The app-only challenger bank launched in the UK in September 2021 offering a current account paying 5% interest and cashback on everyday spending.

In March this year, it launched a market-leading easy access savings account paying 1.5% AER – the highest rate in two and a half years.

To date, it holds £8bn in customer deposits and has also processed approximately 20 million card and payment transactions.

And, it still leads the best buy table for the product category.

By contrast, competitor Marcus by Goldman Sachs saw 50,000 flock to its market-leading easy access account paying 1.5% two weeks after it launched in September 2018. It is believed customer numbers reached 500,000 by around April 2020.

At the start of the pandemic, it was inundated with customers opening accounts and was forced to pause applications to keep within a regulatory limit and to manage how quickly it grows. Since then, it made a number of cuts to its savings rates, though they have increased recently. Customers can currently earn 1.15% AER on its online savings account and 1.80% AER on its one-year fixed saver.

To date, it has 750,000 customers across its savings and ISA accounts.

Editor’s view

I’ve seen a number of deals where savers have had to act quickly before the top-paying deals disappeared.

For now, at least, Chase continues to offer the market-leading 1.5% easy access savings account.

I had savings with Marcus, but with this sum earning 1%, it made sense to me to switch to Chase based on the interest rate alone. While it does require you to open a current account, this doesn’t need to be your main account and so you don’t need to close your existing everyday banking product.

But, other aspects of Chase drew me in too – 5% on round-up spending, 1% cashback on debit card spending for the first year and it’s free to use abroad – including ATM withdrawals – which is a great accompaniment to my overseas purse.

I also liked the slick design of the card, that you could personalise it in the way your name is displayed, and the fact that your card details aren’t printed on the card. The account number, sort code and three-digit security code are all stored within the app. This is great for physical transactions, but does slow the online transactions a little. However, Chase has a ‘copy’ function so you can do this, and it doesn’t need you to log in every time you go back and forth for the details.

I’ve had the account just under a month and so far, I’m happy with it and haven’t had to contact Chase to help or resolve any issues.

It won’t be right for all, such as those with joint accounts or people requiring overdraft facilities, but for me, it hits the mark with my saving and spending habits.

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