Fees, deposit insurance, and the practical differences behind the marketing.
"Fintech" and "bank" get used almost interchangeably in casual conversation, but they're structurally different things. Here's what that difference means for your money.
A chartered bank, like Bank of America, holds a banking license directly and can take deposits, make loans, and operate branches under its own charter. It's regulated directly as a bank by federal and state banking regulators.
Chime is a financial technology company — it builds the app, the card, and the customer experience, but the actual deposit-taking happens through partner banks (The Bancorp Bank, N.A. and Stride Bank, N.A. in Chime's case). This "bank-as-a-service" model is common across the neobank industry and lets fintechs move faster on product design without holding a banking charter themselves.
Not in the way people sometimes assume. Deposits are FDIC-insured up to standard limits through the partner bank, the same insurance framework that covers deposits at any FDIC-member bank. The insurance sits with the underlying bank partner rather than with the fintech's own brand name.
| Factor | Chartered Bank | Fintech / Neobank |
|---|---|---|
| Branches | Often yes | Rarely, if ever |
| Product range | Checking, savings, loans, mortgages, investing | Usually narrow — checking, savings, sometimes credit-building |
| Typical fees | Varies widely by bank | Often minimal or none |
| Support | Branch, phone, chat | App and chat only |
| Speed of iteration | Slower, larger organizations | Faster app updates and features |
If you want the widest range of products in one place — mortgages, investing, in-person service — a traditional bank still does more. If your priority is avoiding fees, getting paid a couple of days early, and building credit without a hard inquiry, a fintech like Chime is built specifically for that. Plenty of people run both: a fintech for everyday spending, and a traditional bank or brokerage for everything else.