Chip savings app review

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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.

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Product	Account type	Withdrawals	Open with	Deposit protection	Rate	Open via	Incentive	Table product description
Promoted Chip – Chip Easy Access Saver	Variable	Instant access	Up to £1,000,000	protected	3.56% AER variable	Open via: mobile app.		The account will have 3 penalty-free withdrawals in a 12-month period.	Go to siteView details	loading Fetching your data...
Chip – Chip Cash ISA	Cash ISA	Instant access	From £1	protected	5.38% AER variable (includes a 1.01% bonus )	Open via: mobile app.		Get a boosted rate of 0.27% AER on top of the 4.58% AER base when using the code ISA6BOOST. T&Cs apply.	Go to siteView details	loading Fetching your data...
Chip – Chip Instant Access Account	Variable	Instant access	£1 - £1,000,000	protected	4.76% AER variable (includes a 1.21% bonus )	Open via: mobile app.			Go to siteView details	loading Fetching your data...

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Who is Chip for?

Chip is designed for people who may struggle to put money 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 (with another provider) 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 and offers 4 different types of savings accounts: Instant Access Account, Prize Savings Account, Easy Access Account and a Cash ISA. Deposits are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and accounts are powered by ClearBank. The standard Chip plan has no monthly cost or subscription fees. However, there are charges for using its automatic savings feature, more on this below.

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 assess 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 – athough note that the Easy Access Account only permits 3 penalty-free withdrawals per year. How long it takes for you to receive your withdrawal will depend on which account you withdraw from.
• 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 adjust your automatic save level depending on how conservative you want the AI to be when predicting how much you can save.
• Recurring saves. If you want to control exactly how much you save, you can set up a recurring save where you specify the frequency and amount.

Banks that you can connect to with Chip

• Bank of Scotland
• Barclays
• Danske Bank
• Chase
• First Direct
• HSBC
• Halifax
• Lloyds Bank
• Monzo
• Nationwide
• NatWest
• RBS
• Santander
• Starling
• Tesco Bank
• TSB
• Ulster Bank

If your bank is not on this list – for example Metro Bank or The 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!

What is the Chip Prize Savings Account?

Chip’s Prize Savings Account offers the chance to win prizes rather than earn interest. It’s an easy-access account which will enter you into a draw to win a share of £75,000 in prizes each month.

The number of entries depends on your average balance over each calendar month and every £10 of average balance gets you 1 entry in the draw.

The earlier you deposit in the month, the more entries you’ll get that month. For example, if you deposit £1,000 on the first day of a 30-day month and leave it there, your average balance would be £1,000 and you’d get 100 entries in the draw. If you deposited that £1,000 on day 20, the balance across the month would be based on 20 days of zero and 10 days of £1,000, which is £354.84 per day and you’d get 35 entries in the draw.

Each month, there’s a chance to win one grand prize of £10,000 and 7,750 prizes of £10. (In February 2025, this dropped to 6,500 prizes of £10.)

If you win a prize, you will be able to access it when you withdraw all the funds from your account. The draw will take place within 5 working days after entries close and the winners’ accounts will be credited within 7 working days after the draw.

What is the Chip Instant Access Account?

Chip’s Instant Access Account pays a variable rate of interest on deposits from £1 to £1 million, and there are no withdrawal restrictions.

The interest rate is boosted for the first 6 months, but after that time the rate will drop, so you may wish to assess whether it’s still competitive at this point.

The money you deposit is held by ClearBank, so is covered by the FSCS up to £85,000. However, the £85,000 limit is per bank. So if you also have funds in Chip’s Prize Savings Account, also provided by ClearBank, these will also count towards the FSCS limit.

What is the Chip Easy Access Account?

This is a relatively new account that lets you make 3 penalty-free withdrawals every 12 months. If you exceed this limit, your interest rate drops.

The interest is variable as it tracks 1% below the Bank of England base rate. You’ll also receive a boosted rate for the first 6 months and your cash is protected by the FSCS.

How the app looks

What is ChipX?

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 Basic plan, plus access to a range of investment funds. These funds are designed along a range of themes, including ethical funds and emerging market funds, and are curated by experts at BlackRock, Vanguard and Invesco, amongst others. ChipX membership costs £5.99 every 28 days (or £65.05 paid annually), but you won’t need to pay a platform fee (Basic plan holders pay 0.25%).

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. While your transactions are pending, your money is held in a safeguarded account which means it’s stored separately from Chip’s own finances, and is protected should the company go bust.

All money held in a savings or investment account through the Chip app is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) up to £85,000 per person.

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?

Chip’s Basic plan is free and gives you access to features like daily interest and savings goals. However, if you want to use the Autosaves feature, you’ll pay 45p per save. You’ll also incur a platform fee of 0.25% for investments.

Customer reviews for Chip

On customer reviews platform Trustpilot, Chip as a company has 4.6 out of 5 stars and a rating of “Excellent”, based on almost 4,000 reviews (updated February 2025).

The Chip app also has 4.6 out of 5 stars based on more than 5,700 reviews on the Google Play store. On the App Store, Chip has 4.7 out of 5 stars, based on more than 35,600 reviews.

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 interest on its easy access savings pockets provided by Investec Bank. You can also put your savings into a general investment fund, a stocks and shares ISA, a self-invested personal pension, a money market investment fund or a cash ISA.

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.

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 a decent rate of interest 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.

Customer service information for Chip

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. 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. It is also continuing to innovate and add to its services with accounts like its Prize Savings Account and Easy Access Account. Just watch out for those additional charges if you do take advantage of its automatic savings features on the Basic free plan.

Frequently asked questions

• Where does the money deposited to Chip 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”. Withdrawal times will depend on the account you withdraw from.

Written by

Kate Steere

Editor

Kate Steere is an editor at Finder, specialising in fintech, banking and cryptocurrency. She has previously written for The Motley Fool UK and Fitch Solutions, where she covered a wide range of personal finance topics and kept a close eye on market trends. Kate has a Bachelor of Arts in Modern History from the University of East Anglia. When not working, she can usually be found curled up with a good book or heading out for a run. See full bio

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Kate has written 125 Finder guides across topics including:

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