Chase Bank UK review

With changes to cashback and savings rates, is Chase still our top pick?

Chase Bank is a well known and popular bank in the US, being one of their high-street banks. Thanks to a strong rewards offering across cashback and savings rates, it’s been a stand out pick since its launch. Here’s our take on the latest bank to shake up the market.

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What is Chase?

Chase is a fully-digital bank in the UK, though it originates in the US where it’s the largest high-street bank. It’s part of JP Morgan Chase which also owns a number of brands, including UK investing app Nutmeg.

It comes with a Mastercard debit card and competes with other digital banks, such as Monzo, Starling and Revolut. It works pretty much the same as the traditional high street banks that you’ll have heard of, but there aren’t any branches, so everything is managed from the app.

Types of Chase account

Chase only has the one account available and there aren’t additional tiers to upgrade the account. This means that there aren’t better savings rates, features or card types that you’ve got to pay for and you can’t pay extra to get additional benefits like insurance or airport lounge access.

Once you have your Chase current account set up you can open up to 20 additional accounts. These all use the same card but have different account numbers, so you can use them for individual purposes, but don’t have to carry multiple cards around. We talk more about this feature further down.

Chase rewards and extras

Rewards are where Chase had previously scored particularly well – there’s in-account interest and cashback available.

Cashback with Chase

When it launched, Chase paid 1% cashback on all of your spending, both at home and abroad. That’s now changed.

You will earn the same 1% rate, but now only on groceries, everyday petrol and transport. We have a separate guide on Chase’s cashback offering with more details, including any exclusions.

You can get up to £15 in cashback each month, so it’s paid on spending (in those qualifying categories) on up to £1,500 a month.

In the first year of having the account, there’s no minimum monthly deposit required to get the cashback. But once you’ve had it for a year, you’ll need to put at least £1,500 per month into the account to qualify for the next month’s cashback – this can be in more than one deposit so you could theoretically move the same amount in and out of the account for it to count multiple times. This amount was upped from £500 in February 2024.

Cashback goes into a separate account. It can be transferred to your main account balance when you want to spend it.

The changes to Chase’s cashback are disappointing, and mean there are better credit cards that offer cashback which are worth a look.

Saving rates with Chase

Chase has two savings options that you can only get with the current account. At times they’ve been right at the top of the tables, but now there are higher paying savings accounts.

First, you can open connected savings accounts that each pay 3% AER on balances up to £3million. This tracks the Bank of England base rate, so it’ll fall in line with any future cuts. New customers can get a boost for six months.

Chase also has a ’round-up’ feature that rounds up your spending to the next £1 and chucks it in a savings account. You can get 5% on your round-ups for 12 months, which is a lot better than any competing auto-savings accounts.

in 2024 Chase removed the ability to earn interest on balances in the main current account.

Does Chase have a switching or welcome offer?

Sadly, Chase has no switching, referral or welcome offers. There was a referral scheme back in 2022, but we’ve not seen any since that ended. The only perk newbies get right now is being able to earn cashback for the first year without depositing £1,500 each month.

If you’re after a switching bonus, we have a guide on the best bank switch offers available now.

One good thing about Chase is that it can be used as a dummy account for switching – if you set up secondary accounts, you can switch these out without fully closing your Chase account.

You can’t return to Chase if you fully switch your only account out or close the account.

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The Chase app

The Chase app is the hub for everything you’ll do with Chase – you can’t go into a branch or use telephone banking, so this is pretty important.

Design and customisation

The Chase app has a clean and simple interface and it’s really easy to find what you need, but it isn’t anything spectacular. Editor-in-chief Andy actually really likes the interface, while I feel it’s a little too simple.

Everything you need is only a couple of taps away – you can see all of your different accounts on the home screen, including any savings accounts you’ve got.

There’s no customisation available – the best you can do is name the extra accounts you choose to set up.

Categorisation and notifications

When you spend money or money leaves your Chase account, you’ll get an instant notification to let you know.

In addition, Chase will automatically assign a category to the transaction to allow you to analyse your spending over time. If it gets the category wrong, you can change it, too. This is helpful when a transaction doesn’t necessarily match the category it’s assumed to be.

Budgeting features

Chase lets you set a budget for each account that you’ve got. You can’t do this for individual categories, so it’s easiest to make separate accounts for categories that you want to budget differently in order to do this.

This could be a gamechanger when it comes to organising your money, if you’re committed to it. You’d basically have a bunch of separate accounts and one Chase card. When you’re about to pay, you can change which account you’re spending from within the Chase app to make sure it goes out of the right account. This is similar to Starling’s “Spaces”, except the money will leave the account automatically.

There are also spending insights to help you find out where your money is really going.

Integrations

Like most banking apps, the Chase app is secured with biometrics or a passcode.

You can set up Chase with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Garmin Pay and Samsung Pay. You can’t use Fitbit Pay.

You can also connect external apps such as Emma, Cheddar or Airtime Rewards with Open Banking.

Card controls and virtual cards

Once you’ve set up your account with Chase, you can order a free numberless card. The card number, expiry date and CVV are all found in the app. This can be used for all of the accounts you have with Chase, you just change the account you want to pay from within the app.

You can fetch all the card details and account information from the app – they can be copied straight out of the app if you’re making payments online. The card can be frozen from the app and you can view your PIN if you forget it.

You can also turn off Chip & Pin, disable cash withdrawals, block payments outside the UK and turn off the magstripe within the app.

You can also set your own contactless limit, but you can’t block gambling transactions.

Sending and receiving money in the Chase app

One of the things that Chase falls short on is splitting bills or requesting money from friends and family. You can make transfers with your friends’ bank details – which can be pasted in directly from their WhatsApp message to remind you. You can also copy your own details for when they owe you.

You can set up new payees directly from the app and set up and manage standing orders.

Chase current account

Chase Bank is a decent current account, though there were a few fallbacks which can hold it back against some of its competitors.

Account basics

When it comes to the basics, you get a standard card with the account at no additional cost. The card is numberless, which means you can take photos of it safely, and nobody can jot down your details from your card to use online later — this has actually happened to me before, so it’s a great benefit.

You can start using the card before it even arrives by setting it up with Google Pay and Apple Pay.

If you want to set up or amend standing orders or direct debits, you can do this directly from the app.

Unfortunately, you can’t pay in cash or cheques with Chase. However the terms and conditions were changed in late 2023 to cover the introduction of adding cash at PayPoint locations in the near future, so we’ll keep you posted.

Chase doesn’t allow Swift or CHAPS payments, but it does allow Faster Payments and BACS payments. This can be problematic if it’s your only account, so it might be helpful to have another current account to allow for these if they ever come up.

There’s a £25,000 daily transfer limit to UK bank accounts. This is in line with what most banks will allow. Monzo and Nationwide are capped at £10,000 while Starling’s limit is £1m.

Does Chase Bank charge abroad?

Chase is a good bank account to opt for when you’re heading abroad. There aren’t any spend abroad limits, and you’re allowed to withdraw up to £1,500 each month abroad. You no longer earn cashback overseas.

You do, however, need to be careful not to use ATMs that charge for withdrawals, and if you’re asked whether you want to pay in your currency or the local currency, always go for the local one. Chase has a calculator that will tell you what currency conversion rate you’ll get if you use your Chase card — this is found in “Manage card” in the app.

We also have a guide on the best debit and credit cards for travelling, if you want to look at other options.

Chase account fees

Chase is a free bank account. It would win the award for simplest Fee Information Document we’ve ever seen at Be Clever With Your Cash, with “No fee” repeated down the entire document. In addition, there aren’t any paid tiers for extra features. It doesn’t even charge for a replacement card, unlike several of its digital-only competitors.

Chase overdraft

Chase doesn’t offer an overdraft facility. We have a guide to the best bank accounts for overdrafts, if this is what you need.

Chase Smart Money People rating:

Over at Smart Money People, customers have scored the Chase current account 4.95/5.

When we look at just the customer service, customers gave a rating of 4.92 out of 5.

Positive reviewers feel that Chase is always improving by adding new features.

Negative reviewers don’t like that you can’t transfer money abroad and that you can’t send or receive Swift and CHAPS payments.

There are several Chase reviews that complain that you can’t return if you close your account, so it’s something to be careful of if you’re trying to take advantage of a switch offer and end up switching out completely. You can avoid this by switching out a secondary account.

Is Chase Bank safe?

Yes — your deposits into Chase are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). This means that if Chase were to go bust, up to £85,000 is protected and can be reimbursed to you.

Is Chase a bank?

Yes, Chase is a fully licensed bank in the UK. In the US, it has high-street branches, though here it’s a fully digital bank.

Is Chase bank ethical?

Ethical Consumer magazine lists Chase Bank as one to avoid, alongside Barclays, Natwest, HSBC and Firs Direct. This is largely due to being among the largest investors in fossil fuel extraction, with Chase parent bank JP Morgan the worst offender.

How to apply for a Chase account

It’s super easy to sign up for a Chase Bank account. As long as you have ID on hand, you don’t even need to get out of your seat. You just need to download the app and answer a few questions. You’ll need to take a photo of your ID – I struggled with this and had to do it manually as it kept telling me there was too much glare, but it didn’t slow down the acceptance process at all.

The whole process takes only a few minutes and a card is posted out to you straight away.

Do you need ID for Chase?

Yes, you’ll need to submit photos of your ID and take a video selfie to create a Chase account.

Is there a hard credit check for Chase?

Unlike most banks you won’t be credit checked to apply for a Chase current account – another reason why it’s a great option to create additional accounts to use for bank switching.

How to add money to Chase

Once your account is all set up, you can add money to your account and start using it straight away. You do this with a bank transfer from another bank account using your Chase account details. You’ll see a prompt to do this on the Home screen which says “Ready to go?”

You can have your income paid straight into Chase by giving your employer your account details. You can’t pay in cash or cheques.

How to get help with Chase

Chase doesn’t have any UK branches. To get help, you can contact the help centre over the phone, and there’s an in-app chat function. You can also drop Chase an email to get some help.

In Smart Money People reviews, people rated Chase’s customer service at 4.92/5, with lots of reviews saying that customer service is great and very supportive.

Pros and cons of Chase

Pros

• Simple and easy-to-use app
• 1% cashback on some spending
• Fee-free spending when using abroad
• Open several accounts for budgeting
• Easy to create extra ‘dummy accounts’ for switching
• 5% interest on round ups
• Numberless card

Cons

• No branches
• No switch or referral offers
• No overdraft facility
• Can’t pay in cash or cheques
• No joint accounts
• No CHAPS or Swift payments

Is Chase a good bank?

Chase has got a clean app which makes it easy to find everything you’re looking for, though it has a few missing features when it comes to splitting bills and requesting money.

Going abroad is one of the best ways to use Chase, thanks to its generous withdrawal limit and limitless fee-free spendin

The inability to pay in cash or cheques or send or receive CHAPS payments do let it down – but these aren’t very common for most people now.

The savings rates however can be beaten, so we’d suggest you shop around for better rates.