SmartyPig Fees: What Fees You Pay When Using the SmartyPig Savings Account

SmartyPig provides savers with an innovative ways to save for major purchases. The SmartyPig savings account helps consumers establish specific financial goals to save for and allows others to contribute to your savings goal. When SmartyPig first launched its product, there were a number of fees that consumers had to pay, but SmartyPig listened to the complaints that it received from its savers and have moved to a much more reasonable fee structure.

Here’s an overview of the SmartyPig fees that you will pay on a SmartyPig Savings Account:

• There is no fee to open a SmartyPig account.
• There are no monthly account fees.
• There are no fees to redeem your savings via electronic transfer, a debit MasterCard or via gift card. You may even get a bonus on your funds if you redeem your savings in the form of a gift card.
• If you want to contribute to your SmartyPig account or a friend’s savings goal using a credit card, you are charged a 2.9% fee to cover the credit card transaction costs.
• If you redeem your SmartyPig savings via MasterCard and lose the card, there is a $6.00 fee to cancel the current debit card and get a new debit card. The SmartyPig Debit MasterCard charges no ATM or load fees. Previously, the fee for a SmartyPig MasterCard replacement was $20.00, but has recently lowered the fee.
• If you overdraw your account, you will be charged a $27.00 NSF fee.

The fees that SmartyPig charge its customers have gotten much more reasonable in the last year and are relatively easy to avoid. The big fee to avoid is the fee related to using credit cards for payments. To avoid this, simply fund your SmartyPig savings account with an electronic transfer from your checking account. If you properly manage your account balances and don’t lose the SmartyPig Debit MasterCard (if you choose to use that as your redemption method) you will be free and clear from any SmartyPig Fees on the SmartyPig Savings Account.