Chase bank ~ is it a good option ?

[CarpalTravel]

Philondon wrote:

I registered for this bank account when it had a waiting list. It’s a bit like Monzo where you get notifications when things happen in your account such as spend etc.

I was attracted to the account by the 0% fees abroad including cash withdrawals. There is even a handy currency converter in the app.

I also just opened their instant access savings account which is the highest payer at 1.5%.

They also have an online community where you can post in blogs and do surveys which will in theory help how the accounts will evolve in the UK.

Here is my referral code. Thank you if you use it.

Hey, want to join me at Chase UK? We’ll both get £20 when you join and pay in £20. Get started: https://link.go.chase/emNK/refer?code=ukuePev2. T&Cs apply.

Or ukuePev2

I signed up last week using yours, am still in the waiting room.

[Rui N.]

They say 3-5 weeks now to open the account.

[CarpalTravel]

CarpalTravel wrote:

Philondon wrote:

I registered for this bank account when it had a waiting list. It’s a bit like Monzo where you get notifications when things happen in your account such as spend etc.

I was attracted to the account by the 0% fees abroad including cash withdrawals. There is even a handy currency converter in the app.

I also just opened their instant access savings account which is the highest payer at 1.5%.

They also have an online community where you can post in blogs and do surveys which will in theory help how the accounts will evolve in the UK.

Here is my referral code. Thank you if you use it.

Hey, want to join me at Chase UK? We’ll both get £20 when you join and pay in £20. Get started: https://link.go.chase/emNK/refer?code=ukuePev2. T&Cs apply.

Or ukuePev2

I signed up last week using yours, am still in the waiting room.

£20 on its way to you @Philondon. (And me!).

[CarpalTravel]

CarpalTravel wrote:

Philondon wrote:

I registered for this bank account when it had a waiting list. It’s a bit like Monzo where you get notifications when things happen in your account such as spend etc.

I was attracted to the account by the 0% fees abroad including cash withdrawals. There is even a handy currency converter in the app.

I also just opened their instant access savings account which is the highest payer at 1.5%.

They also have an online community where you can post in blogs and do surveys which will in theory help how the accounts will evolve in the UK.

Here is my referral code. Thank you if you use it.

Hey, want to join me at Chase UK? We’ll both get £20 when you join and pay in £20. Get started: https://link.go.chase/emNK/refer?code=ukuePev2. T&Cs apply.

Or ukuePev2

I signed up last week using yours, am still in the waiting room.

£20 on it’s way to you (and me!) @Philondon

[Philondon]

Thank you @carpaltravel

[andiron]

Now the 1.5% on savings is no longer as good, even Nationwide offer 1.75% with 3 withdrawals.
Keeping it just for 1% cashback, although it’s hit and miss sometimes, tried to pay my council tax recently and was awarded 0, normal shops are fine though..
Hopefully they’ll bring some more

[Wally1976]

andiron wrote:

Now the 1.5% on savings is no longer as good, even Nationwide offer 1.75% with 3 withdrawals.
Keeping it just for 1% cashback, although it’s hit and miss sometimes, tried to pay my council tax recently and was awarded 0, normal shops are fine though..
Hopefully they’ll bring some more

In my experience Chase are far better than others at not awarding points for spend that isn’t supposed to earn points!

[The Urbanite]

I quite like Chase. They’re generous with the cashback and the customer service is pretty swish compared with some other banks!

[Kuestrian]

Are there any referral offers on at the moment?

[Kuestrian]

andiron wrote:

Now the 1.5% on savings is no longer as good, even Nationwide offer 1.75% with 3 withdrawals.
Keeping it just for 1% cashback, although it’s hit and miss sometimes, tried to pay my council tax recently and was awarded 0, normal shops are fine though..
Hopefully they’ll bring some more

Tax payments are excluded…

https://www.chase.co.uk/gb/en/legal/Cashback-Exclusions

[andiron]

@keustrian, I can pay X bill and get cashback, but I cannot pay Y (council tax), so a bit of lottery, sadly less than other cards – will be paying Y with another CC card long term.

[SteveJ]

@andiron it’s not really a lottery when the exclusion list is well published, it’s not a secret hidden in the small print.

[andiron]

@steveJ it is lottery as I get cashback for one item that’s excluded there (and by lottery I mean low chances of winning 😀 )

[ianmac57]

I would definitely recommend the Chase account, card and app.
I signed up in June, initially was told that there was a delay to account verification and card issue but everything was done and card received well within the 3 week advised period.
Used card for a three week USA family summer holiday – exchange rate was excellent £1 = $1.18 to $1.19 whereas BAPP Amex rate was ~ $1.14 at the time.
1% cash back is great – just remember and transfer the cashback amount from your rewards to your account – it is not done automatically !!
The in-app Chat function is very slick – may be somewhat limited by the knowledge and experience of the agent that you get on the day but at least you’re straight through to a real person !
One word of warning – because the Chase account is a debit card, when you use the card for hotel check-in guarantee / pre-authorisation or car rental deposit the amount is frozen and deducted from your current balance. We experienced that USA hotels actually automatically increase the guarantee amount if your spend gets close to the original amount thereby automatically reducing your available Chase balance. In theory when you check out any ‘un-used’ guarantee would be released back into your Chase available balance. (With a credit card you never likely see or notice the pre-authorisation as it drops off quickly). With car rental deposits it can take up to 30 days for the funds to be released and available in your account.
The Hyatt Wild Dunes Resort in South Carolina screwed up the guarantee release which meant almost $1,500 was not available in my account for 20+ days. Hotel staff blatantly lied and blamed Chase. I elevated the problem with Chase management and my ‘frozen’ funds were released immediately.
After that I used the BAEC PP Amex card as the guarantee / deposit at check-in etc and paid the final bill with the Chase card at check-out – worked perfect !!

[rams]

Their 1.5% interest rate isn’t competitive anymore. Wonder if they will up it

[Luca M]

ianmac57 wrote:

I would definitely recommend the Chase account, card and app.
I signed up in June, initially was told that there was a delay to account verification and card issue but everything was done and card received well within the 3 week advised period.
Used card for a three week USA family summer holiday – exchange rate was excellent £1 = $1.18 to $1.19 whereas BAPP Amex rate was ~ $1.14 at the time.
1% cash back is great – just remember and transfer the cashback amount from your rewards to your account – it is not done automatically !!
The in-app Chat function is very slick – may be somewhat limited by the knowledge and experience of the agent that you get on the day but at least you’re straight through to a real person !
One word of warning – because the Chase account is a debit card, when you use the card for hotel check-in guarantee / pre-authorisation or car rental deposit the amount is frozen and deducted from your current balance. We experienced that USA hotels actually automatically increase the guarantee amount if your spend gets close to the original amount thereby automatically reducing your available Chase balance. In theory when you check out any ‘un-used’ guarantee would be released back into your Chase available balance. (With a credit card you never likely see or notice the pre-authorisation as it drops off quickly). With car rental deposits it can take up to 30 days for the funds to be released and available in your account.
The Hyatt Wild Dunes Resort in South Carolina screwed up the guarantee release which meant almost $1,500 was not available in my account for 20+ days. Hotel staff blatantly lied and blamed Chase. I elevated the problem with Chase management and my ‘frozen’ funds were released immediately.
After that I used the BAEC PP Amex card as the guarantee / deposit at check-in etc and paid the final bill with the Chase card at check-out – worked perfect !!

I have mentioned this before, but with regards to Hotel and car rental, a better strategy is to use a Credit Card for the check in /hold, but ask to swap it to the Chase DC for settling the bill at check out/car return.. I have done this in Italy,France, Bulgaria, USA and Tanzania. Car rentals is some time a bit more of a fuss depending on what company it is.

[Dudulle]

rams wrote:

Their 1.5% interest rate isn’t competitive anymore. Wonder if they will up it

To be fair you get 1.5% up to £250,000. That’s still quite good if you compare to other instant access savings accounts. The ones with higher interest usually have a very low limit, except Virgin that still gives 1.7% up to £25,000.

[Genghis]

Even Marcus is now 1.8% up to £250k instant access