There is a new checking account that looks very interesting, it’s called the Aspiration Summit Checking (or possibly Summit Checking by Aspiration) and it comes with the benefits listed below.
Contents
No Monthly Fees
This account doesn’t have any monthly fees, the only requirement is that when you open the account that you open it with at least $10 (but this can be withdrawn as there are no balance requirements to keep it fee free).
Up To 1% APY
This account has a tiered interest rate depending how much in funds you have in the account, broken down as follows:
- 0.25% APY applies to balances of $0.01—$2,499.99
- 1.00% APY applies to the entire balance on balances of $2,500 or more
Although in the disclaimer it does say that rates can change at any time.
Free ATM Withdrawals
You won’t be charged any ATM fees for any ATM with the NYSE logo on it, that’s pretty standard to not be charged fees when it’s part of a network. But if you withdraw funds outside of this network you’ll have those funds reimbursed.
This reimbursement also includes ATM withdrawals made overseas, although if any currency conversion fee is charged this will not be reimbursed. Reimbursements are made at the end of every statement cycle.
The fine print says that this benefit can change at any time and that they will automatically identify which charges qualify for reimbursement. Although if you think a fee should qualify then they also give you a number to call (800.683.8529).
Currency Conversion Fees
International ATM withdrawals are free, but Aspiration does charge currency conversion fees though, according to this they charge two separate fees:
- Currency Conversion Assessment: 0.2%
- Cross-Border Transaction Fee (for transactions outside the United States): 0.9%
Charity Donations
Aspiration has a program called ‘Dimes Worth A Difference’ for every $1 they earn they will donate one dime to charitable activities. They say that they work with Accion U.S. Network (biggest micro-loan provider in America), although to me it’s not clear what happens to these loans when they are repaid (does Aspiraton re-donate the money? do they keep it? etc etc).
Accessing Online Banking
The Aspiration account is actually powered by Radius Bank, if you use the Aspiration interface it’s very clunky (they also offer a similar account called Radius Hybrid, but it’s slightly worse than this account). You can still see the Radius interface, rather than going into detail about how to use it I’d recommend reading this post by Out & Out instead.
Final Thoughts
These seems like a pretty decent checking account, although I have a few issues with it that are as follows:
- There is a waitlist to get the product (currently about 52,500 people long, although you can skip people in the queue by referring friends. Update: they no longer publish the waitlist)
- It’s possible to get a 5% APY on a lot of other products (such as high yield prepaid cards & rewards checking accounts)
- They charge a currency conversion fee of around 1.1% (there are better products for free ATM withdrawals)
I think Aspiration does a lot of things well, but it’s not the best in show for any particular aspect. It could make sense to use if you don’t want to juggle a lot of different accounts
Aspiration referral has changed for the better ($50 cash and $25 do-good dollars with only $10 deposit requirement.
“To receive the $25 “Do Good” dollar credit, all related accounts must be open and in good standing, in the sole determination of Aspiration, for a minimum of ten business days. Referral “Do Good” credits take about 3 weeks to be credited in total, from the date of account opening. Allow up to eight weeks for the $50 cash referral credit to post. To receive the referral cash credit, accounts must be open and in good standing, in the sole determination of Aspiration, through the date of the credit. Referrals must open and fund an Aspiration Spend & Save or Aspiration Save Account, with a minimum of $10. Investment funds do not qualify for this promotion. Allow up to eight weeks for the cash referral credit to post. Cash referral credits are limited to $1,500 per account per month for this promotion. Cash + “Do Good” credits referral program is ongoing and valid as of 04/06/2020.”
The save account used to be at 2%, but they just dropped it to 1%. Also they recently limited atm reimbursements to 5 per month if it matters to you.
Since I just acquired an Aspiration checking account, I was looking into Foreign Transaction Fee. Definitely no ATM fees worldwide, and it includes full refunds on ATM fees.
https://my.aspiration.com/faq/Spend—Save%3EAspiration-Spend%3EAre-there-fees-for-using-an-international-ATM
I sent them an email today and also called them and they confirmed that there is no foreign transaction fee on ATMs/purchases. This is their reply via email “I’m happy to report that we do not charge any foreign transaction fees. Customers can use their debit cards for purchases and ATM withdrawals abroad at no extra cost. Please note that Mastercard determines the exchange rate used, and that rate does fluctuate frequently.”
I pointed them to the sentence in their homepage: “Please note, there is a foreign transaction fee of one percent that is not waived, which will be included in the amount charged to your account”. The representative found out that this applies to Mastercard; that Mastercard may charge, on a country by country basis, a percentage and that’s what the 1 percent on the website is referring to.
Opened the account yesterday, and got an email today to refer:
Refer a friend and when they open and fund an Aspiration Spend & Save Account (or Aspiration Save Account) by April 30th, you will EACH get $50: $25 in cash deposited into your Aspiration Save account AND $25 Aspiration “Do Good” dollars that you can donate to great eco-friendly charities.
You can earn up to $1,000 in referral cash bonuses and $1,000 in Do Good donation dollars.
And your friends and family members could have more money in their pocket too, with the Aspiration Spend & Save Account’s no-ATM-fees, up to 2.00% APY interest, and cash-back-rewards.
So get started today – remember, you can earn up to $1,000 this month but your friends will need to open and fund an Aspiration Spend & Save Account or Aspiration Save Account by April 30, 2019.
@William Charles this might be worth an update
Zero fees at every ATM in the world plus no overdraft fees, no monthly fees & up to 2.00% APY. It’s that simple. This is banking that is built for everyone. Link a checking account with $10 min funding, get $50 added from Aspiration, and earn 2,000 SB.*
https://www.aspiration.com/get-account
They just offered me $100 to signup for their Spend & Save Account ($10 min) and make one direct deposit. Up to 2% APY and no ATM fees worldwide. Sounds like a winner to me.
Is there a link to the bonus?
I got the same thing, but it is targeted. I have been getting occasional $20 offers and now $100 to finish an application I started a couple months ago, but never submitted. The link in the email takes you to a log in page to do just that.
Seems a little odd no mention of promo terms on Aspiration site…. worrisome. Direct link to signup landing page URL implies “campaign=aspiration-50promo”… not 100.
Also, a quick google of Aspiration Spend and Save reviews on DepositAccounts and Supermoney reveal a lot of pissed off customers. I would guess these are people that actually wanted to use their account and not churn and burn.
But, no pain-no gain! Applied – instant approval – Funding via Plaid account linking.
Let us know if you get the full bonus?
Yes Sir! ETA July 15, 2019. No minimum # or size DD, so should be cake… If they stand behind the TPH’s word.
Used Real DD so that can’t be the excuse….
So they’re now advertising a “Pay What Is Fair” policy on their products (maybe they have all along and I never noticed their advertising). Is anyone here who is using them paying a monthly fee? If so, what is the default? It seems like a questionable business model to me, but it could be that I’m frugal.
From their site:
What are Aspiration’s fees? What is “Pay What Is Fair?”
At Aspiration, you decide how much to pay us. We’re confident enough in our products and confident enough in the honor of our customers to trust you to do the right thing. We call this “Pay What Is Fair” because this fee model is fair to you and because we’re counting on you to be fair to us. We will not earn a cent from you other than the fee you select.*
Today Swagbucks has $10(1000 SB) offer to open this account and it says 2% interest rate with no fees
Has anyone else received an offer for $20 for signing up?
Yes, I have. Have not signed up yet. Just got a surprise from my CapOne business account that bill pay is going away so am looking for other options.
I have had to jump through all sorts of hoops, finally getting a new SS card and proving I’m not “dead.” They’ve got a screwed up “Patriot/Terrorist” screening database, supposedly my SSN turns up as deceased, from public records.
I thought this was a 0 foreign transaction fee, not a 1.1%.
I was interested in this as a backup to my Capital One 0% fee, reimburse outside bank charges, but that’s not the case.
So, I’m out!