Automatic Savings Builds Positive Financial Habits

The road to financial health starts with building better money habits such as saving money every month. Most Americans have less than $500 in savings and are unable to afford even the most basic medical emergency. It's time to change this and let technology do the heavy lifting through automation. Financial automation helps you create a savings plan that helps you grow your savings by doing the hard work for you. The best part: you don't even have to think about it.

Chime's Automatic Savings is one tool that Chime provides to help you grow your savings automatically.

• Every time you use your Chime debit card, we round up the transaction in your Checking Account to the nearest dollar and and transfer the remainder into your Savings Account. It's an easy way to start building your savings with every swipe.
• Save every time you get paid with direct deposit. When you set up direct deposit with Chime, you can automatically deduct a percentage of every direct deposit and transfer it to your Savings Account.

An Alternative to a Prepaid Debit Card

Prepaid debit cards are cards that only let you access funds that you load onto them before spending. Prepaid debit cards are different from debit cards in that they are not linked to a spending or checking account. Many people turn to prepaid debit cards to help them control their spending or due to necessity if they are locked out of banking services due to Credit Reporting Agency reports. While prepaid debit cards may be convenient for some, these cards do have significant limitations that are important to consider when evaluating your options.

The first limitation comes in the form of prepaid debit card fees. For example, you'll often be charged fees for an initial setup, monthly maintenance, reloading your card, ATM use, and more. Most prepaid cards are not required to offer fraud protection like a typical debit card connected to a bank account. If your card is stolen, the issuer is not required to replace the funds.

When evaluating prepaid debit cards, it is wise to consider prepaid alternatives. Chime is one of the best prepaid debit card alternatives available on the market. Here's why:

• No monthly fees. No minimum balance requirement. No overdraft.
• Chime provides both a Checking Account and a Savings Account along with a Visa® Debit card.
• An award-winning mobile app that allows you to manage your money from anywhere, send checks, transfer money to friends, and more.

Don't Let Overdraft Fees Hurt Your Financial Health and Credit Score

You may be very well aware of overdraft fees if you have ever used a traditional bank account. Most overdrafts fees are incurred when you don't have enough money in your bank account to pay for a purchase and the bank will pay for the transaction in exchange for a fee. Overdraft protection may help some people in a pinch, but the average $34 overdraft fee is a bit excessive compared to the simple, inexpensive, and largely computerized process of either returning a check or notifying the customer that there is an overdraft and that he needs to make a deposit to cover it. Let's break it down.

• Banks in the United States made over $34 Billion dollars in bank fees in 2017 alone.
• Americans households pay an average of $329 in bank fees every year – Bank Fee Finder 2017
• $250 dollars of those fees consist of overdraft fees

Building a spending plan and working budget allows you to live within your means and spend only what you can afford, which will help ensure you never get to a negative balance. You may also want to consider banking options such as Chime which never charges unnecessary fees.