Hey, is there any news on when Chip transactions are coming?
Not really, I don’t think they are focusing on the API.
Look like they’ve closed their campaign 27 days earlier than planned after reaching 10M in only a few days!
Do we have anyone here that invested in them?
I think @Ali invested in one of the first.
I used to get a zillion chipmunk/chipx emails with lots of hype and zero content, so unsubscribed and switched off…
I invested but I actually stopped using the product a couple of months ago.
Same.
I do think Chip has a market; the autosaving does seem be genuinely helpful to some. Specifically, people who struggle to make proactive decisions about how much of their income to dedicate to savings.
But for anyone who prefers to make own saving decisions, Chip doesn’t offer much at the moment.
Did you ever try Plum? I really didn’t like the experience at all.
I never tried it. When I first became aware of Chip and Plum, Chip was paying users a generous and stable bonus (approx 3-5%, as a marketing tool). The only way to earn money via Plum was (maybe still is?) by investing what you managed to save with them. This didn’t appeal to me as I have investments elsewhere. Also, if I recall correctly there was a time when the only way to use Plum was via Facebook Messenger. That also didn’t appeal to me.
You’re right, it’s not ideal. I have never had social media so I couldn’t use Plum for a long time but I did try it more recently. It’s just not as fun or slick of an app I think.
I may return to Chip as the £1 a month doesn’t put me off, but right now my savings strategy is more managed than it offers. I’ve certainly got my better half using it as I think having it take from your debit card as and when hides the savings element, and makes it feel less of a chore.
I should actually explain, my work involves tackling the poverty premium and working on a Government project that is designed to encourage people to save.
There are around 19 million adults who have less than £300 in savings (usually this references a family needing to replace a washing machine in an emergency) and of those around 16 million have less than £100 in savings.
I really think technology like Chip can help massively with this as the little and often approach soon adds up. It’s also why I love the 1p savings challenge, although the £1 challenge is harder for most, the 1p can be the price of a cup of coffee for 2 months of the year.
Hate to be cynical, but maybe progressive taxation is a better route…
We can’t agree on everything
Isn’t this the same as Monzo, Starling, MoneyBox, Plum and anyone who want to implement roundups?
It’s beyond roundups, in fact Chip standard doesn’t do roundups. I think the AI to look at spending maximises the amount to save.