Qapital App Review: Smart Savings


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Qapital App Review

We spend a lot of time talking about budgeting. I’d wager that most doctors would say it’s an unhealthy amount of time. But we strongly believe that really adhering to the principles of budgeting make for smarter spending and savvier saving.

But you see, there’s a problem: budgeting isn’t always easy. In fact, we get lots of emails from readers who lament that very problem. If you’re nodding your head and raising your hand at your desk, put it down before people see you — that’s weird. But we think you’re going to want to keep reading and hear what we have to say about Qapital, an app that we’re going to review today.

Qapital app logo

In a nutshell, Qapital introduces a fun, automated way of saving money for specific goals. The totally free iPhone app is designed to help anyone reach savings targets by setting goals and applying rules to automate the saving. Qapital integrates with IFTTT (If This Then That), allowing you to create savings “recipes” that will automatically put those savings aside when it’s triggered. It’s sorta like having a mini-savings-laboratory on your phone where you can cook up fun and motivational savings rules to see how quickly you can reach your goals. Rules can be as simple as rounding up to the nearest dollar on everyday expenses or as interesting as rewarding yourself if you do certain things, like running a mile in the Nike+ app.

Here’s an example. Let’s say you’ve been dying to attend the National Lentil Festival (because you’re weird and we don’t judge you) so you need to save up some dough. So you go into Qapital and create a goal to save $300. Then you start creating rules. You know you have a problem spending money at Target so you create a “Spend Less Rule” which means if you come in under your Target spending cap, that remaining balance will go directly into your Lentil Festival savings. You also want to make sure you’re in good shape for stuffing your face full of legumes, so you set an IFTTT rule to reward your savings account with $5 every day you walk more than your set goal that’s tracked in your pedometer app. And after a few successful months of avoiding Target and power-walking all over town, you’ve got yourself a ticket to Lentil Fest!

Qapital Goals            Qapital Rules

The magic of the app is in the rules. We love the idea of setting a bunch of triggers that automatically help us save a little more. We’re big fans of the Round Up and IFTT recipe rules and we’ll share some of our favorites in a future post. Just a heads up: in order to apply rules, you obviously need to link up a bank account that you use for spending so that it can move money into your savings goals. You can read up on how they keep your account and information secure here.

While it’s definitely one of the best personal finance apps we’ve given a test drive this year, it sounds like upcoming updates will address a few common feature requests. This definitely isn’t a one-size-fits-all app like Mint, and we like it that way. A lot of folks are eager to see the Android version released soon, and we’re also excited to see the Qapital Debit Card released to make it easier to cash out when a savings goal is reached. We’ve also caught wind of some other enhancements that should help make the app more social with friends and loved ones.

So if your savings needs a little extra boost or if you’re looking for a fun, motivational alternative to save more, you should give Qapital a shot. And if you have any interest in free money, if you sign up here, you’ll get $10 deposited in your account for free. Sweet.

Just a heads up, this post is part of a sponsored campaign we’re doing with the folks at Qapital. This should go without saying, but all opinions are our own and came straight from our own noggins.

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18 Comments

  • Reply Mike September 26, 2015 at 11:59 am

    Great review, ill definitely be trying this app soon. It seems like it could help you in various financial situations.

  • Reply Natalie October 1, 2015 at 9:17 pm

    So I know this post was about an app, but I feel like I have to let you know that there is indeed a Lentil Festival every year in Pullman Washington. My best friend goes to grad school at WSU in Pullman, and having made the drive from Utah I can tell you it’s not too bad. I don’t know if lentils are enough of a reason to make that drive, but hey, no judgement if it is 🙂

  • Reply Jennifer October 7, 2015 at 10:33 pm

    This app sounds promising. I need any help saving money I can get and I use IFTTT for other things, but have you guys actually tried out the app yet? How user friendly is it?

  • Reply Ben Lynch December 16, 2015 at 12:43 pm

    So far, I like it quite a bit. My bank did try to shut it off from accessing my account, so that was a hassle, but other than that, if you set the rules, you will start stacking away money – supposing that you’re spending it, that is.

    • Reply Noelle October 25, 2016 at 12:27 pm

      I think my bank is doing the same thing. How did you solve the problem?

  • Reply Jenny January 29, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    I was strolling through IG when Qapital caught eyes…. I took a chance and tried it and I really like it because its not being spent it was easy to set up and from then on every time I use my debit card the change is round up put into another account that I do not look at on a regular and it make me feel good when I look and the amount goes up because at the end of the day we use our debit card almost everyday of outlives….. 🙂

  • Reply Tia February 26, 2016 at 9:53 am

    Great review on Qapital! I recently joined myself and it really does make it fun to saving. I like how you can also set a group goal to save along side other people.

  • Reply Johna March 28, 2016 at 2:05 pm

    The link to sign up for the extra $10 just reloads this page. Is there a better link?

  • Reply Jessica April 28, 2016 at 11:58 am

    Maybe this is a silly question, but once you’ve reached your goal how do you get your money??? Is a check mailed or can I go to a bank and withdrawal?? I’ve downloaded the app and really am loving it but I’m concerned as to how I get my money once I’ve finished my goal…Hoping someone can help me out!

    • Reply Johnny April 29, 2016 at 10:28 am

      Great question! You simply withdraw the money back to your funding account. In the Wallet section of the app, you tap the Transfer button in the top right corner and you can move the money from your Qapital goals back into your bank account.

      Hope that helps!

  • Reply Sirena May 4, 2016 at 12:22 pm

    I’ve had the WORST experience with this app. In the month that I used it, there were always connection issues on Qapital’s side of things that prevented them from drawing any money. So instead of saving the projected $30 or so dollars a month, I had only saved $13.58. I decided to quit the app and asked a rep. how to transfer the funds out, but when I asked her for help, she went ahead and cancelled my account so I never got my money back! That was at the beginning of April. For the last month I have been trying to get my money back. It may be a small amount but I’m still upset with the lack of customer service.

    • Reply Al B August 2, 2016 at 12:07 am

      I’m having the same problems. My funding account becomes unlinked every other day. Now its up to every couple of hours. I have talked to my bank and emailed Qapital but no help on either end. I tried to unlink the account but the app won’t allow me to because it’s the primary funding account. I have no idea what to do next. Highly aggravated.

  • Reply Amy July 11, 2016 at 12:58 pm

    This is not a customer friendly company. I am trying to close for a house… in less than a week. The only paper left remaining that I need to give the bank is a copy of my June statement for Qapital in order for them to see where the funds for closing have come from. It is July, 11th and there is still no access for the June statement. I have emailed the customer reps multiple times, including the CEO! I have gotten poor responses, their only solution was emailing me a sloppily pasted together screenshot of my transaction history. I could have done that… On top of this my bank will not accept screen shots, especially since they cannot be signed and dated by a bank teller! How am I supposed to reach my dream of owning a home if the app designed to get me there is preventing it! I am a very unhappy customer and will be closing my account as soon as I get this statement.

    • Reply Johnny July 13, 2016 at 2:17 am

      Sorry to hear about that, Amy! That does sound like an oversight to not have better reporting tools. Can you just transfer the money out to your bank account and then show the proof through your bank’s statement? Or have you already done that and they need to know where those deposited funds came from (which, if so, seems like a strange request from the bank)?

  • Reply Melissa August 21, 2016 at 5:07 pm

    If your bank account is not available, is there a way it can be added? I bank at a small bank in south texas

    • Reply Sarah October 14, 2016 at 11:14 am

      Just email qapital through the app and they should get that fixed for you
      Thats what they did for me

  • Reply judith Hainaut January 11, 2017 at 6:00 pm

    I installed Qapital in September and set up rules for two different goals. It worked great for about three months, it was fun and my accounts for both goals were slowly growing. Then, in December, it quit working. There were connection problems with my bank apparently caused by an upgrade in their software. This went on for over a month and I kept be reassured that it was being fixed. Finally, after it seemed to be reconnected and linked to my bank, it still wasn’t working and I transferred my money out of it back to my bank. I’m waiting to see if it actually gets transferred but even that has been irritating. Their software doesn’t allow you to key in your exact balance. For instand, if you have 174.75 in your goal, you can only transfer $174 of it. I would recommend against getting this app.
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  • Reply Nanette C. March 9, 2017 at 10:32 am

    I signed up 2/22/17 and I’m already 10% complete with my goal ! It’s super fun and easy! The Rules make you save the money so quick and I don’t even miss it! I’m super excited that my goal is in reach !

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