Is Simple Bank worth it? Watch my Simple Bank Review to find out my thoughts on Simple Bank. The bank may be called Simple, but Simple offers some pretty sophisticated banking and budgeting features.
So what is Simple Bank? Simple is an online-only subsidiary of an FDIC insured bank that offers FDIC insured checking accounts and a sleek, full integrated budgeting platform. It comes with a VISA debit card and you sign up online.
I’ll first breakdown the key features of the checking account, and then tell you about the budgeting tools, which I really think is the selling point to this account.
Firstly, there are no standard fees on the Simple checking account. This includes account maintenance fees and ATM fees, which are waived if you use the AllPoint network of ATMs (these can be found in Walgreens, Wal Mart, etc.). However, they will charge you $5 for a book of checks.
Secondly, the Simple account allows you to earn interest up to 2.15%. To do this, you must transfer your money into a separate checking account within the platform that is called your “Protected Goals Account.” There are unlimited instant transfers between the two accounts, and the only reason there is a “Protected Goals Account” is for budgeting purposes.
(1) If you have less than $10,000 in your Protected Goals Account, you will earn 2.02%;
(2) If you have more than $10,000 in your Protected Goals Account, you will earn 2.15%;
(3) If you have any amount of money in your basic Simple Checking Account, you will earn a paltry 0.01%.
So why are there two different accounts? It has to do with the budgeting tools aspect of Simple. The key difference between Simple and any other high yield online bank is Simple’s features around this account.
Let me start with the Protected Goals Account. Simple allows you to set up a separate fund for your protected goals in the future. This can be for an emergency fund, a down payment on a house, wedding, or big travel trip.
The second awesome feature is known as Safe to Spend. Often times, budgeting can seem like a chore or a burden because, frankly, sometimes we want to spend money now on things we know we don’t need. But for a lot of people, it can be hard to know how much of their paycheck they can spend and still get ahead financially.
This is where Safe to Spend comes in handy. You can manually set up short term Goals or Scheduled activities, or do so with the help of Simple’s analytics, to see how much of your money is already accounted for. For example, you know that rent or your car payment is always due every month.
To calculate Safe-to-Spend, we take your account balance, subtract the amount you have earmarked for recurring bills and financial goals, and tell you exactly how much money you have leftover to spend on whatever you want. This updates in real time, too, so if you are paid more then your Safe to Spend balance will increase.
This is very similar to the envelope method of budgeting promoted by people like Dave Ramsey, only digital.
Another awesome feature to this account is the shared account feature. If you live with a roommate or have a romantic partner and want to keep some, but not all, of your finances separate, this can be a great way to do so. I have not seen a feature like this and i got to say it’s pretty awesome.
You can also use the Round Ups feature to save the change and have it transfer to your savings goals, very similar to how Acorns operates.
The analytics on this platform are great. You can see where your money is actually going, tag your expenses, take photos of what you purchased, and get a great handle on your money. This is similar to how Mint operates but it only works on your Simple account transactions.
There are no rewards with this account for using your debit card, I unlike if you used a credit card. Simple makes money almost entirely on the interchange fees it collects when you spend money on the debit card.
You cannot deposit cash into this account and you must be a US citizen to open it.
Me personally, I think this account is great for the interest rate and the generally budgeting tools. However, I use Mint, which is free, to keep track of all my spending. I use credit cards for rewards and am not willing to give that up, since I get so much free travel out of it.
What do you think? Let me know!
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