Qapital Review: How Does This Savings App Stack Up?

I was recently updating a round-up of money-saving apps and tools when I came across Qapital. It’s an interesting new tool that could help you save more money than you ever thought possible.

So what is Qapital? How does it help you save? And is it worth checking out? Here are the details you need.

Qapital: IFTTT for Your Personal Finances

If you know much about technology these days, you’ve probably heard of IFTTT (if this, then that) formulas. For instance, Amazon’s Echo can use these formulas to perform various actions. But how does this play out when it comes to your money?

Maybe you’ve heard of services like Chime, which automatically “round up” your transactions. These services are sort of like a virtual change jar. When you spend $1.89, they’ll transfer $0.11 to a savings account. This is really helpful, since you can quickly save a lot of money (that you’d never otherwise miss) with your change.

Qapital takes that type of savings to a whole new level by letting you set your own savings parameters within its brand new checking account and savings accounts.

Basically, you can create your own IFTTT rules for savings. It’s a really cool concept that could play out really well for savers trying to get a leg up, and you can dedicate your money to specific rules.

IFTTT rules

As I noted above, Qapital lets you set your own savings rules. So you could use the standard round up to the nearest dollar rule, or you could check out some of its suggested rules, which include:

• $2 Round Up: Instead of rounding up to the nearest dollar, save a little more by rounding up to the nearest $2. So if you spend $2.50, you’ll actually save $1.50 instead of just $0.50. It’s a more powerful savings tool than a dollar round-up, but you still won’t be likely to miss the extra buck.
• Automatic Savings: You can have Qapital automatically transfer a set amount of money to a set goal on a certain day of the week or month.
• Spend Less Rule: Maybe you tend to spend $100 or more every time you venture into Target, like me. Because attractive end caps and irresistable sales! You can reward yourself for spending less than your average amount. Just tell Qapital that if you spend less than $100 in Target, to transfer the difference to a savings goal.
• Guilty Pleasure Rule: Are you prone to overspending on dining out or expensive frappes? Have Qapital transfer a set dollar amount to a savings goal each time you indulge.
• Reward Goals: Reward yourself with savings every time you check something off of your to-do list, hit the gym, or you get eight hours of sleep. Qapital actually syncs with other apps through an applet system, so you can save when you check in to a location, reach certain FitBit goals, or check items off your ToDoist list. You can even link your savings to the weather!

So, basically, the sky is the limit here. As Qapital gets more popular, it will likely offer more integrations. So you can set up savings rules for just about anything. This makes savings fun, and helps you reach your financial goals by reaching your personal goals.

Saving towards goals

One of the best things about Qapital is that it lets you save towards specific goals. Rather than lumping all your money into a single goal, you can devote money from each rule to a specific savings goals.

You can set up as many goals as you’d like, and you can set up goals for any amount. Maybe you want to save $300 for a new bike or $2,000 for a vacation. Either way, Qapital can help. Each of your rules will be assigned to a goal, or you can assign multiple goals to a single rule. In this case, the money gets divided between the goals evently.

With the combination of rules and goals, Qapital could be a powerful way to save a lot more money. You’ll be able to save money without thinking about it, so that you’re making use of those dollars rather than frittering them away mindlessly.

The Nitty Gritty Details

Now that you know the basics of what makes Qapital different, let’s talk about the nitty-gritty details. For one thing, know that Qapital has just at the beginning of August rolled out its own checking and savings account model. But you can still use the app to save money from your spending at your current bank.

Here’s what you need to know about both options:

The App

The Qapital App will still hook up with your existing bank account. I tried it just this morning! But it’s unclear if or how long that option will be available. For now, though, the app can hook up with your bank account, and it will transfer money according to the IFTTT rules into an FDIC-insured savings account. The money in your goals account will be available at any time, but will take up to two business days to transfer to your regular account for spending.

The app itself is free to use, which is always a good thing.

Pros: It’s nice that for now, you don’t have to open a new account to use Qapital. However, it looks like this option will be deprecated as the company rolls out its updated option.

Cons: It doesn’t hook up with every bank account. My family currently uses a regional bank, and our accounts have two-factor authentication to sign in. Something about this makes Qapital have a hard time signing in. I contacted support about the issue. They were responsive very quickly, but apparently are still working on this particular problem.

The Bank Account

As I noted above, Qapital’s bank account option is relatively new. And they’ve promised even more new features over the next year, so it’ll be changing a lot in the coming months.

Right now, though, you can open a checking and savings account with Qapital for free. The accounts come with a chip-enabled debit card by Visa, also for free. True to its original intent, Qapital also allows you to save for your goals within your savings account, which is free, as well.

Here’s what else the account offers:

• No overdraft fees
• No minimum deposit fees
• Free direct deposit
• Fraud monitoring
• No negative balance fees
• Check-sending options
• FDIC-insured
• Earn interest on your accounts
• No opening deposit required

And then, of course, you can still use the Qapital app to set up your savings rules towards specific goals. Qapital will use your rules to transfer money to your goal accounts, so you can still track multiple savings goals.

The Bottom Line

At its core, Qapital offers a great way to automate more savings, based on your current behavior. If you’re on the lookout for a new bank account or a new way to save, you might check it out.

Just be warned that the banking account portion of Qapital is really new. It’s FDIC-insured, which will give you some peace of mind. But if you sign up right now, you’ll be along for the ride as the company works out any kinks in this newer offering.

With that said, customers who have used the older app seem happy. And I, myself, got a prompt and helpful response from customer service when I contacted them. So this could be the new way to save you’ve been looking for!

Topics: Banking

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