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Chime Financial, Inc. is an American financial technology company headquartered at 101 California Street in San Francisco, California. It provides fee-free mobile banking services through partnerships with two national banks, Stride Bank and The Bancorp Bank, rather than holding a bank charter itself. Products delivered through its mobile application include checking and high-yield savings accounts, debit cards, peer-to-peer payments, short-term and pre-approved instant loans, an interest-free secured credit card, and federal and state tax filing.

The company's product set is built around giving customers earlier or cheaper access to their own liquidity. Early paycheck access advances funds based on ACH payment notifications rather than waiting for official settlement. SpotMe, launched in September 2019, permits overdrafts of up to $100 without a fee, declining further purchases once the limit is reached instead of charging penalties. Credit Builder, a credit-building card launched in June 2020, was retired in September 2025 and replaced by the Chime Card, a no-annual-fee secured credit card with cash-back rewards, no interest and no credit check. MyPay, launched in 2024, is an earned wage access product providing up to $500 of wages before payday with no mandatory fees or interest. Employers can offer these products to staff through the Chime Workplace program.

Chime operates without physical branches and does not charge monthly or overdraft fees or require an opening deposit or minimum balance. Accounts are available only to individuals, and FDIC insurance of up to $250,000 is provided through the partner banks rather than by Chime directly, meaning customers cannot appeal to banking regulators to retrieve deposits.

Founding story

Chime was founded in San Francisco in 2012 by Chris Britt and Ryan King as an alternative to traditional banking aimed at less affluent communities and people living paycheck to paycheck. Britt, previously at Visa and prepaid card company Green Dot, where he was VP of product, formed the insight that if consumers could be convinced to move their paychecks to a customer-centric fintech, interchange revenue from everyday spending would be sufficient to serve them profitably without relying on fees, penalties or high-interest loans. The company launched a minimal offering — software on top of existing bank infrastructure, a simple mobile app and issued cards — rather than becoming a bank.

Business model

Chime writes software on top of existing bank infrastructure and issues cards through partner banks (Stride Bank and The Bancorp Bank) instead of operating as a chartered bank itself. Customer funds are routed to a chartered bank, and services are delivered through a mobile app with no branch network. The company also distributes products to employees of partner employers through the Chime Workplace program.

Most revenue comes from interchange fees on debit card transactions rather than customer fees; the model rests on the premise that persuading customers to route their paychecks to the platform generates enough interchange from daily spending to serve them profitably without monthly, overdraft or penalty fees. Reported revenue was approximately $1.3 billion in 2023 and $2.2 billion in 2025, with net income of $45 million in 2025.

Traction

Chime reported 8 million account holders in February 2020. It took five years to reach one million customer accounts and had four million by 2019. By May 2024 the company reported 1,300 employees and 7 million customers, processing $8 billion of transactions monthly. Revenue was roughly $1.3 billion in 2023 and $2.2 billion in 2025.

Latest developments

In September 2025 Chime retired the Credit Builder card and launched the Chime Card, a no-annual-fee secured credit card with cash-back rewards, no interest and no credit check. In February 2026 it entered a multi-year partnership with Major League Soccer as the league's official retail banking, credit card and debit card partner, and in April 2026 it was named among Newsweek's "America's Most Trustworthy Companies" and ranked on Time100's "Most Influential Companies."