Chime Deepens Member Relationships with Embedded Tax Filing

About Chime

Founded in 2012, Chime® serves 10.4 million monthly active members with a digital-first banking, lending, and investing experience built for everyday Americans who have historically not been served well by traditional banks. With 1.5 million new active members in FY 2025, Chime has become one of the fastest-growing and largest destinations for new checking account openings nationwide through a strong foundation of member trust and product innovation.

The Challenge

Chime had built strong momentum in new member acquisition, and the next frontier was deepening those relationships. They knew that members who use six or more Chime products per month generate $500+ in ARPAM, nearly double that of the average Active Member (source). They also knew that members with more money in their accounts were significantly more likely to return and adopt new products. So Chime built out a full suite of core banking and investing services, designed to engage members beyond day-to-day transactions and turn active accounts into primary relationships.

Tax season presented a natural opportunity to expand on the financial services Chime provides to everyday Americans. Chime recognized that tax filing is one of the most stressful and time-consuming financial events of the year, and that it could provide a more streamlined experience for its members. For most Americans, tax refunds also represent the single largest cash inflow of the year - and where that refund lands can meaningfully drive account engagement and primacy.

The Solution

In 2025, Chime partnered with april to embed tax filing directly into the Chime app, transforming tax season into an opportunity to deliver differentiated member value at a moment when members are most engaged with their finances.

Chime built the experience to provide members with free filing and benefit from april’s accuracy and maximum refund guarantees, directly within the Chime app. Members can also access their federal tax refunds up to five days early, when they direct deposit their refunds through Chime. With a 76 NPS, april’s AI-powered tax engine streamlined the filing experience by cutting unnecessary questions in real-time and automatically prefilling returns with data from the members’ account and uploaded documents.

By embedding april’s filing experience within their app, Chime deepened member engagement and reinforced its role as its members’ primary financial destination.

The Results

With a median time to file of about 20 minutes, april’s embedded experience didn’t just make tax filing easier for Chime members, but also delivered measurable business value for Chime. After just two years of working with april, in Q1’26, Chime saw:

• 50% year over year growth to members using their embedded tax filing service (source)

• 700,000 net new Active Members, supported by tax-season tailwinds (source)

• 97.3% of members using Chime’s tax filing services chose to deposit their refund back into their Chime account.

Chime is continuing to measure the downstream impact of tax filing and data on broader member behavior. Early signals suggest that members who file through Chime show stronger engagement patterns throughout the year.

“While tax season is stressful, it's also a time when people are highly engaged with their finances. By embedding april's DIY filing experience directly in the Chime app for free, we deepened member relationships both by making a typically painful process effortless, and reinforcing Chime as the central place members turn to manage their financial lives.”

John Docal

Senior Director of Product Marketing, Chime