Achieve Card

Achieve Card is a modern and full-featured mobile banking solution.

Achieve Card is a service offered by Green Dot Bank. It is an alternative banking service. Alternative banks are the latest trend in banking and provide customers Internet-facing services. There’s often no traditional brick-and-mortar locations, but there are ATMs and cash loading spots and so forth.

Like many alternative banks, Achieve Card seeks to provide the banking services you need without the hassles that a traditional bank can present. You don’t need to have a checking account or savings account. You don’t even need to deposit a certain amount of money. You simply pay a monthly maintenance fee—$9.95 at the time of this review—and receive an online-accessible banking account as well as physical debit card and access to your account via this app.

The Achieve Card app is a solid solution as far as mobile banking apps go. You’ll need to log in with the username and password that you created when opening your Achieve Card account. You’ll then have access to an Account Summary, which shows you your balance as well as upcoming debits. Upcoming debits will include the maintenance fee as well as any schedule payments.

If you have a credit card or multiple credit cards, you can add those to the Achieve Card app as well and track them through it. It won’t provide all of the features that the credit card app will, but it gives you access at a glance. The app has a Transfers tool, which lets you transfer funds between accounts, which can be your own accounts or someone else’s. There is also a Bill Pay tool that lets you pay utilities, credit cards and more online and direct from your Achieve Card account.

This app also has a powerful Alerts feature. A credit card, for instance, may have a payment deadline each month, and payments you make through Achieve Card may take several days to clear. So, you can set up an alert to remind you to pay on time. A scheduled payment is an option as well, but that can be difficult when the amount varies from month to month. There are also automatic alerts, such as alerts for your maintenance fee or when a direct deposit has been scheduled.

The Achieve Card app also provides tools for people who require in-person services. Green Dot has an entire network of such services. If you want to deposit cash into your account in person, for instance, the Cash Loading Locations tool can list those spots. It can find spots using the GPS on your phone or based on a zip code that you provide. If you need to cash a check or find an ATM, you’ll find tools for those in the app as well.

Pros

• Mobile banking
• 24/7 and real-time access

Cons

• None

Support added for newer Android versions