Current is a relatively new fintech company that looks to serve the underbanked and unbanked. They offer great banking products and services at no cost at all, even sending you your own free debit card right after you open an account with them.
I like the Current banking app. The design is sleek, and the app is easy to navigate. Working for topmobilebanks.com, I’ve used a ton of different online banks and fintech companies, including Apple Pay, Cash App, Chime, Paypal, and Venmo.
The apps all try to do the same thing: offer great banking products and services for low to no cost at all. They then make their money off of transaction fees paid for by merchants whenever you swipe their apps’ card at checkout.
Current is no different. Like the other apps listed above, Current will also allow you to set up direct deposit with them, deposit checks right into your account, and transfer with other users instantly.
Where are they different? Does Current stand out from the competition?
I’ll be going over the most important features Current provides to an online bank user: how to add money, how to spend it, and the app’s overall ease of use to see if the Current digital banking app is worth downloading.
Is It Easy To Add Money to Current?
While fintech companies and online banks alike are taking the modern world of banking by storm, not every customer is convinced. Some see online-only banks without a physical location and are convinced they can’t fund their account easily. That isn’t true with Current.
While they may not have a physical branch, they don’t need one. They give their customers a lot of options when it comes to making a deposit in their account, and not all of them are online options too!
If you have a Current account and are looking to move some money into it, you have several different options. Current will let their customers deposit money in a couple of different ways:
Depositing Cash
Even though they’re an online banking app without any physical locations, Current can still accept your cash deposit. Open the app and head to the Money tab, the second of the five tabs at the bottom. From there, click Cash Deposits and ATMs.
Current will bring up a page with two options:
- one for you to find retail locations that will accept your cash deposit
- another for finding ATMs for you to grab cash from.
Find the retail store you want to go to and generate a unique barcode from the Current app that will connect the cashier to your Current account.
Once you hand them the cash, it will go straight into your Current account balance.
Depositing cash into your fintech account is an issue fintech companies have had to deal with since their inception.
While most traditional bank customers would head to their branch in person, they have to find a new way of depositing their cash when their bank doesn’t have branches at all.
Current, like the other fintech companies in its space, has found a solution through retailers.
Depositing Checks
If you get a check you may think there is no way to deposit it into your Current account. They don’t have tellers who can make the deposit for you and they don’t even have an ATM for you to go to either.
What they do have, however, is a great feature that will let you take pictures of the front and back of your check to make a deposit.
Again, this isn’t a feature new to Current. I was taking pictures of my checks with Chase Bank about ten years ago now.
But that doesn’t make it any less important.
If you have a check, Current has a way for you to get it into your account. They shouldn’t charge for a check deposit and they should be able to process the check and pay it out within a couple of business days.
Direct Deposit
If you get paid by an employer on a regular basis, you could be eligible for direct deposit. Current accepts direct deposits, giving you a neat form to hand to your employer with all of your information on it.
Current not only accepts direct deposits, but they also offer a lot of benefits to their customers who choose to enroll. If you get your direct deposit through Current, you could receive it up to two days early!
Current can communicate with your payroll company to see how much you’ll be getting and give it to you early.
Again, this is only possible if your direct deposit is going through Current.
Once you move your payday over to Current, you can even overdraft your account up to $200. They won’t charge you a single fee either, they’ll just decline your transactions once you hit the $200 ceiling.
Again, these aren’t unique benefits.
Almost every single fintech company offers these two exact bonuses, pay up to two days early and up to $200 in free overdrafts, so don’t let this be a deciding factor in your decision to choose an online bank.
Funding from an External Account
One of the easiest ways to fund any fintech account is through a linked bank account.
Transfers are usually free between the two and you can do the entire transaction from start to finish from your phone.
To link an account to Current, head to the Money tab and click Add and Move Money in the Money tab and Add a new bank to make your deposit.
Current uses Plaid to connect accounts to their service.
Plaid is used by almost every other fintech company to connect external accounts to their app.
The service is free, secure, popular as can be, and easy to use.
Find your bank on Plaid’s list and log into your bank’s mobile platform with your standard login and password. Plaid will take care of the rest.
Transfers from other Current users
The last way you can get money into your Current account is from a transfer from another Current user.
Transfers from Current user to Current user are fast, free, and secure. You can send money to each other in a matter of moments without ever paying a fee.
If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll probably be wondering if other fintech companies offer this same service, and you’d be right. They do.
Transferring between other users on the same platform is a staple of these fintech companies.
Current isn’t the first to do this, nor are they the best in this category. Chime is, and they allow you to both pay anyone on their platform and anyone outside of it, so long as they have an active debit card.
If you’re looking for ways to get money into your Current account, you have several.
It isn’t a strong spot for the fintech company as they’re just at the industry standard in a few areas and beneath it in a couple more.
How to Get Money Out of Current
Fintech apps also have the unique challenge of letting their customers use their balance without going to a physical location to get checks or cash.
Current combats this through a number of ways:
Current Debit Card
Right when you open your account with Current, they’ll send you a debit card.
Even if you don’t want one, or never request it, which is frustrating.
But it makes sense; Current doesn’t make their money from holding your balance and investing it like regular banks do, instead they make their money from transaction fees incurred by merchants every time you use your debit card to make a purchase.
And that’s exactly what you can do with your Current debit card, use it wherever Visa is accepted.
Transfer to Other Users
You can transfer to other Current users easily and quickly using the app.
Find your intended recipient using Current’s search bar, or allow Current to access your contacts and pay them directly. Transferring through Current is free and instantaneous.
Once you send the money, it will leave your account and reach your recipients in the same moment.
Transfer to a Linked Bank Account
Just like taking money from your bank account balance and adding it to Current, you can do the same going the opposite direction.
If you have a linked bank account, you can send money from your Current account to it for free.
It takes a couple of business days, so keep that in mind before making any transfers.
Withdraw Cash
This may come as a surprise to those of you who didn’t think you could get cash from an online bank.
While Current doesn’t have any physical locations, they have partnered with a network of ATMs so that their customers have the ability to grab cash wherever they need to.
Current has partnered with the Allpoint ATM network, letting their customers withdraw their cash for free at over 40,000 ATMs across the United States.
Current gives their customers a lot of options if they’re needing some money. They can grab cash from an ATM, use their debit card, or transfer the funds to their bank account.
Overall, Current is doing well in this category, especially because of their fee-free cash withdrawals.
Is Current’s App Easy to Use?
Working for topmobilebanks.com, I’ve used a lot of fintech apps. To be honest with you, there’s not a lot of difference between them.
Each fintech company offers an account without fees, a free debit card, and a useful transferring system.
Current is no different. They have everything everyone else has and make it work fairly well. Their app is very easy to use; it’s the exact same as every other fintech app so once you use one you’ve pretty much used them all.
Current’s app is divided into sections based on what you’re looking for. They have a Home section that will show you all of your balances between your Current accounts. They also have a Money section dedicated to any transactions you can complete on the app.
Current even has a handy ATM map on their app, letting their users know where they can go to get cash for free.
Overall, there isn’t anything wrong with Current’s banking app. There isn’t anything special either.
If you’re looking for a fintech company, they’ll do a good job for you.
If you’re looking for the best transfer app, I’d recommend Zelle. The best accounts are at Paypal as well.
How Safe is Money in Current Account?
I wouldn’t blame you for not being sure if your money is safe in an online bank account. They’re a dime a dozen these days so it’s hard to make sure you have the right one.
Current is one of these fintech companies, and their credibility and security are verified.
Current is backed by FDIC insurance, meaning that if they fail and lose all of their customers’ money, the federal government will step in and reimburse their customers up to $250,000, depending.
That’s the same insurance Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, and every other major financial institution in America have. Basically, your money is as safe with Current as it is with any major bank in the United States.
So, if you wish you can open a Current account in about 10 minutes.
