Aspiration Review: Account Good for You?

Aspiration offers socially-responsible banking services and investment products with a unique "Pay What Is Fair" approach. Is it too good to be true? Read on.

Aspiration set out to do finances differently. It aims to make the world a better place, starting with socially-conscious banking services and investing products.

Not only do its banking products have no fees, but it also offers a high interest rate and cash-back rewards. Aspiration puts its customers first through trust and fairness.

As for fees? You pay what you think is fair (even if it's $0). That's right. There is no catch.

It's a big gamble that Aspiration takes. Is it worth it?

Keep reading to see how Aspiration stacks up.

• What Is Aspiration
  
• Banking Services
  
• Investment Services
  
• Why We Like Aspiration
  
• Downsides
  
• How It Compares

What Is Aspiration

Aspiration combines investment and banking services with social responsibility. It offers two main services:

• Banking services: Aspiration offers a Spend & Save Account to easily save money or manage daily living expenses. The Spend account offers cash back, while the Save account offers a high interest rate. The minimum to open is just $10.

• Investment services: Aspiration offers 2 specially-curated professionally managed mutual funds. It selects sustainable and low volatility investments to help you maximize your returns. It offers individual accounts and Traditional IRAs. The minimum to start is $10.

One of the most unique features about Aspiration is the "Pay What Is Fair" approach. You decide what its services are worth - even if it's $0.

Aspiration also donates 10% of what you pay to charities.

Banking Services

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Aspiration's main cash management service is the Spend & Save Account. It is one single product with two parts. You can dedicate separate spending and saving balances. Here are some features:

• High savings APY: You get a high yield APY on all Save balances.

• Cash back on purchases: Earn unlimited cash back on all purchases with the Aspiration debit card. Earn extra cash back when you shop with socially-conscious businesses.

• No ATM fees locally: Aspiration waives fees for all Allpoint ATMs in the U.S. Plus, it will reimburse ATM fees charged by 3rd parties, up to 5 reimbursements per month.
  For ATM overseas, there is a 1% foreign transaction fee that is not waived.
  

• No fees: No ATM fees, overdraft fees, check deposit fees, debit card fees, or account inactivity fees.

• $600 in cell phone protection: When you charge your cellphone bill to your Aspiration Mastercard, you get $600 in coverage against damage or theft to your phone.

• Identify fraud protection: If your identity gets stolen, Aspiration will reimburse up to $1,000 per claim.

• Online banking services: Do your business from anywhere with mobile check deposits and online bill pay.
  How does Aspiration mobile deposit work?
  You can deposit your checks via mobile deposit by taking a picture of both sides of the check. You must make sure that you endorsed the check and that you write "For Mobile Deposit" underneath your signature.
  

• Aspiration Impact Measurement score: You get a score that shows you your personal impact on the Earth based on the vendors you shopped with.

• Socially-conscious saving: Your deposits do not go towards Capitol Hill lobbyists or fossil fuel projects that harm the planet.

Aspiration Investment Services

The other part of Aspiration is an investment service. The goal is to open more complex investment options and strategies to the average investor.

Aspiration offers 2 professionally managed mutual funds.

• Flagship Fund. This fund aims to provide long term growth while reducing the impact of the volatility of the stock market. This fund is made up of funds with different strategies that had the best performance even when the market is down.

• Redwood Fund. This is Aspiration's completely fossil fuel-free fund. This fund invests in companies that care about sustainability, diversity, and good environmental practices.

Aspiration charges no fees for their mutual funds, except for operating fees paid to 3rd parties. But these are capped at 0.5% of your assets. Aspiration will cover anything over that.

Reasons We Like Aspiration

• Only $10 to open an account. Many big banks require you to have a large opening balance. Aspiration only requires $10 to open the Spend & Save Account, and there is no monthly balance requirement.

• Competitive interest rate. Aspiration offers a very competitive interest rate on Save balances. The APY is in line with those offered by top online banks.

• No ATM fees locally. Aspiration never charges you ATM fees for transactions within the Allpoint network, and will even reimburse fees charged by 3rd parties (up to 5 reimbursements per month). However, for ATMs overseas, there will be a 1% foreign transaction fee that cannot be waived.

• Pay what you feel is fair. They put you in charge of the service fee, even if it means $0. They feel that trust works both ways, so they let you be in the driver's seat. You can change the amount you pay as often as you want too.

• 10% is donated to charities. Aspiration commits to donate 10% of their earnings to charity. You can also make a donation yourself through their online giving platform. The charity categories include poverty, water, education, environment, health, and human rights. You can decide which cause you want to donate to, or to all of them.

• Link to a variety of third-party apps. You can link Aspiration to apps like Mint, PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay. You can link the external accounts just like you would any checking account.

• Socially-responsible investments. Aspiration's platform offers a socially responsible investment fund. Requiring only $10 to start, this opens up socially-responsible investing to everyone, instead of only to the wealthy.

• Charity donations and rewards for referrals. Every time you refer someone to Aspiration, and they sign up for an account, Aspiration will donate $25 to your charity of choice. They will also donate $25 to your friend's charity of choice once their account is open and in good standing for at least 10 days. Moreover, you and your friend can get $50 each when your friend opens an Aspiration Zero credit card and a Spend & Save account, as well as spend a minimum cumulative amount of $250 using the Aspiration debit card.

• Aspiration Impact Measurement score. This tells you how your own spending habits affect the environment. Aspiration bases your score on the impact the businesses you spend your money on have on the environment and the people.

Reasons You May Want to Look Elsewhere

• Online only. You won't find a physical branch anywhere. If you are the type who likes to conduct your banking in person or you want to see a "real" person before you make investments, you'll want to use a brokerage with physical branches.

  Counterpoint: If you want a banking service with physical branches, we recommend a Chase checking account. Chase has more than 16,000 ATMs and more than 4,700 locations.

  

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  • Chase Mobile^® app - Manage your accounts, deposit checks, transfer money and more -- all from your device.
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  • Available online nationwide except in Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. For branch locations, visit locator.chase.com.
  • Chase Overdraft Assist℠ - no overdraft fee if you're overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the business day or if you're overdrawn by more than $50 and bring your account balance to overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the next business day*

  *With Chase Overdraft Assist℠, we won't charge an Overdraft Fee if you're overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the business day OR if you're overdrawn by more than $50 and you bring your account balance to overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the next business day (you have until 11 PM ET (8 PM PT) to make a deposit or transfer). Chase Overdraft Assist does not require enrollment and comes with eligible Chase checking accounts.

• Limited investment options. You only have 2 funds to choose from. If you are looking for variety or have an interest in investing in a specific industry, you may not find it within Aspiration's available funds.

• Difficult to deposit cash. Aspiration does not offer ATM deposits, so you'll have to deposit the cash in an external account. You can then transfer the funds from your external account to your Aspiration account. This could take extra time and hassle just to deposit cash.

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• 4.85% APY with a balance of $5,000 or more
• 0.25% APY with a balance of less than $5,000
• $100 minimum opening deposit
• No monthly maintenance fee
• Member FDIC

How It Compares

Ally:
Ally is an online-only bank with a full range of services. In addition to checking and savings, Ally offers several flexible CD options. Ally offers high interest rates, 24/7 customer service, and more than 40,000 fee-free ATMs.

Chime:
You can open a checking account and get a "bonus" savings account with Chime. Their savings account is a micros savings account, as Chime offers the ability to round up your purchases and have the spare change deposited in your savings account. Chime has about 30,000 fee-free ATMs in their network.

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Bottom Line

If sustainable investing is important to you and/or you want banking products with a decent APY, Aspiration may be a viable choice. If you are looking for a traditional checking and savings account, though, you may want to look elsewhere. Aspiration is best for the environmentally-conscious investor.