Plum Savings App Review

Plum Savings App Review 2021 – Is it worth it?

2240 1260 Great Deals Made Easy

Saving your money manually each month involves a huge amount of self discipline and organisation, that’s why most people often don’t. But help is on hand with automatic saving Apps like Plum, so I thought I’d check it out. In this article, I review the new FinTech saving App Plum, covering who Plum are, an overview of their features, my experience of Plum and then a final review rating, to see if is worth you joining.

What is Plum?

Plum is essentially a savings tool which uses an algorithm to work out how much you can afford to save, moving the sum automatically into a ‘savings’ account. It is a free AI Assistant that helps customers set more money aside, invest in things that matter and reduce their monthly bills. Plum builds a complete picture of your finances to save you money, help you budget and set your money aside.

It is still a relatively new company, started in 2016, but now Plum now has over 1 Million customers who score the app a 4.5 out of 5 on Trust Pilot.

Is Plum free?

Yes, it is, but there are also paid subscription versions. I’ve just signed up for the free service, this includes access to the “Primary Pocket” essentially a place you can put your spare change (collecting no interest) and a low interest pocket called the Basic Easy Access Savings account includes a 0.25 % AER (as of February 2021).

You can earn a higher interest of 0.40% AER on your savings, but this is on the Plum paid subscriptions, with Plum Pro/Plus accounts, charging up to £2.99 a month.

What are Plum’s good features

Plum Savings App Review 2021 - Is it worth it? Great Deals Made Easy
Save money automatically with Plum

You can automate your savings
This is their key feature, using Plum’s AI, you can put away money rarely or regularly (you are in charge), avoiding the hassle of doing it yourself. Withdrawing your actual money from Plum back to a personal bank account only takes a mere 5 minutes.

You can find lost money
Plum checks if you are overpaying on bills and also shows you your regular outgoings. Very useful if you forgot about a direct debit or are overspending on take aways, without realising.

Plum analyses your spending
Another interesting feature is the total overview of regular payments and expenses to boost your budget. This shows patterns in your spending over the year.

Earn interest on your Plum savings
You can now earn 0.25% interest on your savings on the free account. This account is covered by FSCS protection (up to £85,000). Unlike the money stored in the Primary Pocket, which can be withdrawn to your bank almost immediately (5 minutes). With the interest account, you must give notice of 1 working day when you want to withdraw money from an Easy Access Interest Pocket. The interest rates are calculated daily but apply to your account monthly. These Easy Access Accounts are offer via Investec Bank and they can change the interest rate up or down. You can also invest these savings in a variety of funds (I’ve stuck with just the free account) – remember that when you choose to invest your money your capital is at risk.

Plum’s saving goals

Plum offers lots of goal types:

-A rainy day saving rule – Whenever it rains, Plum will save your money (Plum Pro)
-52 weeks saving challenge – Each week you save one more pound than the previous week, eventually leading to £1,378 at the end of the year (Plum Pro)
-Cashback rewards – Shopping with some brands you like through Plum, you can get up to 11% cashback (Plum Pro)
-Paydays – As soon as you get paid, you can save a chunk of change.

Plum’s good areas

-No hassle automatic saving
-Plum offers a referral scheme,
-It is free to use
-Get £25 in your savings when you refer 3 people
-Earn interest of 0.25% AER (fairly competitive in today’s market)
-You can switch and save money on bills
-You can set your self saving goals and analyse your spending

Plum’s not so good areas

-The 0.25% interest rate can be bettered with easy access accounts elsewhere (up to 0.65%). Plum does take hassle out of manually transferring money, by controlling transfers from your App
-There is a data lag of approx 24 hours, so it can take time to see same day purchases
-Access to money (in Interest Pockets) isn’t  withdrawable instantly can take up to 24 hours

GreatDealsMadeEasy rating of Plum

8/10 is the rating.

Overall, The Plum smart money management App is an easy & innovative way to put money aside without having to manually make a transfer. It is free to use, offers 0.25% interest rates and helps you analyse your spending. I’d say it is definitely worth joining up.  Please use this link to benefit from all described above. *If you sign up, I will get a small commission from Plum.

Hope these savings tips were useful. For even more tips, read the top 20 saving tips for 2020. Other useful posts include  how to start an emergency fund online in the UK, ideas on how to earn money from home in the UK, a guide to ethical shopping in the UK. GreatDealsMadeEasy tip – Check out Octopus Energy for a balance between value, customer service and ethical ratings.

If you are keen on lowering your Broadband monthly contract, check out GreatDealsMadeEasy’s comparison sites for Broadband. Finally have a free coffeefree beer and free pizza on me!

William Pointing

I enjoy watching comedy, learning about new digital marketing trends, helping people generally (including saving money) and completing sport challenges (This year I plan on cycling to Paris from London).

All stories by:William Pointing
Leave a Reply

William Pointing

I enjoy watching comedy, learning about new digital marketing trends, helping people generally (including saving money) and completing sport challenges (This year I plan on cycling to Paris from London).

All stories by:William Pointing
Follow Me
Privacy Preferences

When you visit our website, it may store information through your browser from specific services, usually in the form of cookies. Here you can change your Privacy preferences. It is worth noting that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our website and the services we are able to offer.

Click to enable/disable Google Analytics tracking code.
Click to enable/disable Google Fonts.
Click to enable/disable Google Maps.
Click to enable/disable video embeds.
Our website uses cookies, mainly from 3rd party services. Define your Privacy Preferences and/or agree to our use of cookies.