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We’ve put together a list of the best money saving apps in the UK. These include a range of open banking savings apps that round up and save your spare change and payment cards that enable you to save money through fair exchange rates, free ATM withdrawals and more.
All the apps listed here are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and available on Android and iOS.
Compare the best money saving apps in the UK:
Kroo is a new fully-licensed UK bank offering an exciting current account that pays customers interest like a savings app. With Kroo, customers can earn a competitive interest rate on the balance in their current account up to £85,000. Customers can also access 24.9% EAR/APR on overdrafts, manage bill splitting and group expenses seamlessly in-app, take advantage of zero fees on purchases at home or abroad, enjoy speaking directly to a UK-based customer support team and stay on top of their money with up-to-date notifications, spare change round-ups, expense categorisation and real-time budgeting. Kroo has ambitious plans to plant one million trees in 2023, so it currently plants two trees for every new customer that joins the app.
The Kroo app is free to download on Android and iOS. There are no monthly fees with Kroo, so it can serve as a great savings app for UK residents looking for interest on savings.
Raisin UK is a free, easy-to-use savings account marketplace that connects you with a range of banks offering deposit-protected savings accounts with competitive, high street-beating interest rates. With Raisin, you can apply to open as many savings accounts as you like and manage everything under one roof, with no fees. Once registered, you can choose from the wide range of savings accounts on offer without having to fill out a new application form each time you want to open a new savings account.
Raisin UK customers can select from several easy access savings accounts, notice accounts and fixed rate bonds.
Plum calculates how much you can afford to set aside and automatically saves it for you. The app gives you an overview of your finances and analyses your spending to help you keep track of your money. Plum also identifies if you're overpaying on bills and can switch you to a better supplier automatically to help you save extra. If you feel the app is putting away too much or too little, you can always adjust the save amount. You can also withdraw your money from the app whenever you want. Plum has some fun deposit features such as Round Ups, Pay Days, 52-Week Saving Challenge, and Rainy Day Savings Rule.
If you're interested in automatic investments or want to earn interest on your savings, Plum Plus or Plum Pro might be for you.
Revolut is a personal finance and money management app that allows you to budget, save, invest and withdraw your cash instantly. With Revolut, you can fund your account with one-off transfers to fund as you go or make it effortless with scheduled deposits and spare change round-ups. With the round-up feature, Revolut rounds up your card transactions to the nearest pound and saves the difference. Money deposited in Revolut Savings Vaults is protected by the FSCS up to £85,000 and deposited with a trusted partner bank. Revolut also allows you to stash your cash in 30+ currencies, including cryptocurrencies and commodities, and you can get 1% cashback stored with your Vaults when you upgrade to Revolut Metal.
It’s free to start saving with Revolut. However, to access more advanced features and cashback, you need to upgrade to Plus, Premium or Metal for £2.99/month, £6.99/month and £12.99/month, respectively.
Moneybox's Round Up feature allows you to save spare change by rounding up your card transactions to the nearest pound and saving the difference. (e.g. if you spend £2.30 on a coffee, Moneybox automatically saves 70p for you). You can choose to save your money in either a 45-Day Notice Account or a 95-Day Notice Account. If you want to take a break from saving or feel the app is putting away too much, you can always turn off Round Ups. You can withdraw your money from the app once a month.
Moneybox also offers automatic investments.
Monese allows you to save money in two ways - savings pots and interest accounts. Saving pots are a great way to put money aside, keeping it separate from your main account, but you do not earn interest on them. You can create pots in multiple currencies and withdraw money from them whenever you like. You can also round up your spare change and save the difference into up to 10 different pots per account. If you’re looking for a savings account with interest, Monese has a marketplace partnership with Raisin that allows you to open interest-bearing accounts. These interest accounts have FSCS protection, so you can rest assured that your savings are protected. All you need to open a Monese account is your ID and a selfie photo. No credit checks are required.
Monese also offers travel money, international money transfers and multi-currency accounts.
Monzo Bank has a Savings Marketplace within the Monzo app where you can pick from an ever-growing number of providers and competitive interest rates to suit your savings goals. With the Monzo app, you can set savings goals, round up your spare change and automatically save the difference into a savings pot.
Currensea allows you to save money on FX fees when travelling abroad with your Currensea card. Depending on your chosen Currensea plan, you can save anywhere from 85% to 100% on FX fees worldwide. Currensea conveniently connects to your bank account through Open Banking without the need to prepay, top-up or create a new bank account when you sign up for a card. Each Currensea plan offers fee-free ATM withdrawals of up to £500 per month, and £750 per month for Elite members.
Starling Bank’s "Saving Spaces" feature works as a virtual piggy bank, allowing you to set saving goals and set money aside from your main balance. You can personalise your Saving Space with an image and title to help incentivise your savings and use the Round Ups feature to put your spare change into a space of your choice. You’ll still earn interest on your savings up to the applicable account limits.
Money saving apps offer a variety of features and perks that can help increase your savings and improve your spending habits overall. These will depend on the type of saving apps you wish to use.
Automatic savings apps help you save spare change by regularly moving small amounts of money into a separate savings account or rounding up your purchases and automatically saving the difference, whilst payment cards offer a number of benefits, including fair FX rates, fee-free foreign ATM withdrawals and more.
Most money saving apps will require you to link to your bank account so that you can easily access your funds when setting saving goals, putting money aside or making payments and withdrawals abroad.
Here are some of the best ways to save money:
Here are our top tips to help you stop spending on unnecessary things:
Here are the advantages of money saving apps:
Here are the disadvantages of money saving apps:
Money saving apps can be great tools to help improve both your spending and saving habits.
These apps offer many useful features, including automatic savings, round-ups, spare change savings, goal setting, bill splitting, spending insights, utility switching and competitive interest rates.
These tools help you save regularly, reduce your spending and identify areas where you can save more.
Here are the best apps that round up your money in the UK:
You should save at least 10 - 20% of your earnings each month per the 50-30-20 budgeting rule, which suggests spending 50% of your income on Needs, 30% on Wants and 20% on Savings and Extra Debt.
It is important to keep in mind that the 50-30-20 budgeting rule is merely a guide. We all have varied circumstances and saving goals, so adjusting these percentages to make them more realistic and personal to you is still a great way to stick to a specific spending limit and saving plan each month.
Yes, all the money saving apps listed on Koody are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Yes, money saving apps are safe. They are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA); some even have the £85,000 Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) protection.
Banks such as Barclays and HSBC are required to have FSCS protection, which means that if you bank with them and they go out of business, you can get your money back up to £85,000 per person per financial institution.
Money saving apps are quite different. They only have FSCS protection on the money you keep in a standard savings account with them, not in an e-wallet or electronic money account.
This does not mean your money in an e-wallet is not protected. Instead of the FSCS protection, your money is held in a bank account ring-fenced from their operating cash, typically with a big bank such as Barclays or HSBC. Should the money saving app go bust, your money will be protected since it is held separately from the firm’s own money.
Apart from FSCS protection, these apps also claim to use the same encryption technology as all major banks to protect your personal information. Additionally, since they are regulated by the FCA, you can rest assured that their activities are monitored by the financial watchdog.
Here are the best apps for saving money in the UK:
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