Banks may make you physically go into a branch to open a checking and savings account—and even after going to all that trouble, there’s no guarantee of getting a good rate. Because Aspiration is a financial services firm and not a chartered bank, users get the convenience of doing everything online, the benefit of competitive services, and the good feeling that comes from knowing your money is with a socially conscious and fossil fuel free financial institution.
Here are some of the advantages of banking with Aspiration:
With an Aspiration Spend & Save account, users get access to a long list of benefits and products. One of the biggest selling points to the Aspiration account is that you decide how much you pay in monthly fees.
Aspiration accounts include the following features:
Aspiration doesn’t offer credit cards or loans, but it does offer a handful of other traditional Financial services.
Here’s where Aspiration competes with the big banks:
Aspiration’s interest rates and fees are among its biggest selling points. Under its “Pay What is Fair” program, customers decide how much they want to pay each month. The Spend & Save account promotes interest rates of up to 5.00% APY for Aspiration Plus enrollees. In order to earn 5.00% APY on the first $10,000.00 in your Save Account in a particular month, you must also spend $1,000.00 or more with your Aspiration debit card that month. Balances over $10,000.00 will earn 0.10% APY. If the spending requirement is not met in a particular month, the APY that month will be 0.25% on your Save Account balance up to and including $10,000.00, and 0.10% APY on any funds over $10,000.00.
Customer service is the one area where Aspiration appears to fall down. As the Better Business Bureau has noted, Aspiration has received a number of recent complaints about poor response times and difficulties in closing accounts. According to Aspiration, these difficulties were the consequence of a large number of customers joining up in a small period of time, and it has added more customer support staff to handle queries.
Phone Support: from Monday to Friday, 7am – 5pm PT (10am – 8pm ET)
HQ: Aspiration Financial, LLC, 4551 Glencoe Ave Ste 300, Marina Del Rey, CA 90292-6681
'For any month that Aspiration Plus members spend a minimum of $1,000 in eligible purchases with their Aspiration debit card, they will receive 5.00% APY interest on the first $10,000 in their Aspiration Save account, equating to a $500 yearly value. Standard Spend & Save account holders will receive a 3.00% APY interest rate. The interest rates are current as of October 12, 2021 and are subject to change at any time without notice.'
Aspiration offers a mobile app for iOS and Android with some pretty cool features. The following are some of the highlights of the Aspiration mobile app:
Aspiration protects customers in the following ways:
Aspiration is a solid option for anyone looking to park their money in a fossil fuel free account without losing a large chunk of their cash to fees. With a commitment to environmental and social causes, it’s a particularly good option for the socially conscious investors out there. Add to that the cash back, ID theft insurance, and phone protection, Aspiration offers a feature-packed green account that actually helps you save.
*Deposits are FDIC-insured up to $2 million per depositor by being swept to FDIC Member Institutions. Visit fdic.gov. Aspiration’s Program Banks.
The Aspiration Spend & Save Accounts are cash management accounts offered through Aspiration Financial, LLC, a registered broker-dealer, Member FINRA/SIPC, and a subsidiary of Aspiration Partners, Inc. (“Aspiration”). Aspiration is under separate ownership from any other named entity. Disclaimers. Aspiration is not a bank.