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Chime – a brilliant way to save pain free. Actually, it’s better than pain free. It’s fun! When you register for a Chime account you will get a debit card in the mail. It comes in a cool green envelope too. The debit card itself is white. It has a sleek, crisp look that kind of makes me feel I have my spending in check and it’s all under control. When you activate your card and connect your bank account you can transfer funds to your card.
Why would you want to do that? Because Chime is the fastest way I can see right now to being debt-free and having money in the bank, especially if you struggle with managing daily spending or if you spend more than you want each month because you don’t have a way to track actual, real-time, daily spending.
Credit cards don’t work for that because there’s no spend ceiling, unless of course you max out your credit cards each month. It’s easy to get off track using credit cards because you are probably using more than one, and because you can spend more than you want without even knowing it. I haven’t tried to make a purchase for more than what’s in my Chime account, but my guess is if I did the card would be declined. In my mind that’s a good thing because it’s a failsafe for overspending. I literally can’t do it.
Also with Chime you are spending your money, and because you can see your purchases on your phone with the Chime app, you always know where you stand. You can see how much you have left to spend in the time period you have chosen, such as a week, or month. The amount you go with ultimately depends on how much you need to survive each month and have some fun too while at the same time reach your financial goals. If it’s to get out of debt, the less money you spend and the more money you use to pay off debt, the faster you’ll be debt-free. And the faster you become debt-free the faster you can build savings, because you can use all that money that was going to minimum payments plus the extra you were putting toward debt to build savings.
If you’re not excited yet, how does free money sound? If you set up a direct deposit to your Chime card you get $25. Act fast though, because you must enroll using this link and receive a payroll direct deposit to your new Chime account by February 28th, 2018.
There’s more still! You can get paid up to two days earlier with direct deposit. Chime can also round up purchases to the nearest dollar and deposit the difference into your savings account. Finally, you can have Chime automatically transfer 10% of your deposits above $500 to your savings account. Now THAT is paying yourself first!
Holly Morphew is an award winning financial coach, entrepreneur, and speaker. 
She is a Certified Financial Health Counselor, Certified Student Loan Counselor, and Accredited Financial Counselor ®. Her unique background in business, corporate America, and real estate give her a broad perspective to help her clients create wealth, stop living paycheck to paycheck, and eliminate debt. View client testimonials here!
Holly began teaching personal finance in 2006 to young adults as a service project with Rotary International. Her workshops were so popular she decided to teach personal finance full-time so she could help more people. She created The Financial Impact System, a step by step guide to master your money, streamline spending, protect your money, and create multiple streams of income.
Holly is originally from Boulder, Colorado. She received the prestigious “Rotarian of the Year” award in 2007/08 for her work in financial literacy. Holly served as Treasurer of the Erie Rotary Club from 2006–2009. She has a B.A. in International Business & Japanese from the University of Colorado. She now resides in Denver, Colorado. Holly also plays competitive beach volleyball year-round, practices yoga, and loves to hike with her two dogs.
