Cheap as Chip? Great rates for savers and a simple, if not perfect, app.

• Those looking for high interest rates on savings accounts.
• Those looking to pair savings with a simple investment account

There's not much choice if you're looking to invest, with just 15 funds to choose from. So this won't be the right option for you if you want the freedom to invest in the full breadth of what the stock market has to offer. However, for those looking for help narrowing down their options, it's a good solution.

There are a couple of groups who won't be able to use Chip:

• Those with older mobile devices may find the Chip app isn't compatible with their device. Go to your Apple/Play store and search for ‘Chip your wealth app' to discover if it's available on your device.
• Those who bank with an institution that isn't linked with Chip through their Open Banking network. Currently, only the following banks are linked:

Bank of Scotland
Barclays
Danske
First Direct
HSBC
Halifax
Lloyds Bank
Monzo
Nationwide
Natwest
RBS
Santander
Starling
TSB
Ulster Bank

Chip is not a bank, so there’s no debit card or ATMs with a Chip account. But Chip offers a wide range of services that include:

• An instant access savings account
• Cash ISA
• Prize Savings Account
• Auto-saving and auto-investing features
• General investment account
• Stocks and shares ISA

Choosing Chip means you'll have a single account offering both savings and investment options. It is a good range of account types, although there's no personal pension product on offer.

Stocks and Shares ISA

Investing through a stocks and shares ISA rather than a general investment account offers tax advantages, allowing you to potentially grow your investments without paying capital gains tax or income tax on your returns. You can invest a maximum of £20,000 under current rules across any/all ISAs you hold.

The Chip stocks and shares ISA is available for both those with a free Chip membership account, and the paid-for ChipX account. If you're on the free account, you can access the ISA by paying a 0.25% platform fee. This is scrapped if you pay for monthly membership with ChipX.

For Chip's ISA, you'll have the option of choosing one of fifteen different investment funds, designed to help you build a well-diversified portfolio without hours of research being required. It's not a huge range of funds, but they're well-chosen to give customers access to many different regions, markets, and trends. The ready-made portfolios are fully diversified and risk-rated, helping you to choose the investment that best matches your feelings about risk and your investment goals.

This Chip stocks and shares ISA is what's known as a flexible ISA. That's a bonus if you want the freedom to possibly withdraw funds from your ISA should you need the money, and then replace it later within the same tax year without it counting against your £20,000 ISA allowance.

Instant Access Account

Chip’s Instant Access Savings Account is a tracker account. As a tracker account, the gross interest rate is variable and tracks at 0.51% below the current Bank of England base rate. Currently, it is offering 5.01% AER although this rate is only available to new customers and drops down to 4.84% after 12 months.

There are a couple of things that stand out about this account. Firstly, there’s no account minimum so you can start saving from £1 and there’s no upper limit on what you can save at that rate. And secondly, unlike many other ‘instant access’ accounts, there are no limits on how many times you can withdraw from Chip’s instant access savings account, meaning you can withdraw money regularly throughout the year without incurring any penalty.

For this level of flexibility, 5.01% AER is excellent, as you can see from this table:

Cash ISA

Chip's cash ISA rewards savers with a very competitive 5.10% AER. However, it is also a tracker rate, meaning it tracks at 0.26% below the Bank of England base rate. While this means that if the rate moves up, Chip account holders stand to gain, it also means the rate could go down at any time. If you're comfortable with the level of uncertainty this brings, it's a great rate for a flexible cash ISA.

Auto-save

If, like me, you struggle to muster up the self-discipline to save, then auto-saving is a godsend. Chip's clever AI means you can automatically build your savings without needing to think about it, and without feeling the pinch. You can create multiple savings goals within the app, set up how you want to allocate your funds from your Chip savings accounts, and see how far away you are from achieving your goals.

There are a couple of things to be aware of, however. If you're using auto-save via Chip's free Basic account, you'll be paying to use it – and 45p per save is a lot! That's a flat fee too, so if you're only saving small amounts, you'll be paying a very high price proportionally. Of course, if you pay for ChipX membership, you can use autosave for free.

I've also seen some users comment that the algorithm is not perfect and has, in some cases, been overestimating how much people can afford to save, even when on the lowest setting. There are alternatives if you're primarily interested in the auto-saving feature. Both Moneybox and Plum offer a similar service. Moneybox's 'round-up' feature is more aggressive in that it will round-up each purchase you make, but it'll mean you build up your savings faster. My colleague, Antonia, has been using Plum for the past three years and reports good experiences, with the algorithm taking savings at a level that feels unnoticeable. Check out Antonia's full reviews of both Moneybox and Plum if you're interested in comparing them with Chip.

Prize Savings Account

Chip's Prize Savings Account is a savings account, but instead of earning interest on your deposits, they are entered into a monthly prize draw where you can win a share of £62,500 in prizes.

There are several prizes to be won every month (top prizes of £50k and £10k, plus 250 x £10 prizes), and the account can be treated like any other easy-access savings account with instant withdrawals and deposits, and FCSC protection for any money held within it up to the value of £85,000.

It's a bit like holding Premium Bonds, and is an appealing idea if you like the excitement of possibly being able to win big. Of course, you might never win any prizes and as prizes replace interest, you run the risk of not seeing any returns on your savings if you choose this option over a regular savings account.

You'll need a minimum account balance of £100.

Assets

If you’re an investor, there are 15 funds to choose from at Chip. Although, if you're a Basic account holder, you'll not have access to them all – just a range of BlackRock & Vanguard diversified funds and a selection of indexes like the FTSE100.

You can see what different account holders are eligible to access here:

You cannot invest in individual stocks, bonds or any other assets at Chip – only funds.

It’s a very limited selection when compared to the large range offered by, for example, interactive investor (over 3,000 funds to choose from), or AJ Bell (2,000). But that isn’t necessarily a negative. For many people, too much choice is anxiety-inducing, or just too time-consuming. By keeping the available options to a small selection, a lot of that anxiety and hassle is taken away. As Chip puts it: “Say goodbye to endless scrolling”.

It’s reassuring to know that the choices on offer are some of the most popular funds managed by some of the biggest fund managers in the world. The likes of Blackrock, Vanguard and Invesco. Within that selection you’ll have access to:

• Vanguard’s FTSE 100 Index fund
• Vanguard’s LifeStrategy series of funds
• Invesco’s Global Companies fund
• BlackRock’s Ethical fund
• BlackRock’s Blockchain & Crypto ETF
• Vanguard’s S&P 500 ETF
• BlackRock’s Physical Gold ETC
• 6 x Blackrock ready-made portfolios built to serve varying risk profiles from cautious to adventurous

Different types of funds are available (ETFs, index funds, actively managed and passively managed funds, and ready-made portfolios), different markets and sectors are covered, and all are allocated a risk rating to help you choose a product that is closely matched to your appetite for risk. It’s a good, albeit limited, selection. We've done some research on how well Chip's funds have historically performed in comparison to the industry average. Jump to ‘Portfolio performance' for the results of our analysis.

Our Senior Equity Analyst, John Choong, gives his take on these results below.

Voting rights

Investors at Chip do not get voting rights. If being able to have a say on actions that might affect the share price of assets you hold within your fund is important to you, it's worth shopping around as some providers allow you to exercise proxy voting rights through your fund manager.

Dividends

Chip informed me that dividends are only paid out for the Clean Energy Fund.

More information can be found in the Key Investor Information Document (KIID) for each investment fund. These can be accessed on Chip's website.

Mobile platform

The app is slick, well-designed and fast! The speed was noticeable and added to the feeling I got generally that Chip utilises cutting edge technology to its advantage. It is a simple design, but intentionally so. It's intended to get your saving/investing without delay and without complications.

The app is available on iOS and Android and has a slightly disappointing 3.4-star rating at the time of writing in the Google Play Store, with some users complaining about niggles and processes not working as they should.

My own experiences are that I also, unfortunately, experienced problems when using the platform. From not being able to upload funds, to being told that the app was facing ‘connectivity issues' (which were not caused by my phone as I was using other web-based services and apps without issue), it wasn't always the smoothest of experiences. With no phone number to call for customer support, and not being able to get to the chatbot due to the connectivity issues, I had to rely on email to get support which was far from ideal.

Chip users were unable to access their accounts for the most part of a full working day in March, due to a technical issue. So that fast, clever technology isn't flawless.

There's another problem that Chip users have identified: Chip has recently upgraded the app which now means that only those with newer versions of phones can use them. If you have an older device, you may find that the Chip app isn't compatible with your phone or tablet. You'll know because you won't be able to download the app (or update it if you're an existing user).

Web platform

There is no web version of the Chip platform so you must have a smartphone and be comfortable using it for wealth management purposes to use Chip.

What you can access, and how much you'll pay for it is determined by the account membership option you go for.

There are just two account membership options available:

• A Basic account: This is free to open but you're limited on which services and features you can use and you'll pay-as-you-go to access available products and functions.
• The ChipX account: this costs £5.99 per 28 days if paid monthly (which works out as £78.08 per year), or £4.99 per month (£65.05 per year) if paid annually. This plan includes all features and products, with fees reduced or removed for accessing them.

I really like the simplicity of Chip's proposition. There are no confusing tables to study, requiring you to cross-reference the type of product you want, with the amount you’re investing, etc. to find your total costs. My feelings are that no-one has the patience for that level of complexity these days, and Chip has recognised that.

This what you can access under each membership type:

Chip offers a relatively low platform fee for a stocks and shares ISA, at 0.25% if you're on the free Basic account. If you're paying for ChipX membership, you don't have to pay 0.25% platform fees, but you are paying £4.99 p/mo or £5.99 p/mo as a flat fee. Flat fees are generally less good value if you have a small amount invested. If you're a large portfolio holder, however, this could be a cheap way to invest.

Another note on the free account: it's far from a free account if you're paying 45p per auto-save, so if saving is your main goal, you might also want to look at Moneybox or Plum. With Moneybox, you'll also have access to the best performing ISA over the past few years. You will need to pay a higher price for that access, however, as Moneybox charges 0.45% plus a £1 per month membership fee, compared to Chip's flat £4.99/£5.99 per month fee (the difference is whether you pay annually or monthly).

Of course, it's only fair to say that with a free account, I expect to pay somewhere along the line. (No such thing as a free lunch!) But with Chip, I would feel like I was paying too much if I was using the auto-save feature.

There's far less independent research required when you're selecting a fund, than if you're investing in individual stocks and shares. So you won't find the same menu of tools you'll find with larger trading platforms, offering access to every conceivable fundamental, chart, dataset and piece of expert analysis.

It's also reasonable to assume that if you're investing through Chip rather than a larger institution offering a wider choice of funds such as Vanguard or Fidelity, you're doing so because you don't want to be overwhelmed with choice and find yourself with a whole heap of time-consuming research to do.

That said, Chip is still a bit light on research. There is some past performance data showing performance over 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years and beyond (where it's available). You'll find a risk rating for each of the 15 funds Chip offers, and information on average annual returns and fund charges for each. There's also a brief description of how the fund is invested and what you're exposed to, but it's very rudimental.

Chip is designed for those who don't want to spend a great deal of time on setting up and managing different wealth creation strategies. Chip customers want something that takes the hard work from them – and brings rewards.

When selecting a provider for your investments, it is very important to first ensure they meet certain minimum safety standards. We judge Chip to meet the threshold for a ‘safe’ provider because:

• It is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK.
• It is a member of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, meaning that in the unlikely event of Chip failing, the value of your assets (both cash and investments) are protected up to a maximum of £85,000.
• While your money is being processed it is held in a Chip Safeguarded Account, which is safeguarded through the FCA’s safeguarding rules.

Always remember that investing involves risk. The value of your investment can go up as well as down, and you could get back less than you put in.

Account security

Biometric login can be enabled on the Chip app, which can help protect your account from account takeover.

Chip’s library of educational materials isn’t huge.

Alongside a small number of videos and some basic but well-written and easy-to-understand guides, are some other useful tools, including:

• Interest rates calculator
• Savings goals calculator
• Stocks and shares ISA calculator
• Financial glossary

I like the Chip tone of voice, which avoids the jargon and keeps things simple. There’s a blog which is regularly updated with insightful articles on relevant personal finance topics.

Account opening and depositing funds

Opening a Chip account is incredibly easy. It took me less than 5 minutes to do and didn’t require any documentation. When it came to linking my bank account so I could make a deposit, it was the quickest and easiest onboarding process I’ve so far encountered among all the apps I’ve tested. My banking app connected to the Chip app and there was no need to remember passwords to login to my account. The technology is cutting edge and meant the whole journey was friction-free. I, therefore, wasn't surprised to discover that Chip won an 11:FS award for Best Onboarding in November 2023.

However, there's no option to make a one-off payment via debit card, or any other method in fact, so you will need to link a bank account to make a deposit. That's a problem if you don't bank with one of the following names as these are the only banks Chip's open banking API connects with:

We support the following banks through our Open Banking system:
Bank of Scotland
Barclays
Danske
First Direct
HSBC
Halifax
Lloyds Bank
Monzo
Nationwide
Natwest
RBS
Santander
Starling
TSB
Ulster Bank

There's no Revolut or Virgin Money on that list, for example, meaning Chip is ruled out for you if you bank only with those institutions.

Closing and transferring an account

I haven't actually closed my account yet so can't give a personal experience of this, but Chip does warn users that closing your account can take 7-10 days. It also requires you to contact customer services. If you would like to close your Chip account, you need to click into the Profile tab in your Chip app and scroll down to Delete Account. You'll then need to select ‘Send us a Message' and then ‘I want to close my Chip account' at the bottom of the screen.

Transferring an ISA to Chip can be done in-app. You'll simply be asked to enter how much you want to transfer, who your current provider is, and your ISA Reference Number.

Customer service at Chip has a few holes in it.

You can make contact with the Chip support team via:

• Chatbot
• Email: hello@getchip.uk

The quickest way to reach them is through the chatbot, but you'll need an account to use this service so if you're just making initial enquiries, it isn't an option. The chat function is also only available between 8am and 8pm on weekdays, and as I struggled to find it in the app, I'll tell you it's in the Profile tab (scroll right to the bottom).

I emailed Chip's customer service team with a query, and received a reply within around four hours. I have experienced delays of several days with some other low-cost providers, so this would have felt like a reasonable response time if it wasn't regarding something urgent. Given that the problem was that is my app wasn't working (and I therefore couldn't use the chatbot), it was a frustratingly long time to wait.

There are some recent complaints on the Google Play store that users are sometimes waiting several days for a reply.

The other big negative is that there is no support at weekends. Given that many of us will be sorting out our life admin when we're not at work, it's an annoyance that there's no-one to get help from over the weekends.

There's also no phone number.

Chip has a 4.1 rating on Trustpilot at the time of writing with some complaints about issues with customer service.

Have a question about Chip that I haven't covered? Ask it here and we’ll come back to you with an answer.

This review is the result of my first-hand experience as an account holder at Chip and in no way represents financial advice.

If you’re looking for the best investment app, check out my review of all the contenders for the title.