Chime Bank vs. Current Bank - Which is Better? [2022]

By Zachary Greene
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Updated on October 6th, 2022

Both Chime Bank and Current Bank are great online banks that offer no-fees for basic services, but which is the overall better choice for you?

We hope to give you the information you need to decide for yourself which is better for you — personally we have accounts with both Current bank and Chime as they both are great no-fee (or low-fee) banks and we believe they’re both trustworthy and far safer/better banks compared to traditional old-school banks — however we prefer Current for a few reasons we’ll cover below.

Ultimately we’d say Current is a better choice currently as they offer fantastic interest rates on deposits (4%) with their savings account (vs 1.5% at chime) all while staying completely fee-free for basic services and overall a comparable service to Chime, with similar (nearly identical) features and services.

Current also has the sexier card, but that’s just my opinion.

Overall they’re both great fintech bank-like companies that you can’t really go wrong with though, and if you’re already with one of them and happy with them then it’s likely not worth changing over to the other.

Which Offers the Best Services/Rates?

Current wins this category in our view — Chime offers 1.5% on idle balances in paired savings accounts, while Current Bank offers a whopping 4% interest on deposits.

Both Chime and current have automatic savings features such as “purchase roundups” that you can enable and use for free. The real differentiating feature though, beyond interest earned, is that with Chime you do not get charged foreign transaction fees when using the card outside the USA/Canada, while with Current you do.

If you aren’t outside the US much or at all, or simply have a travel credit card for that, then Current has a unique feature that Chime doesn’t — which is that they’ll front the cost of the gas hold on your card, meaning when you fill up at the pump rather than being charged your gas price + a temporary fee they’ll cover the temporary fee. Current also gives you cash-back on most purchases, around 1-2% usually.

Beyond those features they’re both more or less identical in terms of features/rates — they both offer 55,000+ fee-free ATM’s in North America, $100 free overdraft protection, 2-days early direct-deposits, and other standard digital-bank features such as mobile check deposits, all while having nearly no fees.

Which has less fees?

We’d say this category is more or less a draw — While both Current and Chime are low-cost “no-fee” online banks in truth they do have some fees — it’s just not the basic ones that traditional banks charge simply for not keeping enough money in their accounts, or simply because you have an account with them.

Both Chime and Current don’t charge such fees — but they still have fees — it’s just the fees they have are for special services or things that aren’t necessary for average people — think Wire Transfers, Foreign Payments, and foreign transactions/atm-withdrawals. For those categories they’re about the same — the only difference is Chime has no foreign transaction fees, while Current charges a few percent fee when using your debit-card outside the USA.

This means in the end they’re about the same, but chime is slightly better. This is because they’re essentially identical other than the foreign transaction fee when it comes to fees as otherwise they’re both no-fee with the exception of special services like wire transfers.

Which Has The Best Signup Bonus Offers?

This category is a bit of a draw — This is because both current and chime offer great sign-up bonuses of $50+ just for signing up and getting your pay check switched to be deposited with them (or simply deposit some funds yourself via direct deposit). Both are easy and free to get.

For Current Bank they offer $50 for signing up with them — to get this sign up bonus simply sign up through this link which will take you to their hidden promotional landing page, sign up, and receive a direct deposit of $200+ to get the bonus. You can read more in-detail about current’s sign-up bonus offers as well if you’d like.

Meanwhile with Chime Bank they also offer a $50 to $100 sign-up bonus — all you have to do is sign up using a current chime members promotional link and switch a recurring direct-deposit (such as from your employer) to your new Chime account. It has to be $200 or more and done within the first 45 days of you opening the account — once you receive it you should receive $50 (or $100, depends on current promotion) the following day so long as you signed up through a special promotional link like that one. You can read more in detail about the promotions Chime offers on this page of our website.

Which is more Trustworthy?

This may sound like a silly question to some people — but here at GreeneryFinancial we don’t trust most banks — Despite this we’d say both Current and Chime are bank-like entities that we aren’t worried about keeping some cash in — we don’t think either will go bankrupt anytime soon or really ever for that matter, as they don’t engage in risky practices most financial institutions partake in.

They’re both of course legitimate and have FDIC-insurance to cover deposits, so they’re as good as any banks — but in our view a little bit safer — if we had to crown a winner we’d choose Current, as they seem to have been expanding more and more as well as the better customer service in our experience lately.

What Advantages does Current have over Chime?

Current used to not really have advantages, but in the last year they’ve really stepped up their game — now Current has quite a strong advantage compared to Chime — namely Current has absolutely amazing interest rates that beat out every other fintech bank.

Current doesn’t have many other things that really differentiates it’s self from other no-fee banks — the only other thing Current has that Chime does not is gas hold refunds — everything else is more or less identical to Chime, as they’ve very similar platforms.

Ultimately Current is a much better choice in our opinion for most people — the one exception are people who want to use the debit card they provide for foreign transactions — current simply isn’t competitive in this regard — they’re entirely focused on being the best in the USA/Canada.

With that being said, if you want to go with Current make sure to use this link which will take you to their hidden sign-up bonus page as explained before.

What Advantages does Chime have over Current?

Chime has no FX fees (normally 3%) on transactions made abroad or to non-US based companies, but otherwise has more or less identical services to Current making them…quite frankly not that competitive. We wouldn’t say it’s necessarily worth switching to Current if you’re already with Chime, unless you’re really obsessed with earning interest/yield, but if you’re choosing between the two, well, I don’t see much of a reason to choose Chime currently over Current.

With that being said Chime isn’t a bad place to have a checking or savings account — when you compare them to traditional banks such as comparing Chime to chase they’re fantastic. It’s just right now they aren’t the best fintech banking solution at this very moment.

Regardless if you want to sign up to Chime because you simply prefer to go with them, or just want the sign-up bonus from both platforms, you can do so by signing up with this link, which will take you to Chime’s current sign-up offer.

Chime vs Current FAQ's:

Below we’ll cover some of the FAQ’s we’ve encountered, been asked, or have asked ourselves related to Chime and Current. If you have other questions feel free to use our contact page to ask us them and we’ll get back to you ASAP.

Does Chime or Current have Better Customer Service?

Overall we'd say Current's customer service is slightly better, but if we're being honest it's not significanlty better -- both customer service departments have adequate staff who respond relatively quickly and with competence, so dealing with either platform isn't frustrating or anything.With that being said, Chime is phone-first customer service, while Current is more chat + email/form customer service, so depending on your preference you may prefer one or the other.

Are Either Current or Chime Crypto-Friendly Banks?

Both banks are hostile to cryptocurrency, meaning they won't close your account for buying some bitcoin on Coinbase or anything, but they aren't really what we'd call crypto-friendly. They don't have crypto on their platform, and they don't have plans to as far as we're aware of -- but they aren't a-holes about it like certain traditional banks that shall not be named are, shutting down your account suddenly for seemingly nothing. Neither platform does such nonsense.

Is Current better than Chime?

While sometimes Chime is better than current at this moment Current is way better than chime, offering 4% in interest on balances and cash-back on many purchases made with the current debit card.

Overall chime vs current Verdict:

While Chime used to be about as good as current they’ve recently become far less competitive overall — offering substantially less interest on deposits, less cash-back on purchases, and overall no real benefit vs Current.

That being said while they’re both better than traditional banks — it’s just current is currently substantially more competitive than Chime. Generally they’re quite comparable, however at this moment we’d recommend people sign up to Current instead of Chime if they’re considering one of these banks.