Chip Easy Access Account Explained

The Chip Easy Access Account is an app-based savings account from Chip, the savings and investing app. It is designed for people who want to put money aside and reach it without notice or a fixed term. There is no minimum balance to open or maintain the account, interest accrues daily and is paid monthly on the fourth working day of the month, and Chip states there is no limit to the amount you can move in one go¹. Withdrawals can only be sent to your own bank account, so you cannot pay money to anyone else directly from the app³.

Chip runs the account alongside its other savings products, including the Chip Instant Access Account, the Chip Cash ISA and the Chip Prize Savings Account.

New customers can sometimes earn a boosted rate for a set period on top of the standard rate. Chip's own documents give different figures for how many withdrawals are penalty-free, and the boosted rate cannot be combined with another Chip promotion. This page sets out what the account offers, what the conditions are, and where the protection stops. Chip's own site carries today's rates.

What the Chip Easy Access Account offers

The account is a variable-rate easy access savings account, which is the category of savings account that lets you take money out whenever you want, though some providers limit how many withdrawals you can make in a year⁶. Chip's version is opened and run entirely through the Chip app rather than through a branch or a website login, and Chip states it is free to download the app, open and hold a savings account³.

Chip describes the account as powered by ClearBank, and ClearBank also provides the Chip Instant Access Account, the Chip Prize Savings Account and the Chip Cash ISA¹. That shared provider is the single most important thing to understand about the account, because it determines how much of your money is protected if the bank behind it fails.

The account sits within a wider Chip range that also includes a Smart Cash ISA, a Prize Savings Account and an Instant Access Account⁷. Chip does not offer financial advice, and its own guidance states that nothing it publishes should be treated as a personal recommendation⁸. That matters here: the account is a straightforward place to hold cash, not a product anyone at Chip will tell you is right for your circumstances.

Interest is calculated on the balance you hold each day, which is how most easy access accounts work, and paid out monthly rather than at the end of a fixed term¹. Because the rate is variable, the amount you earn can change, and Chip states that all its rates track the Bank of England⁹.

How the interest rate tracks the Bank of England base rate

Chip states that all its rates track the Bank of England, and it describes the rate on its Instant Access Account as a tracker rate linked to the base rate⁹. A tracker rate moves when the base rate moves, rather than being set at the provider's discretion, which is a meaningful difference for a saver trying to work out what will happen to their interest when the Bank of England changes its rate.

Savings trackers work on the same principle in reverse: the provider sets a margin below or above the base rate and the account rate moves with it. Other providers describe their own tracker accounts in similar terms, with one building society stating that its rate is variable and tracks at the Bank of England Base Rate for the duration of the account¹¹.

Not every account described as easy access tracks the base rate. One provider states plainly that the variable rate on its Easy Access savings account does not track the Bank of England Base rate¹². That is the distinction worth checking on any account: easy access describes how quickly you can get your money, not how the rate is set.

Where a provider does track the base rate, the timing of changes varies. One building society reviews its tracker rate annually, with any changes applied from 1 March¹³. Chip's own terms describe its rates as tracking the Bank of England without setting out a fixed review date in the documents here, so the practical answer is that the rate can move when the base rate moves, and the current figure is the one shown in the app⁹.

How the new customer boosted rate works

Chip periodically offers a boosted rate to new customers for a fixed period. The boost is a temporary addition on top of the standard rate, and it reverts to the standard rate when the period ends. Chip's own documents describe boosts running for 12 months, and one older promotion ran for three months².

Eligibility turns on what Chip means by a new customer. Chip defines a new customer as someone who has never previously transacted in a Chip account and has no other promotional rates applied on any Chip products². Elsewhere Chip puts it more simply: a new customer is someone who has never previously held a Chip account⁵. Both definitions point the same way, and the practical effect is that an existing Chip customer cannot claim a new customer boost.

The mechanics of claiming a boost vary by promotion. One Chip promotion requires you to download the app, set up your account, go to Profile, then Promos & Referrals, enter the code, open the account and deposit and hold a balance of at least £1⁵. Another required the code to be entered within 14 calendar days of downloading the app, with the deposit made within 14 calendar days of entering the code¹⁵. The boosted rate is applied to the balance you hold in the account each day at 00:00, so it is calculated on the daily balance rather than on a lump sum¹⁶.

Withdrawals: how many you can make and where money goes

Chip states there is no limit to the amount you can move in one go¹. That is about the size of a single withdrawal, not the number of withdrawals you can make in a year, and the two are separate questions.

On the number of withdrawals, Chip's own documents conflict. One product page states there are three penalty-free withdrawals²⁰. Another states that four or more withdrawals in a rolling 12-month period will reduce your rate to a Reduced Easy Access Rate². The two figures do not agree, and neither document overrides the other. A saver who expects to move money in and out regularly should check the terms shown in the app before relying on either number.

This kind of condition is common in the wider market. Easy access accounts allow you to take money out whenever you want, but some limit the number of withdrawals per year⁶. Accounts that restrict access in exchange for a higher rate are usually described as limited access accounts rather than easy access ones, and the distinction is worth knowing when comparing what you are being offered.

Money moves in one direction only. Chip states that you can only withdraw to your own bank account, and that you cannot send money to anyone else directly from the Chip app²¹. That is a fraud protection measure rather than a restriction on access, and it means a withdrawal has to land in an account in your own name.

Who can open an account and how to apply in the app

The account is opened in the Chip app. Chip's instructions are to download the app from the App Store or Google Play, sign up, open the account on the Savings tab, connect your bank, and make your first deposit by bank transfer¹. There is no branch, no postal application and no paper form.

That is a narrower set of routes than most savings accounts offer. Building societies commonly let you open an easy access account online, in branch, by post or by phone, and some accept applications in branch or by post only²². Accounts that are app-only suit people who are comfortable managing money on a phone and less well anyone who wants a branch to walk into.

Chip states there is no minimum balance required to open or maintain the account¹. Some promotions attach their own minimum: one older boost promotion required a balance of at least £1, and a separate promotion required at least £0.01 in the account to qualify for a gift card¹⁶. Those are conditions of the promotion, not of the account itself.

Chip is a member of CIFAS, the UK's fraud prevention service, and it states that all Chip users need to create a six-digit PIN to access the app, with the option of biometric logins using a fingerprint or FaceID²¹. If you are moving money from another savings account rather than from your current account, the process is a transfer rather than a fresh application, and Chip publishes guidance on transferring a cash ISA if that is what you hold²⁵.

Managing the account: app security, support and complaints

Everything happens in the app. Chip states it is free to download the app, open and hold a savings account, so there is no account fee to hold the product³. Chip's contact channels are mainly email, at secure@getchip.uk or hello@getchip.uk, in-app messaging, or push notifications, and Chip states that any text message it sends will only ever tell you to log into the app and will never contain a link²¹. Support is reached through the in-app chat in the Contact us section on the Profile tab, or by email at hello@getchip.uk⁵.

That last point is worth taking seriously. A message that claims to be from Chip and contains a link is not following the pattern Chip describes, and the same caution applies to any savings provider. Chip's own anti-fraud guidance sets out how it contacts customers, and it is the reference point if a message looks wrong²¹.

If something goes wrong and you are not satisfied with the response, you can take a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The service is free and easy to use, and it can consider complaints about individual savings accounts²⁶. You normally need to give the firm the chance to resolve the complaint first, and there are time limits, so it is worth keeping a record of when you raised it and what you were told.

Where a firm refuses an application, the rules for payment accounts with basic features require the institution to tell the consumer in writing and free of charge why, how to complain to it, and about the right to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service²⁸. That rule applies to basic bank accounts rather than savings accounts, but it illustrates the general expectation that a refusal comes with a reason and a route to challenge it.

Chip is not a bank: how your savings are protected by FSCS through ClearBank

Chip is not a bank. The Chip Easy Access Saver is provided by ClearBank, which also provides the Chip Cash ISA, the Chip Instant Access Account and the Chip Prize Savings Account². Chip states that all its accounts are FSCS protected³.

The limit is where this gets important. Eligible deposits held across the Chip Cash ISA, Chip Instant Access, Easy Access Saver, Chip Prize Savings Account and any other account held with ClearBank are eligible for a total of £120,000 of FSCS protection, not £120,000 per account¹. Chip states the same figure across its product pages and its protection guidance: a total of £120,000 per customer per banking licence⁴.

Splitting money between the Chip Easy Access Saver and the Chip Cash ISA does not double your protection.

That is a higher figure than the standard FSCS deposit limit, and it reflects the temporary high balance rules rather than a permanent higher limit for these accounts. The two figures appear in different Chip documents and are not reconciled there.

Money in transit is covered too. While a transaction is pending, usually one to two working days, Chip holds the money in a safeguarded client money account, and Chip states that money is also eligible for FSCS cover following regulation changes in April 2023²⁹. Funds moving between Chip accounts are held in a Chip client money account with ClearBank while in transit³. Chip notes that it may take up to three months for FSCS to pay compensation for deposits held in safeguarded accounts following a bank failure²⁹.

Where to get free help

If you are comparing easy access accounts more broadly, the differences that matter are how the rate is set, how many withdrawals are allowed without a penalty, and how the provider is protected. Chip's account is app-only, has no minimum balance, and shares its protection limit with the other Chip savings products held with ClearBank.

If you are struggling with debt rather than choosing where to save, free and impartial help is available from MoneyHelper and from debt advice charities, and the Financial Ombudsman Service is free to use if a complaint about a savings account is not resolved²⁶. Chip does not offer financial advice, and its own guidance states that nothing it publishes should be treated as a personal recommendation⁸.