5 Convenient Ways to Put Money on Your Chime Card (2023)

Written By Branson Knowles

With Chime’s low fees, quick transfer speeds, vast ATM network, and Chime Card, it’s no wonder why the popular online banking app has so many customers. Their customers do wonder, though, how they can put money on the Chime Card.

Chime users have 5 easy ways to load up their Chime Cards:

There are more than enough ways to get a Chime Card loaded up. While some online-only banks have an issue giving their customers a way to deposit cash, Chime circumvents this by partnering with a huge network of everyday pharmacies and grocery stores for you to deposit at.

You can also switch over your payday direct deposits into your Chime account, saving you from having to take your payroll check to a bank. If you don’t want your employer to deposit your checks for you, you can always take a picture of them as well. 

While Chime does offer a myriad of bank-related services, they’re also a transfer platform, giving you an easy way to get funds into your account. Your friends can send you funds, and you can send them right back, all for free.

Lastly, one of the simplest ways to put money into your Chime account is to transfer funds from a linked bank account. Transfers are free, secure, and safe, and don’t take too many business days to leave your bank’s checking and enter your Chime account.

How to Put Money on Chime Card by Depositing Cash

Most online banks and fintech companies have a problem whenever one of their customers wants to deposit cash. As online banks, they don’t have the same network of physical branches as traditional banks do. Even if they were to build a branch in New York, their Florida customers would miss out.

Fintech companies solve this problem not by adding their own physical locations but by partnering with stores that already have them. Chime partners with Walgreens, 7-Eleven, Dollar General, and more to give their customers a huge base of places that can take their cash.

If you’re a Chime user with some cash, looking to get it loaded onto your Chime Card, you have plenty of options. While a lot of different stores will take your cash deposit, only one will take it without a fee.

Walgreens is the only store Chime partners with that will give their customers free cash deposits. CVS, Family Dollar, and other stores in Chime’s network will still take your deposit, but they may have their own fee for doing so.

If you’re looking for one of these physical locations and want to make sure they accept Chime deposits, Chime provides a map within their app. To find it, open up the Chime app and head to the Move Money tab on the bottom of the screen.

chime move money

From there, Chime will ask for permission to have access to your location.

If you allow them to have it, they’ll pull up stores that will accept Chime deposits in your area immediately.

If not, they’ll put your map to a default location, and you can type your location in yourself.

My Chime account took me to San Francisco, Chime’s headquarters, and showed me several CVS and Walgreens locations that could accept a Chime cash deposit. 

The list even had the distance between my location and every store on it, with the stores’ phone numbers, addresses, and closing times. Chime can even provide you with directions to get there. 

The fees for depositing are reasonable; my Chime app says a deposit at CVS would cost $4.95. $4.95 isn’t the most expensive of fees, but it is expensive enough to make me consider going to Walgreens for a free deposit instead.

When you walk into Walgreens to make your Chime cash deposits, they won’t just have a button connected to your account. You’ll have to tell the cashier you’d like to deposit into your Chime account and have a Chime card with you as well. 

Once you swipe your Chime card in the terminal, the cashier will be able to connect your deposit to your account. Swipe your card and hand over whatever cash you want to be deposited into your account. Remember, every account has a deposit limit. 

Chime only allows their customers to deposit so much in cash every day and every month.

If you want to deposit cash into your Chime account, you can deposit up to 5 times per day. You’re allowed a total of $1,000 in cash deposits per day with a monthly maximum of $10,000.

chime deposit cash

So long as you haven’t gone over your limit and your Chime card works, you should be able to deposit cash into your Chime account at any Walgreens, CVS, or 7-Eleven location.

You can use the Chime app to make sure the location accepts deposits before you head inside.

How to Put Money on Chime Card through Direct Deposit

I remember when I started my first job serving ice cream, I thought direct deposit was the best invention in the history of finance.

I hated going to the bank with my paycheck; there was always a line to talk to the tellers, and the ATMs weren’t any better.

One day, my boss asked me if I wanted to set up a direct deposit, and everything changed. Now, all of my paychecks went to my account automatically.

All I had to do was give my boss my routing and account numbers — Chime will let you do the exact same. 

Chime’s checking accounts allow their users to receive direct deposits, meaning you can get all of your paychecks sent straight to the finance app.

Most employers either need a direct deposit form or just your routing and account numbers to set up direct deposit.

Chime can give you both. When you first open an account with them, Chime will ask if setting up direct deposit is something you’re interested in.

If you say yes, they will automatically send you an email with a complete form with all your account information.

If you initially declined to want to enroll in direct deposit but changed your mind later, you can always get the form again.

Open the Chime app and head to the Move Money tab towards the bottom of the screen. 

From there, click Move Your Direct Deposit, and Chime will help you with the process.

chime move your direct deposit

They will give you both your account and routing number so that you can give them straight to your employer, or if your employer’s payday platform is connected with Chime, you can do the entire process yourself. 

Uber, DoorDash, and Walmart employees can all log into their employee websites and connect their pay to their Chime accounts themselves. They can skip sending the form to HR and begin paying themselves!

You can also find your Chime routing and account numbers in the settings portion of the app. Open the Chime app and click on the settings button.

It’s shaped like a cog and resides in the upper left hand corner of the app. 

chime set up direct deposit

Scroll down until you see your routing and account numbers. You can also view your deposit limits in this section as well.

Chime provides a lot of benefits to their users who get their direct deposit through the online banking app.

If you switch your direct deposit over, you can get:

  • Your paycheck up to 2 days early
  • Overdraft your account without any fees up to $200
  • And you can apply for Chime’s credit card.

How to Put Money on Chime Card through Depositing Paper Checks

While Chime isn’t a conventional bank like Wells Fargo or Chase Bank, they understand there are some perks to banking in person. Checks, for example, are usually hard to negotiate through an online bank as they need to be verified for legitimacy.

Chime combats this by allowing their customers to scan the front and the back of their checks directly into the Chime app. Chime then reviews the check, looking at the numeral and numeric dollar amounts, before approving the deposit and sending the funds to your account.

If you have a paper check, you can deposit it into your Chime account by opening the Chime app. There are some stipulations to depositing checks through Chime though. 

Chime has mobile deposit limits of $2,000 per non-U.S. treasury check and $5,000 per U.S. treasury checks.

You can deposit up to 10 checks per month as well.

In total, Chime’s mobile check deposit limit is $10,000 per month. 

As far as deposit times go, Chime requires at least 5 business days to hold, process, and review the check before they can release the funds to your account. They take their time to make sure the funds don’t bounce and the check is legitimate. 

chime mobile check deposit

The relatively long wait time may discourage potential users, but most mobile check deposits are treated the same way, regardless of the financial institution in question. 

I’m a Chase user, and even after more than five years of using their mobile deposit, my checks take at least 2-3 business days to process, and I’ve never had one of them bounce. 

If you’re looking to start using Chime’s mobile deposit, you should know that Chime first requires you to set up payroll direct deposit.

Once you’ve received a couple of your payroll checks electronically through Chime, you’ll be able to deposit other checks as well.

This process may take a while, as you have to wait for 2-3 payroll cycles to confirm the connection between your account and your payroll.

After the wait, though, you’ll be able to deposit whatever kind of checks you want into Chime just by taking a picture of them.

With the mobile deposit feature, you can manually enter the dollar amount of the check and then take pictures of the front and back.

Chime will let you know if the pictures you’ve taken are clear enough. If they aren’t you’re able to retake them. 

After about 5 business days, Chime will release the funds directly to your Chime card, and you can use them wherever Chime is accepted.

How to Put Money on Chime Card by Receiving a Transfer from Another Chime User

Chime’s transfer component is a large portion of the app. You can find other users on the app through their unique $Chime sign, similar to Cash App’s $Cashtag, their name, email, or phone number. 

One of Chime’s greatest claims is its ability to facilitate instant transfers to both Chime users and non-users alike.

Most P2P transfer apps will let you send your money to other users on the app instantly but have no way of sending it to non-users unless they sign up. 

Chime spins this by allowing you to send money to anyone so long as they have a valid debit card they can use to receive the funds.

Non Chime users have 14 days to claim their funds before the proposed transfer expires. 

chime pay anyone

Money sent from Chime user to Chime user moves instantly, making it a great way to send money to your friends or family if you ever need to pay them.

Once the balance is out of your account, it’s in theirs, ready to be used. 

How to Put Money on Chime Card by Transferring Money from Your Bank Account

This may be the easiest way to move money both into Chime and out of it.

If you have a linked bank account, like a checking account with Bank of America, you can deposit funds into Chime and withdraw them from the fintech app as well. 

Chime takes about three business days to process any transactions done with a bank account. The first couple may take more, up to five business days, as Chime works to verify their connection with your account. 

Transferring money is easy, and you can both move money into Chime and out of it from the Chime app.

All you have to do is open the Chime app, head to the Move Money tab towards the bottom of the screen, and click on “Transfer from other banks”.

chime transfer from other banks

Clicking on that button will prompt Chime to ask you to link an external account if you haven’t already. Chime uses Plaid to connect bank accounts to its platform.

If you’re unfamiliar, Plaid is one of the largest financial services companies that facilitate communication between companies like Chime and banks like Chase.

I say like in both instances because Plaid is a hugely popular company used by Cash App, Venmo, and more.

Plaid will allow you to log into your bank’s online platform to connect your accounts automatically. If you can’t log into your bank’s online platform or don’t want to, you can enter your account information manually.

Plaid and Chime will ask for your bank account number, routing number, and the name of the bank that holds your account. They may send a few trial deposits and withdrawals to make sure they have the right account.

Trial deposits may come in the form of a few deposits for less than a dollar, usually just a couple of cents.

After the small deposits have been made Chime will then withdraw them from your account, confirming they have the right one. 

Once the trial deposits have been made and your checking account has been successfully linked with Chime, you can use it to add funds to your Chime card anytime.

Remember, Chime takes anywhere between three to five business days to process transfers from banks.

About the Author

Lead Researcher, Digital Banking in the U.S. at TopMobileBanks

Branson Knowles is a former banker and current writer at TopMobileBanks.com.

During his years banking, he helped his clients discover their financial freedom through smart savings and spending goals. He started as a teller before becoming a banker and obtaining his federal licenses, furthering his clients' on their financial journeys.

After becoming one of the top producing bankers in the state, Branson decided it was time to pursue his own financial freedom. He started writing freelance finance articles before joining TopMobileBanks.com, breaking down banking like only an ex-banker could.

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