Banking - too good to be true?
 

Has anyone heard about or used the Summit Account from Aspiration Partners? https://www.aspiration.com/ Sounds a bit too good to be true especially after dealing with USA banks over the years.

Online checking account with debit card
No monthly fees (or you can choose a monthly amount to tip!)
Free access to every ATM in the world
1% interest for balances over $2500
FDIC insured
$0 minimum monthly balance or monthly deposit
$10 to open
Donates profits to charity

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

I'd be careful with the 'free access' bit, doesn't mean 'free use of'.

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

The Ad states use:
- any ATM in the US - No Fee
- any ATM overseas - No Fee

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

I used to have worldwide free access from Citibank. There was the odd one or two ATMs that would add the charge. These ATMs tended to show the charge on the screen before you accepted. On the whole it was fee worldwide access, even in Disney where the charge was $4.

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

It's really good Russet.

My son tried to open an account with them because he is going to be in Europe for the best part of the next 3 years studying. However, I think they want more than a student income for the account.

I might try to get one.....

The reviews I saw were very good.

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

With the Aspiration Summit Account, you’ll have free access to every ATM on the planet. (ATMs on Pluto not included).

We offer certain ATMs which will not charge any fees at all upfront. For a list of these machines, please click here, and then click "SUM" under the Filter Results heading.

At the ATMs where you are charged an upfront fee for making withdrawals, you will be fully reimbursed for any fees incurred at those machines on the Summit statement date, which is approximately the 10th of every month. So, you will never pay ATM fees again!

To find the ATMs that accept deposits, please follow the same steps as above, and instead choose "Shared Deposit ATMs" as your filter for results. The Shared Deposit network allows for free deposits at any ATM listed.

https://support.aspiration.com/hc/en...TMs-can-I-use-

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

One thing they don't have is safe deposit boxes. That may not be something you need. Some banks may allow non-customers to use their boxes.

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

I thought they didn't have any bricks and mortar branches?

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

Exactly, hence no safe deposit boxes. You would need to use boxes at a different bank.

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

It's a fairly standard deal. You should check the fine print to see if you have to do something to maintain the interest rate, or to keep the ATM refunds coming. What is a little unusual is the lower balance limit on the "high" interest rate. Usually it's an upper limit for these kinds of accounts.

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

no atm charges anywhere in the world was what caught my eye for my son. Currently on vacation and if he takes cash then he gets charged a minimum of $5 a time.

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

Cutting the foreign ATM fee is usually only one of the two places they hit you. The other is the currency conversion fee. From their own help section:

Anytime a transaction is initiated in non-US currency, there is a Currency Conversion Assessment of 0.2%. If the transaction is done in another country, there is also a Cross-Border Transaction Fee of 0.9%. Thus, most of your foreign travel charges are going to have a rate of 1.1%

It would be too good to be true for it to be completely fee-free to use abroad, so I guess this is still a pretty good deal, unless that 1.1% is unusually high.
Compare here: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/bank...onal-atm-fees/

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

I know WF charges 3% with a minimum charge of $5.

so 1% is good. For him, taking out $100 would be $1 instead if $5

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

There are a few banks that have relationships with European banks. BOA for example allowed free access to Barclays ATMs. The other option when travelling is to use a global bank like Citibank or HSBC. I had a problem one with my debit card in Italy, walked into the local Citibank and they called the UK for free for me and resolved my problem.

Re: Banking - too good to be true?
 

Bank of America still hits you with the 3% currency conversion fee though right? Kind of them to not go for $5 + 3%!