Chip Referral Code: CHIP-BGK748

Update: 8th November – NEW OFFER LAUNCHED
Sign up for a Chip instant access account and enter Chip promo code: CHIP-BGK748 in the promo/referral box under the profile option, and you will get £20 FREE added to your account. Payment will be made AFTER you have made your first deposit of £5000 into your account and held the balance for 180 days.

If you’re looking for a simple and efficient way to help improve your approach to managing your personal finances and help bump up those savings; Chip might be the answer you are looking for! It is one of a new breed of fintech platforms that have arrived in the UK market with a range of user-friendly features and market-leading interest rates to entice you to signup. Below you can find our in-depth review of the Chip platform to help you decide if it’s right for you.

What Is Chip And How Does It Work?

Chip is an award-winning savings and investment app that utilises artificial intelligence (AI) technology to both simplify and increase your savings potential. By connecting to your bank account it analyses your spending habits and works out how much you can save and transfers what it considers the optimum amount of money automatically to your savings pot at Chip. However, it does all this while ensuring you have enough money for your day to day expenses.

The app is free to download for both Android and iOS users and has a very simple signup process. You need to link a bank account for the app to work and then the Chip AI will analyse your incomings and outgoings to decide how much money can be moved from your personal bank account to your saving pot automatically. There’s no need to worry about being left with no money in your bank account as Chip only takes as much as you can afford. In addition to this, you are notified beforehand of the amount being moved so that you can stop the transfer if you decide you need to skip the autosave. Outside of autosaves, you can always add separate funds to your Chip savings if you would like to increase your savings pot. 

The app is super user-friendly and easy to navigate which allows you to clearly see how much money you’ve recently transferred to the app and how you are progressing against the savings targets you have set.

What Features Are Available With Chip?

There are plenty of apps out there that provide a whole host of services to their users from investment options to budgeting and cashback. But Chip is not one of them. What Chip does is provide one service but do it better than anyone else. Its AI autosaving feature is considered best in class which justifies its award-winning status but combined with market-leading savings options it really cannot be beaten right now (as of 20th August 2023). In addition to this, it provides a blazing-fast deposit and withdrawal process with almost instant access to your money when you need it most.

Outside of the autosaves process – it is where your money ends up which is curently why Chip is market-leading right now. When you setup your account you decide where you want your autosaves to be saved. And right now the current offerings (for the free Chip Account) include:

• Easy Access Savings Account (4.84% Return)
• Prize Savings Account (similar to premium bonds but 4 times more likely) – opportunity to win up to £10,000
• Investing opportunities (General Investment Account)
• Depending on the amount you deposit, you can earn a bonus of up to £20 when you deposit £5000 by joining Chip using our Chip referral code: CHIP-BGK748

What are savings Goals?

Savings goals are an opportunity for you to set a purpose for making the savings with a target date and amount to help motivate you to reach your financial goals. Any goal you set does not create a separate account though, and all your money remains in your selected Chip accounts. The goals are simply a separate handy feature that helps you better visualise and track your savings progress. It’s a simple process to choose the desired goal amount, target date, automatic money save allocation and even a relevant photo for improved visualisation.

Investing With Chip

Chip allows you to autosave to a savings account, to a prize-winning account or to a numebr of investment accounts. (Any decision to go into using the investment features with Chip should not be taken lightly & it is advised that you seek guidance from a qualified professional first if you are unsure about investing) and note that using an investment account means your capital is at risk and you may get back less than you put in.

That being said, using the investment feature with Chip is easy and straightforward. Chip provides a wide range of funds from BlackRock which allow you to grow a somewhat impressive and varied investment portfolio. Investing in funds is generally considered safer than choosing to trade individual shares yourself as you are usually letting fund mangers who are looking after billions of dollars of funds make the decisions on where to invest.

All you need to get started in investing with Chip is your National Insurance number. The money you put into your investment account is invested by BlackRock into a range of assets, and Chip will provide an annual return figure and a complete history of the fund in question. You can even set up auto-saving for your investment fund, much like you can for your savings account. Investment management and some platform fees will apply, however if you’re willing to go into investing for the long run, Chip is a trustworthy and easy to use option.

How much does it cost to use Chip?

As previously mentioned, the app is free to download. You’ll be automatically placed on the basic plan, but this means you will need to pay £0.45 per autosave.  The basic plan offers all the essential features like autosaving, interest on savings, and money-saving goals planning. 

However, you’ll need to upgrade to the ChipX plan (£4.99 per month) if you want to be able to utilise additional features, such as:

• Acces to ALL investment funds
• Stocks and shares ISA
• 0% platform fees

The Chip Basic plan is perfect for your every-day savings and also for getting into investing with smaller deposits. It’s got fewer investment options and higher fees associated with use, however, unless you’re looking to invest large sums, the Basic plan may be your best option. ChipX is better suited to someone looking to create a broad and heavily invested investment portfolio.

On either plan, you have the option for the following types of savings accounts:

• Easy access – You can withdraw at any time and get a 1.10% AER paid daily

• Chip instant access You’ll earn a 4.84% return per year, paid monthly.

• 90-day notice You’ll need to provide 90 days’ notice for a withdrawal and get 4.10% AER paid monthly

• Prize savings account Win up to £30,000 in prizes every month – every £10 you save gets you an entry into the prize draw

How do you sign up for Chip? – (and don’t forget to apply our chip referral code)

In order to sign up with Chip, you’ll first need to download the app via Google Play or Apple app app store. Click our link at the top of this article to direct you to download the app. And don’t forget to enter our Chip referral code: CHIP-BGK748 in the promos and referral section under the profile menu option in the app.

Once you’ve downloaded the app you’ll need to enter in some personal information which should be very quick such as:

• Email
• Phone number
• Date of birth
• Address
• Tax information
• Only if you want to open up an investment account with Chip – National Insurance Number (you won’t need to give this information if you don’t intend on opening an investment account)

You’ll then need to link up a bank account with the app so that it’s able to analyse your spendings and work it’s magic. It’s worth noting here that while many accounts can be linked up, not all bank accounts are accepted by the app; the following accounts can be linked (although this list is increasing on a monthly basis):

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

Note: You can only link up one bank account, however the one you choose to start with is not set in stone and you can change your linked bank account at any time if required.

Set Your Saves

Once you are at this point you can now set up any savings goals and targets and also decide where you would like all your autosaves to end up. Right now the market-leading savings account with easy access offers 4.84% which is where we are saving but you also have the prize-winning account if you are feeling lucky or you could decide that you would like to grow your funds and invest in an investment fund – (the types of investments funds open to you will depend on whether you are in a basic or paid for Chip plan)

You can also let Chip know whether you want to save more or less, you can setup recurring saves on a certain day of the week or month (outside of autosaves) and you can let Chip know when not to make autosaves (for example if bank balance is below £1000 – do not autosave). It is entirely up to you how much you want to save, how often and to what savings option.

How to Deposit & Withdraw Money Using Chip

To deposit money into the app you have two options:

• Use the auto save feature
• Manual deposit 

To do a manual deposit you’ll need to link up your bank card. This has to be a debit card as credit cards are not accepted. It’s generally not advised to use credit cards to transfer into a savings account anyway. The debit card will need to be linked to the same bank account that you’ve linked to your Chip account.

Once this is done, simply visit your account and click ‘add money’, it’s that easy! Just note that there’s a small minimum deposit amount of £1. Card payments are not instant and will take up to two business days to complete.

To withdraw your money from Chip, head to the accounts tab in the app, select the amount you want and click ‘withdraw’. Much like with deposits, withdrawals can take up to two business days to complete although we have found these take minutes too!

Is Your Money Safe With Chip?

Chip is a UK-registered company (Chip Financial), and is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.  All funds in Chip are actually held in an E-wallet at Barclays Bank rather than by Chip and all funds are protected under the government guaranteed FSCS scheme up to £85000.

Furthermore, under the Data Protection Act, Chip acts in full compliance to its legal obligations with regards to how it handles your personal data. You can use Chip to increase your savings safe in the knowledge that both your money and your personal data are safe.

What about Chip Customer Services?

So, what kind of customer service is available in the event you need to contact someone for help with the app?

The Chip website does provide a brief frequently asked questions section, however for where this is not suitable – there are several options for contacting Chip in the event you require assistance:

• In-app chat – there is a support team available, Monday – Friday, 8am – 8pm. You can contact them via the in-app chat bot that you can launch by going to the profile tab in the app and clicking ‘contact us’ – We have tried this and were chatting to a real person within 30 minutes.
• Email – send any queries to ‘hello@getchip.uk’
• Facebook – Visit the official Chip Facebook page and send a direct message

Chip does not have a phone number option available online. This is similar to most other businesses providing an online-only service so is not out of the ordinary and is to be expected. We found contacting Chip to be simple enough through the in-app chat process.

Summary Of the Chip App –

While the app is indeed user-friendly and offers a number of handy features, like any app out there, it comes with both pros and cons that you should consider carefully before downloading.

Pros –

• User friendly
• Auto-saving feature that can help make sure you maintain regular deposits
• Option to set saving goals to maintain focus on your end financial goals and track your progress in a highly visualised approach
• You can deposit as little as £1 
• Pause transfers into your Chip account if you hit a financially tight period
• Provided with a spending analysis to get the bigger picture on your money management
• Market leading saving options

Cons –

• Sometimes the fees can be quite high on either the free plan (with 45p autosaves) or the requirement to pay £4.99 for the Chip X plan if you want more options.
• While provided with varied enough investment options for what the ap offers, it is limited considering other investment options available with other providers.
• You can only link one bank account to the autosave service
• Not all banks are accepted currently

If you’re looking for a financial app to help you with your day-to-day savings goals, Chip is an amazing option that can help you with that. From its range of market-leading savings accounts to choose from to its ease of use for the least tech-savvy. Furthermore, the optional investment opportunities within the app are brilliant for anyone wanting a simplified route to building their investment portfolio with a trustworthy and reliable company. It may not be completely free to use, but the minimal cost involved is most definitely worth it for the features you’ll have at the touch of a button and currently there are very few substitutes out there.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Chip referral code?
After signup enter Chip app referral code: CHIP-BGK748 in the relevant field to activate the offer

What do you get if you use a Chip referral code?
Enter chip referral code CHIP-BGK748 to get £20 FREE added to your savings balance after 180 days. You must hold a balance of £5000

Where do you enter the Chip referral/promo code?
After you have signed up you can enter the Chip promo code: CHIP-BGK748 in the promo box which can be found under the profile menu option which is the far right icon in the app.

What are the Chip referral terms and conditions?
To ensure you receive your FREE cash you need to enter Chip referral code: CHIP-BGK748 within 7 days of signup and make deposits totalling £5000 into a chip account. After 180 days you will receive your free cash.

Happy Saving! H X