Online Bank / Prepaid Card Alternatives ( Chime, Simple and Qapital )

I have run into many people online who either have no bank account or use prepaid cards, but many of the prepaid options have fees.  I decided to pull together a list of a few options I knew of that would be good online only banks / prepaid card alternatives.

I haven't tested all of these full yet, but here is a summary of the features.

NOTE: Update 12 Feb 2022 - Simple is gone, but SoFi Money is good alternative.

$25 from SoFi Money - You can save, spend, and earn interest—all in one account. Use my link to sign up and you’ll get a $25 bonus. Referral link: https://www.sofi.com/invite/money?gcp=baf027eb-93db-453b-a474-fe7aae805180

Common between all cards:
- Claim minimal/no fees ( Simple fee info / Chime fee info / Qapital fee info )
- Provide routing # and account # so you can get pay direct deposit and use other services that require the info
- Provides a physical debit card
- You can pay bills/people using mailed checked
- Can link to your bank

Common between at least two cards:
- Has a list of ATMs in the application (Simple and Chime)
- Can transfer money quickly to other users of the same service (Simple and Chime)

Setting aside Savings

Each of the options has a different way to help you save money.  Here are the options:

Saving with Chime - Chime has something they call "Automatic Savings" which can set aside some money when you spend money (round up and save the change) or get paid (save 10%).  However, it doesn't seem to include allocating the money to multiple goals like Simple and Qapital.  This seems to be a great "set and forget" without specific saving goals.

Saving with Simple -  Simple uses "Goals" for setting aside money using an easy approach of defining the amount of your goal, and when you need it so it can automatically set aside money.  This seems to be the easiest to setup if you want to use goals, but you can still manually allocate money if you want.  You can read more here ( https://www.simple.com/help/articles/goals/budgeting-with-goals )

Saving with Qapital - Qapital uses "Goals" but they are based on a wide set of rules that you can customize.  This seems to offer the most automated options, but you can also just manually control money moves if you prefer.  Here are the types of rules:

Round-Up Rule: Save the change every time you spend ( for example, if you spend $2.25 it rounds up to $3 but puts the 25 cents into your savings ).
Spend Less Rule: For example, you set aside $10 a week for McDonalds.  If you spend less than $10, the difference goes to savings.
Guilty Pleasure Rule: Ever time you spend money at a certain place (for example Starbucks) you can set aside a certain amount into savings.
Set and Forget Rule: Set aside a certain amount of money per day, week or month.
52 week Rule: Save $1 week 1, $2 week 2 and so on for 52 weeks.  When you are done, you will have $1378 set aside.
IFTTT Rule: This lets you customize a wide range of options using the service IFTTT.
Freelancer Rule: Set aside 30% for tax day every time you get paid.  You can adjust the percent.  This is helpful if you get paid but no taxes are taken out.

If you just want to set aside savings without thinking tying the money to specific goals, Chime is probably a good option.  If you want to set aside money for goals, Simple and Qapital are the best options.  Both work well to manually move money around, but if you want automatic options use Simple for an easy setup and use Qapital to tweak things how you want.

Unique features to just one of the options:
- Chime has a rewards program, but I only saw a few offers and none were interesting to me at the time but I believe they change.
- Chime can link to a debit card, so you can transfer money (limit 3 times per card, $25 minimum).
- Chime says you can receive your paycheck (via direct deposit) up to two days early
- Simple supports photo check deposits, Chime says this is coming soon

Referral Program:
- Simple: If you sign up using a referral link you can get $20, you do have to make a purchase (card swipe not online).  Also if you refer others you can get $20 per person.
- Chime: If you have a payroll direct deposit (of $200 or more) you can get $25 right now (not sure if that will change.  Also when you refer others, you and the person can both get $25 if they also have a payroll direct deposit of $200 or more.
- Qapital; When you sign up and make a deposit (even a few bucks) you get $5, then each person you refer who also does a deposit gets you and the person $5 each.

NOTE: The referral information above and at the end of the post are as of late October 2017 and are subject to change.

You can read the full feature information by clicking: Simple, Chime and Qapital.  Ultimately, the best card for you depends on how you plan to use it.  Luckily all of these options are free, so you can pick more than one to try out.

My referral links:

Qapital -Get $5 free when you sign up and make a deposit (even just a few bucks).
My link: https://get.qapital.com/bzAc/7i45bilM5G

Simple - Get $20 if you use a referral link.  You can earn more by referring friends.
My link: https://simple.com/friends/BRYN323

Chime - Get $25 when you open a Chime Account and set up payroll direct deposit of $200 or more. 

I closed my Chime account.  I never got my referral money when I signed up because they said the code didn't register (I know I used a valid link).  Contact support was pointless, no one would fix it - I was flat out told on the phone that even a supervisor would tell me they can't help.  I got real annoyed at that point and told them to close my account.  Feel free to try it for yourself, just find someones code if you want to try to earn the referral money.

If you want to see other freebies/offers, go here:
http://bigboystoys13.blogspot.com/2016/11/get-some-free-stuff-or-free-money.html