Aspiration Spend and Save Account Review

Aspiration (The Free Plan)

The free plan lets you decide what you want to pay. Aspiration called this “pay what is fair,” even if it is nothing. This plan has the following features:

• Deposits won't fund fossil fuel exploration or production
• 55,000 free in-network ATMs
• 3-5% cash back on Conscience Coalition purchases
• Personal impact score to help you shop to match your values
• Option to plant a tree with every swipe

Aspiration Plus (The Paid Plan)

The paid plan is $3.99/mo or pay $3.75/mo if you pay annually. The paid plan comes with fewer restrictions and more benefits.

• Deposits won't fund fossil fuel exploration or production
• 55,000 free in-network ATMs
• 10% cash back on Conscience Coalition purchases
• Personal impact score to help you shop to match your values
• Option to plant a tree with every swipe
• Up to 1.00% APY on your savings
• One out-of-network ATM reimbursement monthly

Is the extra $3.99/mo worth it? If you are able to spend a lot from the group of Conscience Coalition companies, the 10% cash back may make the plan worth it, speaking from a purely financial point of view.

The Plus plan does include carbon offset purchases. This means that Aspiration will buy carbon offsets to counter the climate impact of your gas purchases. That alone might be enough of a personal difference to push you into the paid plan.

Finally, the 1.00% APY does have some restrictions. To earn 1.00% APY interest on Aspiration Save Account balances up to and including $10,000.00 in any calendar month, customer must be enrolled in Aspiration Plus and spend $1,000 or more, monthly, with their Aspiration debit card. Balances over $10,000.00 will earn 0.10% APY. If the requirements are not met each month, the APY will be 0.25% on Save Account balances up to and including $10,000.00. Balances over $10,000.00 will earn 0.10% APY.

No Fees Where It Counts

When it comes to choosing where to put your money, you want to avoid as many fees as possible. In particular, you need to avoid monthly fees and overdraft fees.

The free Spend and Save account has no monthly fees and no overdraft fees.

In fact, it is one of the few banking products that has no international or domestic ATM fees. The Plus plan will even reimburse you up to once per month if the other bank charges you a fee for an ATM withdrawal. 

There are some fees to be aware of:

• Returned item fee (check or debit): $4.50
• Stop payment: $1.19
• Domestic wire in: $2.06
• Domestic wire out: $4.50

Is It Really Free?

The free Spend And Save plan really doesn’t charge you monthly services fees, but you can opt to pay a monthly fee for the account. Aspiration calls this “pay what is fair.” You can also pay the required monthly $3.99/mo fee for the Plus plan and get a few extra benefits.

However, Aspiration also has a charitable angle and pledges to give 10% of all profits to charitable causes, so you may want to pay for the free plan. The choice is yours.

With either plan, you can choose to plant a tree with every swipe.

Any Concerning Fine Print On The Spend and Save Account?

The main drawback to the Spend and Save Account from Aspiration is that it doesn’t have any branches. You can call them to get customer service, but you can’t walk into a branch.

This could prove to be a bit of an issue if you’re a baller who regularly gets large checks. Why? When you get a check over $5,000 you have to mail the check to Aspiration’s partner bank:

Coastal Community Bank, PO Box 2103, Everett, WA 98213.

The money won’t be available in your account until the physical check has been received and cleared.

Another possible issue with the Spend and Save Account is getting physical cash. Since you can’t go into a branch, you’re going to face certain limits. These include: 

• $5,000 per day external transfer limit
• $500 cash limit
• $2,000 PIN limit
• $2,000 signature-based limit

Usually, these limits won’t be a problem, but if you want to buy a used car using cash (for example), you might be hard-pressed to get what you need from your account.

You might have also noticed above that there are some limits on how much interest your account actually earns. If you have over $10,000 in your account, your APY drops significantly. We wouldn't recommend holding a lot of cash in the Aspiration Spend and Save account - you're better off using a high yield savings account.

Finally, deposits in your Aspiration account are FDIC Insured up to $2,46 million per depositor by being swept to FDIC Member institutions (visit https://www.fdic.gov for more on this). This is common practice for other cash management accounts like Fidelity or Schwab offer.

Final Take on Aspiration’s Spend and Save Account

Aspiration Spend and Save Features