Chime vs. Bank of America - Which is Best for You?
Chime and Bank of America are very different banks, one focusing on online services and one focusing on in-branch services – Generally only one is right for your personal banking needs.
We hope to give you the information you need to decide for yourself which is better for you — personally we have accounts with both bank of America and Chime as while we prefer Chime for pretty much everything it’s not easy to deposit cash into a Chime bank account, and thus we have a Bank of America for this reason.
Ultimately we’d say Chime is a much better choice, as they offer one of the best savings accounts for free that’s easy to transfer money into from your Chime Bank Account, they offer way more free ATM’s, no foreign transaction fees, and most of all no account management fee.
Which Offers the Best Services/Rates - Bank of America or Chime?
We’d say Chime wins this category by a slight margin — this is because Chime offers a 1% interest rate on all deposits what Bank of America offers basically nothing (0.01%) in interest per year on deposits — Chime also has free (optional) savings features such as “round-up” savings that rounds up purchases into a free savings account, while Bank of America doesn’t offer such options.
Ultimately the only feature Bank of America has that Chime doesn’t is they have physical bank branches/locations that make it easier for you to deposit cash into your account — but unless you need to deposit cash into your bank account, and get paid in cash, then this feature isn’t very important as most of the time people get paid via ACH transfer into their bank account and receive minimal amounts of cash — and the cash they have they can spend on grocery or in-person purchases without issue.
Which has less fees - Bank of America or Chime?
Chime wins this category without a doubt — Bank of America has tons of fees, fees for simply not receiving enough money every month into the account, or not holding enough money in the account, or slightly overspending your account, using atm’s not owned by Bank of America, etc.
Meanwhile Chime has virtually no fees — You can withdraw from any Money-Pass Alliance ATM for no fee, which are generally available at every single Walgreens, H-E-B, CVS, Whole Foods, and gas station — so finding a fee-free atm with Chime is super easy and convenient, you simply can open their app or look on their website to find a fee-free atm near you.
Chime also has no account minimums and you get charged no monthly fee even if you only have $1 in the account and even if you receive no money into the account during the month — they also allow up to $100 of overdraft without penalty, so if you make a mistake and overspend it shouldn’t be a problem.
Which Has The Best Signup Bonus Offers - Bank of America or Chime?
We’d say Chime has slightly better sign-up bonus offers – This is because Bank of America’s sign-up bonuses require large amounts of capital to be deposited, and maintained to avoid the monthly fees they charge, and thus unless you’re quite a high income earner their sign-up bonus isn’t all that great. Unfortunately you must be targeted for most of their promotions, and they change frequently, so if you want to get one of their sign-up bonus you’ll have to dig through google results for the latest one and hope you’re part of the target group they’re willing to give a bonus to at that time.
Meanwhile Chime Bank’s sign-up bonus is very easy to get, simply get referred by an existing Chime Bank user and receive a $200+ direct deposit within 45 days of opening an account and you’ll get $50 the following day as a sign-up bonus. You can be referred to Chime by us by clicking here if you don’t want to bother being referred by a friend or family member.
Which is more Trustworthy - Bank of America or Chime Bank?
This heavily depends on you and your personal beliefs – While we believe Chime is probably a bit safer and more trustworthy due to not having as many speculative aspects of their business (lending, margin trading, etc), we would say of all the traditional banks Bank of America is one of the better ones and is unlikely to go out of business and is ultimately relatively safe and trustworthy.
Ultimately they both are pretty good in their respective categories (traditional banks and digital banks) — and they both have the standard FDIC insurance that all banks have, so they have just as much protections as any other bank in the event that one of them went out of business.
What Advantages does Chime have over Bank of America?
While we believe Chime is a better bank for most people — it’s not always the better bank. If you prefer an all-in-one solution for credit cards, and prefer to be able to get things done for you in-person rather than bothering with a digital interface, or simply want to deposit cash into your bank account frequently, then Bank of America, or another “traditional bank” is an absolute must for you — our personal choice for this is Chase Bank and Bank of America (we use both) if you’re in need of such things.
However those are pretty much the only advantages Bank of America offers — which are extremely important if you need them, but if you don’t there’s really no reason to choose Bank of America over Chime according to our analysis and personal opinion.
If you think Bank of America is right for you make sure to check your mail or simply google around for their latest sign-up promos and see if you’re part of their target-group for the offer.
What Advantages does Bank of America have over Chime?
Chime offers way less fees, more flexibility in where you can withdraw money from ATM’s, a better mobile interface and banking experience, and way better interest rates than Bank of America does on your savings — ultimately the only problem with Chime in our opinion is to deposit cash into your account you’d have to either buy a money order or deposit it at a Green Dot reload location (Family Dollar, CVS, Kroger, Walmart etc) which isn’t hard to find or do — but in our opinion it’s more annoying than simply showing up to a BoA ATM and depositing the cash into the ATM without speaking to a person.
If you think Chime is right for you then make sure to check out their current promotions, or simply sign up through a referral link such as this one.
Chime vs Bank of America FAQ's:
If you have any questions you’d like answered related to this article feel free to contact us through our contact page and we can answer them for you — but here are some questions we’ve either been asked many times in the past about this article or think many people might have about it.
Is Chime a Good Bank?
This entirely depends on what you’re looking for, as Chime is just a bank and doesn’t offer brokerage services or anything more, so if you want an all-in-solution it might not be the ideal choice for you.
With that being said, I’d say Chime is a pretty good bank, although there’s plenty of other banks that offer similar services now, and in fact we no longer consider it the #1 bank we’d recommend. Now we prefer CIT Bank for people who live and stay primarily in the USA, as they offer slightly better rates and better ATM withdrawal reimbursements than Chime.
What are some good alternatives to Chime Bank and Bank of America?
If you aren’t feeling Chime or Bank of America, then there’s plenty of other good options right now — personally we’d say Charles Schwab bank is a really good one if you don’t mind having a brokerage account, and CIT Bank is a good option if you want a no-fee bank like Chime but with some more ‘traditional’ banking products like a proper savings account loan services.
