This post is sponsored by Chime but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.
Hi, sweet friends! What a whirlwind time life has been recently. Outside of the obvious of moving to work remote 100%, I have been taking lots of time to explore my neighborhood and the city around me. If you’re new around here, I moved to Raleigh last May for a job. From moving here first with my mom to apartment hunting in the middle of peak summer season, I didn’t have much time to explore the city. I lucked out because my apartment is in the middle of everything and I can easily walk to tons of restaurants, bars and little shops whenever I want. But even though I have that option, I have been looking for all the other neighborhoods to explore while having a little bit more control over my schedule With the help of Chime’s online banking services and mobile app, I can explore easily and have access to my money quickly.
In case you missed it, I shared my first thoughts on Chime and the app over on Instagram. I was genuinely so amazed that a completely online banking service could have my bank through an easily accessible app and programs like Spot Me, where you don’t get charged a fee if you overdraft. For someone who likes to be able to use my card wherever I go, Chime has been a lifesaver. After I applied for an account, which took less than 5 minutes, my card came in the mail the next week. Let me tell you, I haven’t had a new card in years at this point so seeing my Chime card show up was like an early holiday gift!
With exploring more, I have realized how bad I am at keeping cash on me. It seriously never fails that I’m exploring the neighborhood or city and come around a good truck or bake sale that’s cash only. Seriously, never fails. I tend to only keep my small card holder on me, since I’m exploring by foot, which doesn’t have room for much cash. Because of this, you can imagine my delight when I realized that not only does Chime’s app allow me to transfer money, set-up direct deposit payments and pay bills, but it also gives me access to an ATM map.
And no – you didn’t read that wrong. Even though Chime doesn’t have physical locations, they have over 38,000 ATM partners that allow you to withdraw cash when you need. The map also shows how close you are to a store that gives cash back – what a win! So now, when I can’t turn away from the kids selling baked goodies, I have quick access to my cash and can withdraw with no fees. None. Zero. Zilch. Chime’s ATM partners don’t charge ATM fees so when I want to take out $20 in cash, I only see $20 deducted from my account and not an extra $6 or $8 like other banking options. And when you’re sticking to a budget, every fee and extra step feels like it counts double.
With the help of Chime, I have been able to stick closer to my budget by monitoring my funds in the app. And I just recently set-up the automatic saving feature so that even when I try to forget to save, Chime does it for me and I barely notice. If you’ve been on the fence about a truly online banking service only, I am here to tell you that Chime will be your best bet. Between the app and being able to use the account for your direct deposits, it feels like the traditional banking option you’ve always known but like 10x better with zero hassle.
If you want to learn more, you can head to their website. After you head there and sign-up, be sure to head to my Instagram stories to see my quick tutorial on finding the ATM map 🙂 Thanks so much for reading friends! -xo, Azanique <3
