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Aspiration bank is an online banking institution with headquarters in California. Founded in 2013, the bank brands itself as a socially-conscious bank. This means the bank doesn’t use its customer’s deposits to fund oil pipelines or contribute to political campaigns.
Aspiration bank also donates 10% of its income generated from customers fees to charities that help struggling Americans build a better life.
If what you’ve read so far about Aspiration sounds impressive, hold on to your hats because you’re about to be blown away.
Benefits Aspiration Bank Offers
- You decide the fee you want to pay (including paying $0)
- Fee-free ATM use (including internationally)
- Cashback on every purchase
- Social and environmentally conscious business practices
- Aspiration donates 10% of earnings to charity
Products Aspiration Bank Offers
- Checking and Savings Account
- Investment Accounts
- IRA Retirement Accounts
Pros And Cons Of Aspiration Bank
Pros
- 1% APY on Savings Account
- Access to investment Accounts
- IRA Accounts
- $0 monthly fees or pay anything
- Free identity fraud protection
- Free cell phone insurance
- Environmentally conscious bank
- Donates 10% of earnings from fees to charity
- Zero fee ATM
- Up to 10% cashback
Cons
- Aspiration does not have physical branches
- Limited variety of investment products
- No money market or CD accounts
- Monthly $1000 minimum deposit required for 2% APY
- Aspiration Bank is relatively new and inexperienced
Aspiration Spend And Save Accounts
The Aspiration checking and savings accounts, also called, “Spend And Save” accounts, comes loaded with many perks; most of which we are going to list below. You can choose to open an account with Aspiration for any of the below-listed reasons.
1% APY For Aspiration Savings Account
How many banks do you know pay a 1% APY? No major bank that I know pays that much. In fact, a 1% APY is more than 25 times the national average.
Aspiration can offer this rate because it doesn’t maintain physical brick and mortar branches. It costs a lot of money to operate physical branches– especially when you factor in rent for office spaces, salary for employees, furniture, equipment, office supplies, etc.
Because Aspiration only runs an online bank, it doesn’t have to worry about the expenses that come with running physical locations. That’s a lot of savings that the bank has decided to pass on to its customers by offering them an exponentially higher APY.
Cashback debit card
Aspiration “Spend” account, also referred to as a checking account, comes equipped with a cashback debit card. You get to earn at least 1% — and up to 10% — in cashback purchases made using your debit card.
The major banks do not give cash back on debit cards, Aspiration does. If you care about cashback on debit card transactions, Aspiration bank is the bank for you.
Free ATM Use
Aspiration also charges $0 for ATM use, both in the United States and Internationally. Most banks will charge a fee if you use your debit card at ATMs that are not theirs. They’ll even charge more if you use your debit card at an ATM overseas. Aspiration Bank does not charge a single fee for any ATM use, locally or internationally.
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Zero In Monthly Bank Fees
Aspiration also lets customers decide what’s fair to pay them in terms of monthly bank fees. A customer can choose to pay $100 a month or nothing at all. While many online-only banks charge zero in monthly fees, none of them gives customers the option to pay whatever they want.
If having a free bank account is something important to you, then Aspiration Bank is the bank for you.
Social And Environmentally Conscious Business Practices
If you are concerned about the environment and social causes, you can’t go wrong with Aspiration Bank.
Aspiration Bank does not fund fossil fuels or related projects. The Bank also donates 10% of its earnings to charitable causes. How can you ever go wrong with that?
Free Identity Fraud Protection
Aspiration Bank, along with MasterCard, will reimburse you $1,000 for losses resulting from identity theft. The bank will also place alerts on your credit file with the three major credit bureau. These “alerts” will notify you of suspicious entries to your credit file.
Free Mobile Phone Insurance Coverage
How would you like to get a new phone if your current phone gets missing? Losing a phone is very common, and it happens to the best of us. With Aspiration, you wouldn’t have to pull out your credit card when you lose your phone.
That’s because one of the perks of banking with Aspiration Bank is receiving free insurance coverage for your mobile phone. If your phone gets lost, inform Aspiration, and they will reimburse you up to $1000.
All you need to do to qualify for this coverage is to use your Aspiration card to pay your monthly phone bills, simple.
Aspiration Investment Account
$10 To Open An Account
Do you want to invest in the stock market? Do you have $10? Yes, ten dollars! With just $10, you can open an investment account with Aspiration bank.
Like the “Spend and Save” account, you can decide what’s fair to pay Aspiration in terms of fees and commissions.
$0 Fee Investment Accounts
Most investment brokerage firms charge a fee for placing trades. With Aspiration — just like its checking account — you get to decide what’s fair to pay for investing. You can choose to pay zero, and that will be okay.
Aspiration Investment account is suitable for people who are averse to paying fees for trades. Other than a concern for paying fees, there aren’t any advantages to using Aspiration for investing in the stock market.
Aspiration platform is a reliable, no-frills platform. However, many other investment platforms do a better job than Aspiration when it comes to investing.
Free Financial Advisors
Aspiration also serves as a personal financial advisor for clients with at least $100 in their investment account.
How better can you have it — An investment account with potentially free personal financial advisors? If you have a preference for basic investment services, Aspiration is right for you.
Related:
Aspiration IRA Retirement Account
An IRA (individual retirement account), just like the name suggests, is a retirement account you set up at a financial institution.
Aspiration offers IRA accounts to people looking to organize their finances for a comfortable retirement in the future. All you need to open an IRA account is $10. Read more about Aspiration IRA accounts here
Conclusion
Established only in 2013, Aspiration Bank is a relatively new bank with limited experience on the national scene.
Though the bank is relatively young, it fills a specific niche in catering to customers in need of a financial institution that supports social and environmental causes.
Aspiration Bank also appeals to young people in need of essential financial services devoid of exorbitant fees and commissions. The Bank is relatively free and offers 25 times the APY offered by traditional brick and mortar banks.
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Get A Free Online Bank Account
 | Convenient online bank that offers full service account. |
 | Fees-free full service bank that pays 0.9% APY. |
 | An evironmentally friendly bank that pays up to 1% APY. |
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