Debit Card Archives

How to Save Automatically and Eliminate Bank Fees with Chime

Chime Card Reviews - What Is Chime Card?

If you often find yourself struggling to save money on a regular basis and at the mercy of monthly fees, overdraft fees, and nearly every other type of fee your bank cheerfully tacks onto your accounts, then perhaps it’s time for a new approach to personal financial management. Chime bank and the Chime card may just be the right bank account and debit card to help you take back control over your personal finances, finally start saving, and stop paying bank fees once and for all.

Chime, for instance, is an up-and-coming online and mobile bank account that offers a simple way of tricking yourself into saving more money. Rather than gouging you on bank fees, Chime offers a spending account and a savings account with no monthly minimums or fees, no overdraft, no international fees, and a fee-free ATM network. Plus, they offer an automatic savings program that delivers weekly savings bonuses to their cardholders.

Additionally, Chime has some pretty cool features if you’re having trouble getting started savings. I had the opportunity to check out Chime for myself. And, the results were awesome!

Chime Card Review – What Is Chime Banking?

When you sign up for a Chime bank account and a Chime Visa Debit card, you can transfer funds into your new Chime account for free and use the card anywhere Visa cards are accepted. It’s a demand deposit bank account with a debit card. So, like all checking accounts, you can only pay for items with your Chime card after you’ve deposited funds into your Chime bank account.

You also have the option of setting up direct deposit from your employer directly to your Chime spending account. You also receive access to the Chime Checkbook feature, in which Chime will mail physical checks on your behalf after you authorize a payment and provide them with the name and mailing address of the recipient.

Chime members can get paid up to two days early when they fund their account through payroll direct deposit. Chime makes it easy to set up direct deposit with a form that can be emailed or printed and provided to the employer.

There are many different options when it comes to managing your money with Chime. Not only does Chime offer its own Spending and Savings, but Chime also offers easy access to mobile check deposits and direct deposits into your accounts through the Chime app.

The Chime app is available for both iPhones and Android devices, allowing you to access real-time updates on your account balances, recent transactions, locate nearby fee-free ATMs, and contact Chime’s customer service on-the-go.

Where Your Money Goes After You Spend It – Infographic

by Hank Coleman

Have you ever wondered what happens to your money after you spend it? Do you assume that cash just passes hands until being deposited into a bank? Or, that electronic transactions disappear into thin air? Where does your money go after you spend it?

The reality is, all currency is part of an intricate cycle. When it comes to cash, that cycle begins at designated printing facilities in the United States and ends between three and 15 years later when it’s taken out of circulation.

The life expectancy of cash depends largely on the type of bill it is. For instance, dollar bills have a life expectancy of 5.9 years while twenty-dollar bills have a life expectancy of 7.7 years. Over this time, bills can pass hands 55 times each year, and travel multiple miles every day.

Electronic money is slightly different. When you purchase an item with your debit card or receive a paycheck that is directly deposited into your bank account, the change is only recognized by numerical adjustments to your bank account. Many people also prefer to send money electronically because of how quick and convenient it is. Plus, learning how to send money online is so easy these days, anyone can do it.

These transactions may make it difficult for you visualize how electronic money fits into the currency cycle, which is understandable. Just know that regardless of how you spend, borrow, send, or receive money, it all plays an important role in our money system. If you’d like to learn more about how your money moves, check out this infographic.

How Realistic Is The Cash Only Lifestyle?

by Guest Contributor

The following is a guest post by Steve Repak, CFP™. Steve is the author of “6 Week Money Challenge For Your Personal Finances“, a simple, step-by-step program founded on biblical principles paired with a CFP®’s understanding of modern wealth-management strategies.

How realistic is the cash only lifestyle? If you are in debt, you have probably heard over and over again that you should quit using credit cards and stick to cash only purchases.

In a previous article, I explained that for some people it actually hurts to break a large bill like a $20 so only using cash may help you get your spending under control. I wanted to share some of the risks and benefits of a cash only lifestyle and also show that you can still get out of debt if you want to use credit cards. If getting out of debt is your goal, there are three things you must do in order to succeed regardless of whether you use cash or credit:

Spend less money than you take home each week
Build an emergency savings
Develop and follow a get-out-of-debt plan

How Realistic Is The Cash Only Lifestyle?

Cons of using cash

One of the biggest disadvantages of carrying cash is that you can lose it! If you lose your credit card you can cancel it and order a new one but I am afraid you just can’t do that if you lose your cash.

If you use an ATM to withdraw cash you may be charged fees, which is like throwing money away. Worse yet, flashing cash can make you a target for thieves.

How To Use Prepaid Debit Cards To Budget For Big Purchases

by Guest Contributor

This is a guest post by David Silverstone who writes about personal finance, credit cards, and debit cards on the website, Credit Card Insider, which is a credit resource, providing plain-language guidance from industry leaders.

Credit card debt is huge in the U.S. Last year, the average American household’s credit card debt was equal to $15,799. American consumers know that they need to eliminate this debt, but they also know that they will have large purchases to make in the future.

These larger purchases may be necessities, such as refrigerators, new cars and houses, but it can also be a pleasurable expense, such as a fabulous dream vacation. The new trend is to save for these purchases so that consumers do not have to use their credit cards, and some people are choosing to embark on this adventure by engaging in reverse budgeting using prepaid debit cards.

What Is Reverse Budgeting?

Reverse budgeting is way in which people save for their purchases without having to resort to burdening themselves with more debt. First, consumers decide how they would like to use the money they are going to save. Then, they will calculate how much money they will need to pay for their dreams. The next step is to determine how much money they can set aside per month to save for their goals.

Reverse budgeting has been growing in popularity, and the reason may be because so many Americans already owe so much money to their creditors. One way that people have begun to save for future purchases is to obtain prepaid debit cards.

How Do Prepaid Debit Cards Work?

Prepaid debit cards are an extremely convenient way to make purchases, and they prevent people from spending more money than they have. Furthermore, it’s really easy for consumers to add funds to their prepaid debit cards and even adding money to the best prepaid credit cards and increase their prepaid spending limits every month.

After they have succeeded in saving the amount of money they needed for their goals, they can use their cards to pay for the item online or inside the store. They can also use them to pay several different bills online.

Advantages of Prepaid Debit Cards

Prepaid debit cards do have their advantages and disadvantages. Consumers like credit cards because they eliminate the need to carry a large sum of cash. Those who would like to keep from adding to their credit card debts cannot resort to using credit cards, but if they have a prepaid debit card, they can travel all over the country or even outside of U.S. borders and have a safe method of payment that is widely accepted.

The amount of money that is on the prepaid card is all that consumers can spend. If they were to try to purchase something outside of their budgets, the card would be denied.