Are you looking to do more charitable giving and could use a digital banking account to
help you do so?
Well in this video we’re going to take a look at Spiral and how it might assist you
in that goal.
A few months ago, I came across a banking app called Spiral, which puts an emphasis
on “making the world a better place.”
After testing out the app through the beta, it is now available in the iOS App Store and
is coming soon to Android So, what is Spiral all about?
Let’s take a look at what you should know about the account.
The first thing to know about Spiral is that it offers both savings and checking accounts
along with a visa debit card
When you sign up for Spiral, you’ll be opening a checking account that comes complete with
a Visa debit card.
However, you can then easily open a savings account as well.
Both of these accounts are actually held at NBKC, which is an FDIC insured bank.
Not only can you easily transfer funds to either your checking or savings from a linked
external bank account but can also instantly move money between your Spiral accounts.
Although, speaking of external accounts, you can only link one at a time and apparently
need to contact Spiral if you want to switch it out.
In addition to these standards account, you’ll also have a Giving account, which we’ll
cover more in the next section.
With Spiral, you can automatically set money aside for charitable giving or even set up
recurring donations to your favorite organizations
On the Giving tab of Spiral, you can browse various featured charities across a number
of categories and learn a bit more about each one.
Then, when you find one you want to support, you can tap the “give to this charity”
button to set up a one-time or recurring donation.
Alternatively, you can also use the search function to find any U.S. non-profit you want
to support via Spiral.
By the way, if you want to give anonymously, you can deselect the check mark authorizing
Spiral to provide your name to the charity.
As mentioned, you can arrange to make monthly donations to a charity by selecting the amount
you want to give.
However, if you’re not ready to take on that commitment or want to spread the love
around more, you can instead just earmark funds to be placed in your Giving account.
For example, you can choose a percentage of each deposit you make to be set aside.
Plus, a more recent feature now allow you to round-up the purchases you make with your
Spiral debit card to the nearest dollar and have the spare change deposited into your
Giving account.
To make your donations go even further, Spiral will match you up to a certain dollar amount,
with this matching limit climbing as you meet certain criteria
Just for being a Spiral customer, the app will match the charitable donations you make
up to $20 per year.
However, that cap is raised for customers who regularly deposit funds into their account.
As this chart shows, those who make recurring direct deposits or ACH transfers into their
checking or savings accounts can unlock matching donations of up to $150 per year.
But, that will require recurring deposits of $8,000 a month, so I don’t see too many
people hitting that limit.
Nevertheless, it’s a nice bonus perk for users and for non-profits alike.
Finally, Spiral customers can also earn some interest on their savings by default but can
also earn cash bonuses based on their balance and deposits
Funds held in your Spiral savings account currently earn 0.07% APY — which is just
a hair above the national average.
But, the app does also offer what they call cash bonuses to those who meet certain criteria.
At this time, those who direct deposit or set recurring transfers of at least $1,000
a month and hold a minimum balance of at least $1,000 throughout the month will be eligible
for some cash bonus, with the smallest bonus starting at 70¢ a month and climbing to $10.50
a month for those who hold balances of $15,000 or more.
Doing the math, this perk maxes out at $126 per year - which isn’t terrible.
Still, it is below an effective 1% APY, so there may be better options available.
Overall, I really like how Spiral has helped me prioritize charitable giving and think
that the platform shows some interesting potential
One of my goals this year was to be more giving — and Spiral’s interface has made it easier
for me to do that.
In fact, shortly after I made my first donation through the app, I got a letter in the mail
from the non-profit thanking me for my contribution.
Thus, I’m satisfied to say that Spiral really does work as intended.
As for the banking elements of Spiral, while they fit the bill for a digital secondary
account, I’m not sure it’s worth trying to make them a primary account or holding
large amounts of cash with them — even if you are trying to chase those cash bonuses.
That said, I’m excited to see how Spiral expands their platform and could see it being
an even better charitable giving platform in the future.
Hopefully this gives you a better idea about what Spiral is all about, but for much more
on the account, I’ll have a link to my full written review in the description box down
below
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So thanks again for watching and I’ll see you next time here on Money@30.