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Chase current account review: A decent option for UK customers?

Are you fed up with your bank not giving you much in return? Well, there’s a new player in town (well, the UK). And it’s called Chase. Take a look at this Chase current account review to see what benefits are on the table and why this is an account worth considering.

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Chase current account summary

An excellent all-rounder. Earn cashback on your debit card spending, no fees when spending abroad, interest on your current account balance (although small) and a separate savings account with a much higher interest rate. And, there’s no fee.

– Pete Chatfield

Cost per month
Ease to qualify for rewards
Reward incentives
Account extras

Pros and cons:

✅ Earn cashback on debit card spending
✅ No fees when using abroad
✅ Round-up feature available
✅ Competitive interest rates
✅ No fees


❌ You can only receive limited cashback for a certain length of time
❌ You can find better savings rates if you shop around

3.9


Chase current account

Rather worryingly, 75% of us have never switched our current account. But why should you worry about that? Well, for one reason you’re probably not getting great value from your bank. Companies generally don’t reward loyalty and always offer their best deals to new customers.

And for another reason, you’ve been missing out on a switching bonus. Lots of banks will pay you up to £150, just for switching your current account over to them.

But, it’s never too late to switch your current account and it’s a surprisingly easy process. Thanks to the Switch Guarantee, everything is done for you and you hardly have to lift a finger.

So, why is all that important? Because a new account has just arrived on the shores of the UK called Chase. And it’s an account with some benefits you won’t see compared to traditional UK banks.

What is Chase Bank?

Also known just as Chase, it is a subsidiary of JP Morgan Chase. It’s one of the ‘Big Four’ banks in the USA, has over 56 million digital customers and now operates in over 100 countries.

Is Chase safe?

Chase uses 128-bit encryption technology to protect your username, password and other personal account information. Now, that may sound impressive but I’m a big user of budgeting apps and I’m well aware that many apps in the UK use 256-bit encryption. But I’m not sure why Chase hasn’t opted for a higher-grade technology.

But when it comes to your money, your funds are held with a UK establishment of J.P. Morgan Europe Limited. This means that up to £85,000 is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

The physical card that you receive will actually be blank and not have any number listed on it. This adds a little security if you should lose your card, so people will not be able to use it to make online purchases. The only way you can access the card’s numbers is through the app.

Chase also has active fraud monitoring and will send you instant alerts if it thinks something is amiss. You can freeze and unfreeze your card at any point from the app.

What are the benefits of Chase?

So, why would you switch from your long-held current account and open an account with Chase? To entice you in, there are some pretty tempting offers.

Is there a switching bonus?

Not at the moment. During 2022, Chase did offer a referral scheme that gave new users a £20 bonus. But that only lasted a few weeks as it proved very popular.

Cashback

One of the biggest attractions to new customers would be the offer of 1% cashback every time you spend using your debit card. However, the cashback only lasts for one year and there are some exclusions. It’s quite a long list and includes things such as

  • Antique shops
  • Art dealers and galleries
  • Boat dealers
  • Car and van dealers
  • College and university fees
  • Gambling transactions
  • Hospital fees
  • Money transfers
  • Tax payments

But the exclusions won’t apply to the majority of transactions.

Your cashback is automatically added to a separate part of your account and can be moved to your current account at any time.

Once your first year with Chase finishes, you can still earn cashback for the next 12 months. You will need to pay in at least £500 into your account each month and the cashback is capped at £15 monthly.

5% interest on round-ups

If you haven’t heard of round-ups before, they’re quite simple. When you purchase something worth 60 pence, it’s automatically rounded up to £1. That extra 40 pence is then moved to another account.

When Chase does this, it’s moved to an account that pays 5% interest. Interest is calculated daily and is paid monthly. After one year, your money will be automatically moved back to your main Chase account.

It is possible to move your money back earlier, but you will need to close your round-up account. You can also pause round-ups at any time.

4.1% interest on savings

The Chase saver account offers 4.1% AER interest (4.02% gross) on your savings for as much as £250,000. This isn’t bad compared to some other current accounts, but you can still find better rates elsewhere.

1% interest from your current account

From April 2023, you can earn 1% on any money in your current account. This might not sound like much but is far more than most other UK banks.

No fees or charges when abroad

This seems to be becoming a (welcomed) regular feature from digital banks. Instead of charging you horrific fees and a terrible exchange rate when you’re out of the country, Chase will charge you the current Mastercard exchange rate instead.

Easily manage your account

If you like to keep an eye on your finances, then Chase breaks down your spending into categories and merchants each month.

And if you like to keep your money in separate pots, you can create new accounts in the app and rename them. They all have different sort codes and account numbers. This is particularly useful if you’re making a payment to a company to which you don’t want to make further payments. Once that account is empty, no more money can be taken.

My Chase account


Chase in action

Now we know all the benefits, how does the account perform in real life?

Opening the account, in principle, should be quite simple. You need to provide a copy of an official government ID (a driving licence or passport should suffice) and then take a selfie.

But it took me several attempts to be accepted. I’m not sure if the problem was with Chase or with me. However, my photo was around 6 years old and I now have a beard, so this is probably why I failed the ID check a couple of times. It did eventually go through though.

Using the account has been very easy. The ability to create extra pots and accounts just through a touch of a button is incredibly useful.

And as for the benefits, these are pretty impressive. With round-ups, you’re not going to put away a fortune, but 5% interest is far better than you’ll see compared to any other account.

And the 1% cashback is also generous. You’re basically being paid to spend as you normally do.

I do find that almost all transactions I make online need to be approved via the app. Although I can understand the security aspect, it’s still frustrating.

And one evening, I attempted to make two transactions with one retailer in quick succession. Chase declined this, so I contacted their support to sort out why. But after almost 15 minutes, the advisor couldn’t help and wanted to put me through to someone else. It was late, so I gave up.

I’m not sure why, when I have to approve transactions through the app anyway, Chase can decline them. In the end, I used another card.

Chase spending insights


Any downsides?

So Chase looks quite positive, but it can’t all be good. Can it?

The first major negative point is that Chase isn’t part of the current account switching scheme. If you want to change your main bank account to Chase, you must switch all of the direct debits and standing orders yourself.

The next negative is that the 1% cashback is limited to a set period. This is supposed to be a year. However, I’m still receiving it in my second year. All I need to do is pay £500 into Chase every month. We shall see how long this continues.

Another critical point is that if you’re making a purchase for more than £100, you’ll get more protection from a credit card than your Chase debit card.

And then there’s the security side. I don’t have a big problem with Chase only using 128-bit encryption, although that’s partly because I don’t fully understand it. However, I do have an issue with the fact that between May and June 2021, the bank accidentally exposed customers’ details to other Chase customers. This isn’t the first breach, with 465,000 customers having their details exposed between July and September of 2013.

But these problems were pretty small when you consider that 83 million customer accounts were exposed over a 2-month period back in 2014.

Sadly, I have reached that point in life where I don’t expect my details to be safe. But it appears that Chase seems a little more susceptible than other banks.

And my final gripe comes with the card. It’s all well and good not to have the account numbers listed on the physical card, but it can be a pain when making an online purchase on your phone. You’ll need to leave the checkout screen and log in to your Chase account to grab your card number, CCV number and expiry date. Then, transfer them back to the checkout screen.

It’s not the end of the world but it makes purchases a little more fiddly.

Is the Chase current account worth it?

I really like it. With the ease of using the account aside (except for mobile purchases), the round-ups encourage me to save and the cashback is generous.

I’ll keep using the account for as long as they keep offering me cashback. When that stops, I might go back to using one of my cashback credit cards.

Unless that is, they can bring in another offer that might earn me money when paying bills, like some of the best cashback bank accounts.

The savings account isn’t bad, but it’s nothing compared to what I receive when investing in my Fidelity stocks and shares ISA.


Chase Bank

Michael

Sunday 5th of February 2023

After the first year is up, if you close your account, how long is it until Chase Bank consider you to be a "New Customer" again so you can get the 1% cashback again?

Money Saver Pete

Sunday 5th of February 2023

Hi Michael, a good question. I checked the T&Cs and there wasn't any mention of this. So, I spoke to somebody on live chat who seemed a little unsure. However, they did reply with this:

Thank you for patiently waiting Peter. Upon checking, is it not advisable to close your Chase account and reopen a new one to enroll for the cashback campaign as it may take some time for us to process another application of your account opening. The best advise I can give is to enjoy your current Cashback as of the moment and take note that we have a lots of exciting features that will surely make you enjoy more Chase including Cashback offers. We will make sure to keep you updated when we give our announcement of the full disclosure of information so watch out with our social media accounts and websites. I hope this helps.

That says to me that there's nothing from stopping you closing your old Chase account and opening a new one.

Roger

Tuesday 14th of June 2022

Comparing the 1.5% on the savings account with a stocks & shares ISA is misleading. They are not comparable!

Money Saver Pete

Tuesday 14th of June 2022

I disagree Roger. If somebody is thinking about opening a Chase account because of the savings rates on offer, I think it's important that people realise there are other options out there.

John

Tuesday 5th of April 2022

Thought this looked like an attractive offer, but no joint accounts and no access to the current account switching service (have to move all direct debits by hand contacting every company, nightmare).

Money Saver Pete

Tuesday 5th of April 2022

Hi John. A good point about the switching service. I shall add that.