Chime (company)

Not to be confused with Chime Communications Limited or Chime Communications (Australia).
Chime Financial, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryFinancial services
Founded2012; 12 years ago (2012)
FoundersChris Britt and Ryan King[1][2]
Headquarters101 California Street
San Francisco, California, United States
Key people
ProductsChecking accounts, savings accounts, debit cards, P2P, credit cards, fee-free overdraft
RevenueIncrease US$200 million (2019)[3]
Total assetsIncrease US$5.8 billion (2019)[3]
Websitechime.com

Chime Financial, Inc. is a San Francisco–based financial technology company that partners with regional banks to provide certain fee-free[4][5] mobile banking services. The company offers early access to paychecks, negative account balances without overdraft fees,[2] high-yield savings accounts,[5] peer-to-peer payments,[6] and an interest-free secured credit card.[7] Chime's mobile banking services do not rely on monthly service or overdraft fees or minimum balance requirements. Chime earns the majority of its revenue from the collection of interchange fees on debit card transactions.[8]

Chime is not a bank, and Chime customers do not have a customer relationship with its banks. The FDIC bank insurance on Chime accounts does not directly protect Chime's customers.[9] In 2021 and 2022 Chime had been found cancelling accounts without notice; moreover, it is not required to provide a reason for the cancellation to the customer or even have a reason. Customers cannot appeal to banking regulators to retrieve their deposits, which may not be returned in a timely fashion.[10][11] In 2024 Chime was fined for poor handling of customer complaints and agreed to upgrade its customer service.[12]

  1. ^ Maria Deutscher,"Mobile banking startup Chime lands $485M mega-round at $14.5B valuation". siliconangle.com. 18 September 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  2. ^ a b "25. Chime". cnbc.com. 16 June 2020. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  3. ^ a b Fuscaldo, Donna (December 5, 2019). "Digital Bank Chime Now Has a Valuation of $5.8 Billion". Forbes.
  4. ^ "Everything You Need to Know About Banking With Chime". Entrepreneur. 4 November 2021. Retrieved 2023-07-23.
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ForbesAdvReview was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Digital Banking Challenger Chime Now Allows Users to Send Money to "Anyone and Everyone"". Crowdfund Insider. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  7. ^ "Best credit cards for rebuilding your credit of August 2023". USA Today. 2023-08-23.
  8. ^ "Online bank Chime is said to near funding at $1.5 billion value". American Banker. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  9. ^ Mason, Emily. "Is Your Money Really Safe In An 'FDIC-Insured' Fintech Account?". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-08-28.
  10. ^ Zimmermann, Stephanie (November 25, 2022). "Closed accounts, no money: Chime app users complain they were suddenly shut out of their online accounts". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2022-11-26.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference ProPublica2021-07-06 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference DFPI-2024-02-27 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).