Debit Cards that are offered by fintech companies are often have lots of cool features. I have more than 10 debit cards and mobile only banks rock it. That is why when I heard about new debit card offered by well known HR Block I was eager to apply. I expected it would be similar to debit cards from other fintech companies like Chime and Current Bank.
My expectations were not realized. And, to be honest, the Spruce Debit Card is a massive disappointment. Even if you like HR Block, Spruce isn’t the right fit for you. Other debit cards and banks can provide you a variety of benefits. Let’s go over all of my complaints one by one.
Transfer money
You must be able to transfer money between a Spruce spending account and an external bank account using ACH transfer. In contrast, the only thing you can do is move money from other banks. You can pull money from an external bank account. Just link the bank and make the transfer. However, when you want to move money back to the external account you can’t. It looks like an attempt to retain disappointed customers from leaving. Hoping being unable to withdraw money they’ll stay.
Deposit paper check
You cannot deposit paper checks using the mobile check deposit feature. Spruce hasn’t implemented this functionality yet. Majority of other banks allow you to deposit checks this way.
You cannot send checks from your Spruce Account. Functionality for paying bills is not implemented yet. In the Spruce Mobile App it is show that Spruce plans this feature.
Why Spruce launched debit card without these essential features? Mobile Check Deposit and Send bills is a “Must Have” for any fintech application.
Deposit cash at the Register
It is great that Spruce Debit Card allows you to deposit cash at the register at retail locations. But even here Spruce managed to screw things up with a fee of up to $4.95 for each deposit. This fee depends on funds transfer providers like Vanilla.atRegister, GreenDot, Moneygram or Walmart. Each deposit is limited to $500 per deposit, $1,000 daily, and $9,500 monthly.
ATM withdrawals are free when you use Allpoint ATMs. If you use ATMs that are not in the Allpoint network, Spruce charges a $3 fee plus the ATM by itself can charge you a service fee. In contrast, other banks like Chime offer you Allpoint and MoneyPass networks free of charge. Charles Shwab Debit Card doesn’t charge you a fee at any ATM around the world and even provides rebates for the charges inquired by ATMs.
You can set up a direct deposit of your salary to your Spruce account. This way your paycheck should hit your balance the night before your payday. Here Spruce also failed my expectations. You can download a form for direct deposit or use routing number and account number to set it up manually. Other fintech apps like Chime allow you to set up direct deposit automatically using Atomic, which simplifies the process.
The Spruce Savings Account is miserable. Majority of fintech companies pay little interest like half percent every month. Some banks like Current Bank go as far as to pay 4% interest. Others, like Netspend, pay 5% if you receive a $1,000 direct deposit every month. Spruce pays no interest at all.
As a conclusion, having a Spruce Debit Card makes no sense to the majority of customers. It is too early to even consider, since its implementation is very raw.