Spiral Review
Spiral is a neobank that wants to bring people, charities, and banking together to create a better world. With no minimum balance or monthly fees, you can earn 15x the national average on savings with a 0.40% APY along with up to $135 per year in cash bonuses. But the true killer feature is the built-in giving account that matches donations up to $150 per year.
Let's take a closer look at Spiral's account features and whether it's the right fit to reach your impact goals.
Who is Spiral?
Serial entrepreneurs Shawn Melamed and Dan Blumenfeld co-founded Spiral after working at Morgan Stanley, Thomson Reuters, and other large financial institutions and tech companies. They raised over $14 million in funding and built a fun and easy-to-use checking and savings account that betters the world and offers unparalleled transparency.
Spiral's main features include:
- Manage all of your giving from a single account. Search and donate to over one million charities by making one-time or monthly gifts. Spiral matches up to $150 per year in donations and provides a year-end receipt to help with your taxes.
- Earn a 0.04% APY and up to $135 per year in cash bonuses based on your monthly account balance. These cash bonuses range from $0.75 per month for a $1,000 balance to $11.25 per month for a $15,000 balance. You can also set goals and auto-transfers.
- Manage your finances with an easy-to-use mobile app and an attractive Spiral debit card. The app currently has a 4.7-star rating in the Apple App Store and provides all of the functionality you'd expect from a modern banking app.
In the future, the company plans to enable round-ups to support charity, introduce Spiral reward points, and enable you to track the impact of donations over time.
Why you might sign up
Spiral is an excellent way to manage donations. If you are an effective altruist or donate a lot to charity, the account provides an attractive match of up to $150 per year and an easy way to manage all of your monthly giving activities. You can even receive a year-end receipt to defend yourself in the event of an audit.
The neobank's app is also highly-rated and easy-to-use, especially compared to traditional banks. It's easy to see the status of your checking and savings accounts, access tax receipts for donations, and manage all of your finances in one place. The company also offers exceptional (human) customer service.
Why you might pass
Spiral's matching donations depend on your monthly direct deposit amounts. If you have no direct deposit, they will match donations up to $20 per year. To qualify for the maximum $150 per year match, you need $8,000 per month in direct deposits coming into the account. As a result, depending on your income, the match may not be an impactful feature.
The neobank also has a relatively low APY compared to other neobanks—although higher than the national average. And, the monthly cash bonuses depend on your minimum account balance. For example, if you have less than $6,000 in the account, you're earning less than $5.00 per month in cash bonuses—and the maximum requires a $15,000 balance.
Finally, Spiral doesn't have an ATM network, so you will have to pay a transaction fee each time. These transaction fees can quickly add up over time if you regularly use ATMs.
The bottom line
Spiral doesn't pay the highest APY on our list, but we give it four stars because it serves a unique purpose. Namely, it's an excellent way to manage your charitable donations, match giving up to a certain amount, and still earn a bit of interest and cash bonuses along the way. And upgrades on the way could make it even more compelling.
Overall Rating
4out of 5 stars
Highlights
- Automatically round up each debit card transaction to the nearest dollar to support charity.
- Spiral matches your donations up to $150 per year—doubling your impact.
- Easily track your charitable contributions in one place to make tax time easier.
Details
- APY
- 0.04%
- Bonus
- $50.00