The Two Minute Review
Cashplus has found itself a niche in helping people who can’t open an account elsewhere or have credit issues. Its CreditBuilder feature is a fairly unique proposition. Customer service is well rated too.
PROS
- 💳 CreditBuilder can help those in a tight spot.
- 🚪 A welcoming application process with no credit checks.
- ✈️ Currency cards help avoid charges when overseas.
CONS
- 🏦 No branches.
- 💸 There is, effectively, a monthly charge for CreditBuilder.
- 🪙 Accounts come with fees (we have included a table in the article).
Ranked #8 of 25 personal current accounts in the UK.
What The Experts Say
4.5*
“Cashplus is the only challenger that is specifically designed for those with a bad credit score to make positive improvements to their finances.”
“(T)he credit builder feature may have something in it for you if you have a bad credit score and want to improve it.”
What Users Say
4/5
Cashplus has a Trustpilot rating of 4 but here at The Grade we like to dig a bit further.
When you exclude reviews the company has itself invited and look just at organic reviews, the average score is actually 2.1. In terms of organic Trustpilot rating this means Cashplus is number 8 out of the 25 personal banks/current accounts we review.
4.8/5
At the last check, Smart Money People had collected 6,834 reviews which gave Cashplus an average score of 4.8 out of 5.
The Deepdive
Cashplus in a Nutshell?
Back in 2005, Cashplus launched as one of the first prepaid card providers in the UK. Its founder, Rich Wanger, was an American immigrant to the UK in the early 2000s and his frustration at setting up a bank account was the inspiration behind the company.
In 2021 it became it fully-fledged bank. It offers two current accounts – both of which are digital first. At the time of writing Cashplus has onboarded 1.6 million customers.
Its niche is that it helps people that other banks won’t – specifically those with bad credit.
Opening A Cashplus Account
You can set up a Cashplus account through their website.
Cashplus has put a lot of effort into making it easy to set up a bank account. Its CEO claims that you can open an account with speed and ease. By “speed”, he means under three minutes. By “ease”, he means that they can connect to other databases to help you prove you are who you say you are without too many onerous ID checks.
Unlike some other banks, there is no credit check as part of the signup process.
What Accounts Are Offered?
Cashplus offer “Freedom” and “Activeplus” accounts. Here are the charges for the account compared:
| Freedom | Activeplus | |
| Monthly fee | Free | £5.95 |
| Charge for first card | £5.95 | £9.95 |
| Charge for additional cards | £5.95 | £5.95 |
| Purchases in the UK | Free | Free |
| Purchases outside the UK | 2.99% or the amount spent or withdrawn | 2.99% or the amount spent or withdrawn |
| Payments send in app or online | 3 free monthly then £0.99 | 9 free monthly then £0.99 |
| Deposit by cash (have to be made at the Post Office) | 0.5% (min £3) | 0.5% (min £3) |
| Deposit by bank transfer | Free | Free |
| Direct Debits | Free | Free |
| ATM Charge | £2 UK, £3 Abroad | £0 UK, £3 Abroad |
Disappointingly, neither account is compatible with Google Pay or Apple Pay.
So why would you pay an extra monthly fee and UK ATM charges for the Activeplus account? The main reason is their CreditBuilder feature. This is essentially a “loan” of £71.40 from Cashplus to you. However, it is locked away and you cannot access it. Your monthly payment of £5.95 then pays this off monthly across the period of a year. This is reported to credit agencies which could result in your credit score going up.
CashPlus claims this loan doesn’t cost you money on top of your monthly fee. However, we don’t think the monthly fee would be worth it without this feature – so in effect you are paying money to increase your credit score.
However, if you are in a sticky situation with credit, we think this is a really clever solution.
A nice feature of both accounts is the ability to apply for a currency card in either Euros or Dollars to be sent to you. You can then load this up and pay locally in these currencies without FX charges, purchase fees or ATM withdrawal fees.
Apart from this, both accounts are FSCS protected meaning you get back your deposits up to £85,000 if the bank were to go bust. You can also pay money in money at the Post Office (for a charge), spend on a Mastercard contactless card and use their app for banking admin/payments. You can also apply for an overdraft on both accounts.
There is also a UK-based customer service line for which reviews are pretty favourable.
How Good is the App and Digital Banking?
The app is fine, though not the best out there. You can do the fundamentals like viewing your balance and transactions, moving money around, activating your card or locking it in the event it is lost or stolen. It doesn’t have the advanced budgeting options of some of the challenger banks.
User Comments
We spend hours reading user comments to see what feedback people are giving. Here are some positive and critical comments that stood out to us:
Positive
5*
Easy Banking
I have been using Cashplus bank for over a year now & find them straight forward & easy to use plus a very good web site & app,thumbs up from me.
4*
Helpful Banking
Cashplus was very helpful to me when l did not have a credit score profile. They are willing to offer overdraft, credit card and good offers to customers and assist them to build their credit score. Customer service is great and open. My experience with them for many years have been very good.
5*
Amazing customer service
A customer for a few years now and I can confidently say that I’ve been very satisfied with my account. Customer service extremely friendly and very helpful, thank you Cashplus, you’ve been amazing
Critical
1*
My accounts been blocked for close to 3 months they’ve bounced me from post to pillar, they’ve not stuck to the deadlines which they claim to respond by, they have caused me lots of stress and sleepless nights. My business has almost failed because of them. 0 stars incompetent service advisors and sometimes quite intimidating and rude.
Is Cashplus A Good Bank?
Cashplus is ranked #8 of 25 personal current accounts in the UK (click to see full list).
Are there better current accounts on the market? We’re calling out the following accounts as excellent:
They have a grade score of 76 - ranking them as the second-best UK bank. A long-standing reputation, great digital experience and top-notch customer service make them an excellent choice for most people.
We are sorely missing their £175 introductory offer however and hope they bring it back to market soon.
To qualify you to switch to open an account online or using the app and switch another bank account to them (including two Direct Debits).
If you are looking for a first class app experience then our scoring puts Starling ahead of rival Monzo.