How Our Members Faced 3 Fearsome Financial Situations

If there’s one thing none of us wants around Halloween (or, honestly, any time of year), it’s for the lights to go out. But that’s exactly the spooky situation that faced Penny Barrett, a Chime member who lives in Terre Haute, Indiana: the electricity bill was coming due, and Barrett didn’t have enough money in her account to cover it. 😱

Fortuitously enough, Barrett was already a Chime member at the time, and was able to stay out of the dark thanks to our SpotMe¹ feature. And she was only a few days out from getting paid, so she was able to quickly put her account back to rights, no harm, no foul. 

The most important part of the journey? As a result of the scare, Barrett started getting a little craftier with her budget to avoid running into the same problem in the future. “I got a little bit more creative with my budget, decided what I could cut out,” she said. One of the main culprits? Prepared foods, which she figured out by glancing through her list of transactions. “I thought, ‘Oh I really do go to McDonald’s for a frappe a little too often,’” Barrett said, chuckling. Good thing there’s enough free candy this month to cover that sweet tooth on cheap!