic here; you're saying Chime protects you up to $100,000—fine, that's true—but who's to say that the same amount of cash isn't perfectly safe in a Revolut account? This isn't some shady outfit run by Joe from Lower Maglajan that he registered in Burundi; we're talking about a massive, respectable corporation. Plus, they fall under the jurisdiction of the British Financial regulatory body, so—unless I'm missing something huge—there shouldn't be any funny business or sudden disappearances of funds, whether you're holding a single cent or a million dollars in your Revolut account.
Given all that, I still don't see why Chime would have any real edge over Revolut.

vividstag0 said:Thanks for the input. I'm aware that Chime is a bank, but I’d argue Revolut is well on its way to becoming one too.
First off—why even bother mentioning foreign currency accounts if you have Revolut (or Chime) in your pocket? Also, I'm struggling to follow your logic here; you're saying Chime protects you up to $100,000—fine, that's true—but who's to say that the same amount of cash isn't perfectly safe in a Revolut account? This isn't some shady outfit run by Joe from Lower Maglajan that he registered in Burundi; we're talking about a massive, respectable corporation. Plus, they fall under the jurisdiction of the British Financial regulatory body, so—unless I'm missing something huge—there shouldn't be any funny business or sudden disappearances of funds, whether you're holding a single cent or a million dollars in your Revolut account.
Given all that, I still don't see why Chime would have any real edge over Revolut.

The money is insured in the sense that if the bank fails, you are guaranteed to get back up to $100,000, whereas if Revolut goes under, your money could vanish and you'd be...

mellowhawk33 said:My bad, you're totally right—I just took a closer look and realized it's actually live now

Hey, I signed up using that invite link from your instructions.
Hopefully everything goes smoothly.
As soon as the card arrives, I'll make sure to hit that $15 minimum transaction.

Just a quick observation: I topped up my Chime account using my Curve card, and the transaction showed up in the Curve app labeled as "shopping."
Usually, these kinds of top-ups show up under "general" or "business services." Does this mean the MCC code Chime sends over is different from "money transfers" or something similar?

Joseph Martin10 said:The money is insured in the sense that if the bank fails, you are guaranteed to get back up to $100,000, whereas if Revolut goes under, your money could vanish and you'd be...

Thanks, I wasn't actually aware of that. It makes me wonder, though—if that's the case, why would Chime offer that kind of protection while Revolut might not? I suspect it comes down to the fact that Chime holds actual banking status, whereas Revolut probably hasn't quite reached that level yet.

vividstag0 said:Thanks, I wasn't actually aware of that. It makes me wonder, though—if that's the case, why would Chime offer that kind of protection while Revolut might not? I suspect it comes down to the fact that Chime holds actual banking status, whereas Revolut probably hasn't quite reached that level yet.

Under European Union law, financial institutions registered as banks are required to insure every account up to €100,000. At Chime, accounts are insured through the FDIC (https://docs.n26.com/legal/bank-acco...cherung-de.pdf)

https://support.n26.com/en-de/securi...otect-my-money

And yes, since Revolut doesn't hold a banking license everywhere yet, they aren't obligated—nor are they able—to insure user funds in the same way. They currently use a Lithuanian license specifically for certain users for this exact reason: if Revolut were to fail, the Lithuanian central bank would be stuck footing the bill to reimburse everyone. If Revolut moved all 10 million users under that single license, it would trigger a massive crisis for a country with a population of only 5 million.

Joseph Martin10 said:Under European Union law, financial institutions registered as banks are required to insure every account up to €100,000. At Chime, accounts are insured through the FDIC (https://docs.n26.com/legal/bank-acco...cherung-de.pdf)

https://support.n26.com/en-de/securi...otect-my-money

And yes, since Revolut doesn't hold a banking license everywhere yet, they aren't obligated—nor are they able—to insure user funds in the same way. They currently use a Lithuanian license specifically for certain users for this exact reason: if Revolut were to fail, the Lithuanian central bank would be stuck footing the bill to reimburse everyone. If Revolut moved all 10 million users under that single license, it would trigger a massive crisis for a country with a population of only 5 million.

Well, everything is perfectly clear now—thanks for such an incredibly thorough explanation!👍

I just sent myself a test transfer via Chime
Does anyone know how long it usually takes to hit my account?

electricbadger89 said:I just sent myself a test transfer via Chime
Does anyone know how long it usually takes to hit my account?

What platform were you using for the transfer?

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy A20 using Reddit

So, moving funds from Chime over to Chase via bank transfer

electricbadger89 said:So, moving funds from Chime over to Chase via bank transfer

My apologies, I was rushing.
Expect it to hit by 5 PM today at the latest, or tomorrow by noon.
They tend to be pretty efficient when it comes to that sort of thing.

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Edward Evans7 said:My apologies, I was rushing.
Expect it to hit by 5 PM today at the latest, or tomorrow by noon.
They tend to be pretty efficient when it comes to that sort of thing.

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But that's only if the next day is a business day. Weekends don't count.

Joseph Martin10 said:But that's only if the next day is a business day. Weekends don't count.

Right, and I neglected to mention the weekend factor as well.

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Alright then, if not today, Monday. Great.
thanks

Edward Evans7 said:My apologies, I was rushing.
Expect it to hit by 5 PM today at the latest, or tomorrow by noon.
They tend to be pretty efficient when it comes to that sort of thing.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy A20 using Reddit

Hit right at 5:00 PM on the dot.

electricbadger89 said:Hey, I signed up using that invite link from your instructions.
Hopefully everything goes smoothly.
As soon as the card arrives, I'll make sure to hit that $15 minimum transaction.

Thanks, the card should be showing up any day now. And if luck is on my side, I'll have that $15 ready to roll soon enough.

I set up a family plan with access to Germany, and they actually reached out via video call... The problem is, they don't speak any English and are refusing to go through the verification process. They won't even let anyone translate for them! What on earth am I supposed to do with that?