Chip savings app review

Connect Chip to your current account and the app will use AI-powered algorithms to calculate how much you can afford to put away, without having an impact on your day-to-day life. You can leave it going in the background, and make some serious savings without (hopefully) feeling the pinch.

Who is Chip for?

Chip is designed for people who may struggle to put money to aside if left to their own devices – and their own bad budgeting habits! By using artificial intelligence (AI) to work out how much you can easily afford to save, Chip will move small amounts of money from your current account into a Chip account at regular intervals (which you can control). The idea is that you won’t notice a dent in your everyday disposable income, but before you know it, you’ve created a little savings pot for yourself.

Chip is managed through an app, which is fee to download and use. But it does charge £1 if you save more than £100 with Chip in a 28-day period (more on this below). This means that Chip is best suited to people who want to save small amounts or would ordinarily lack the financial discipline to set money to one side each month.

How does Chip work?

Using Chip is simple, you can view and manage your savings all from its mobile app. This is how is works:

• Connect Chip to your current account. Chip will have “read-only” access to your current account via Open Banking (and your details are protected by 256-bit grade encryption – the standard for banks).
• Have your spending analysed. Chip uses artificial intelligence-powered algorithms to analyse your spending behaviour, and calculates how much you can afford to save based on your banking transaction data.
• Start building up savings. Chip autosaves money from your current account into your Chip account once every few days. If for some reason there is not enough money in your current account, then the autosave won’t go ahead – although there is the option to give Chip permission to continue autosaving while you’re in your overdraft (but Chip will remind you that you’re liable for any overdraft charges resulting from this).
• Check on your spending. Chip uses analytics to compare how your spending compares to the previous month. You can also check your savings balance at any point.
• Withdraw your money at any time. The total savings, or specific amounts, can be withdrawn at any time, with no restrictions. If you withdraw your money before 5pm on a working day, you’ll get it back on the very same day.
• Control your savings. You can cancel any transaction before it goes ahead and you can pause Chip altogether at any time. You can also ask Chip to increase or decrease the amount it stashes away automatically, as well as manually deposit money into your Chip account (to do this, click on “save” within the app and then select an amount up to £100).

Banks that you can connect to with Chip

• Bank of Scotland
• Barclays
• Danske Bank
• First Direct
• HSBC
• Halifax
• Lloyds Bank
• M&S Bank
• Monzo
• Nationwide
• NatWest
• RBS
• Revolut
• Santander
• Starling
• TSB
• Ulster Bank

If your bank is not on this list – for example Metro Bank, Tesco Bank or Co-operative Bank – then you won’t currently be able to connect to Chip.

How to set up a Chip account

Here at Finder, we set up a Chip account to document the process and see how long it took. Within 5 minutes we had a fully verified account and were ready to start saving.

1. Download Chip.
2. Verify your identity providing your name, date of birth and your address.
3. Provide your debit card details from your current account.
4. You card will be charged a £1.01 fee to validate your account (this will be refunded within 3 days).
5. Allow and grant Chip permission to connect to your own bank’s website or app automatically through the Open Banking protocol.
6. You’re all set!

How the app looks

What are ChipX and ChipAI?

Chip also offers two paid-for membership plans which give savers the ability to put their money in low-cost investment funds overseen by global fund manager BlackRock.

ChipAI offers the basic auto-saving functions of the Chip app, but it also gives savers access to the investment platform part of the app, enabling them to invest some of their savings in 3 BlackRock investment funds. Each of these 3 funds (“Cautious”, “Balanced” and “Adventurous”) represent different levels of investment risk. ChipAI membership costs £1.50 every 28 days, alongside a 0.75% annual platform fee on any investments held in your Chip investment account.

ChipX is a premium membership plan, launched at the end of June 2021, which offers all of Chip’s auto-saving features, all the features of the ChipAI plan and gives customers access to 10 additional BlackRock investment funds, alongside a stocks and shares ISA. These funds are designed along a range of themes, including ethical funds and emerging market funds. ChipX membership costs £3 every 28 days, alongside a 0.25% annual platform fee on any investments held in your Chip investment account.

BlackRock will also charge a fund management fee to ChipAI or ChipX members who invest their money in one or more of the available BlackRock funds through the platform.

Is Chip safe?

Chip is not a bank, but it is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide payment services in the UK, which includes “e-money wallets”. Customer money held in a main Chip account is stored as e-money and is therefore not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which protects deposits of up to £85,000. But these funds are kept in a ring-fenced account at a major UK bank, which means customer money is stored separately from Chip’s own finances, and is protected should the company go bust.

When it comes to data, Chip has a data control licence. This means it is legally obliged to act in full compliance with the Data Protection Act. Your online banking login details are protected using 256-bit encryption and Chip does not store your data.

How much does Chip cost?

• There are no fees for opening or having a Chip account.
• Chip charges a £1 fee if it sets aside more than £100 for you during a 28-day period, meaning your maximum charge over one year could be £13. You can check in the app how close you are to your £100 limit during any given period.
• If Chip causes you to go accidentally overdrawn, it will deposit £10 into your account to cover any fees you’ve incurred.
• The deposit limit with Chip is £100 per day, six times per month (so a maximum monthly limit of £600).
• The minimum transfer is £1.

Customer reviews for Chip

On customer reviews platform Trustpilot, Chip as a company has 4.3 out of 5 stars and a rating of “Excellent”, based on more than 440 reviews.

The Chip app has 4.5 out of 5 stars based on more than 2,700 reviews on the Google Play store. On the App Store, Chip also has 4.5 out of 5 stars, based on more than 6,900 reviews.

Customers love how easy the app is to use and praise the good customer service, but many complain about the charges involved with some actions (updated December 2020).

Alternatives to Chip

If you have not enjoyed what you have read so far about Chip then there are a number of alternative apps. Below we have highlighted some and the features.

Plum – Standalone automated savings app

Plum is a standalone automated savings app that works similarly to Chip. It makes calculated withdrawals every few days based on your previous spending.

It offers up to 0.6% AER on its savings account. You can also put your savings into an investment fund, which has delivered an annual return of 8.51% over the last five years.

Plum gives you a lot of freedom to tinker with its algorithm. You can set it to “Ambitious” or “Beast Mode” if you want to save more, or “Shy” to save less. You can set Plum to round up your purchases and save the change, or even to save whenever it rains in the UK.

Just like with Chip, you can withdraw your funds at any time.

Moneybox – Savings rounded up to your nearest pound

Moneybox is another standalone savings app.

The main difference compared to Chip is that Moneybox rounds up all of your spending to the nearest pound. So, if you buy a coffee for £2.40, Moneybox will transfer 60p into your savings.

There isn’t as much flexibility here to choose how much money goes into savings, compared to Chip. However, the simplicity and certainty of this automation has made Moneybox very popular with UK consumers. More than 450,000 people are using Moneybox to help them save more regularly.

You have a lot of choice on what type of account you can transfer your savings into. You can choose a stocks and shares ISA, cash lifetime ISA, personal pension, general investment account or junior ISA.

Tandem – Mobile-only bank with automated savings

Tandem is a mobile-only bank that includes the opportunity to make automated savings.

You’ll earn 0.5% AER on money kept in its instant-access savings account. You can also withdraw or pause the automated saving whenever you like.

There are some “rules” that you can tweak depending on how much you want to save, but there isn’t as much flexibility as Chip.

Monzo – Managing money, rounding up and easy savings

Monzo is another online-only bank, and it gives you a lot of options for managing your money, including the ability to round up your purchases and transfer the money into a savings account. Monzo has partnered with various savings providers, meaning you have a choice of ISA or traditional savings accounts to deposit your money into.

Pros and cons of Chip

While there are many benefits of a Chip account, money moving automatically may be more suited to some than others. It’s important to consider whether the benefits suit you personally.

Our verdict

If budgeting and saving effectively is a bit of a sore point for you, Chip can be a quick and potentially free solution – you won’t have to think about how much to put aside or when, because the app will do it for you. Ah, the joys of tech.

With Chip, you can set saving goals and achieve them without going through the trouble of doing the maths. While it doesn’t offer too much else, Chip is a great app to improve your saving habits and put aside some money, be it to go on a well-deserved holiday or put together the deposit for a house.

Frequently asked questions

• Where does the money go?

  The money is deposited in your Chip account and is accessible at any time.

• How does Chip know what you're spending?

  When you sign up, you grant Chip “read-only access” to your current account, enabling it to see transaction data via your online banking.

• What details do I need to provide?

  To create a Chip account you need to enter your full name, date of birth and your billing address. To connect your Chip account to your current account, you need to enter your online banking login information.

• Are my details safe with Chip?

  Chip has a data control licence, meaning it can be found on the ICO register. Chip’s compliance with the Data Protection Act also allays concerns about details being compromised. Finally, Chip does not store your data and uses 256-bit encryption to protect login details.

• How do I withdraw money?

  To withdraw money from your Chip account, just tap “Withdraw”. If you want the cash on the same working day, make sure you do this before 5pm. If you withdraw after 5pm or on the weekend, your cash will be available by the next working day.