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The Plum saving app is an AI Money Management app that helps you to set aside money automatically, sync up your banking information in one place, earn interest on your savings, and invest your money.
Is the app worth using, though? This Plum review 2022 takes a deep dive into the key features and products the app offers, pricing, security, user reviews, and more.
Download Plum today
- Automatically set your money aside with Plum’s AI feature
- Save money on your bills with Plum’s switch providers service
- Withdraw unlimited funds whenever you need them
- Create a central hub to track your spending
What is the Plum App?
Plum is an AI money management app that aims to help people make their money go further. The app is growing fast – and now has over 100 staff across 3 offices in London, Athens, and Nicosia, and over 1 million customers.
The app was founded by Victor Trokoudes, a former trader and early employee of Wise, formerly TransferWise.
How does Plum Work?
Plum uses open banking to connect your bank account and credit cards to the app to analyse your spending history and look for areas where you can automatically save money.
To join, you simply need to download the app either on iOS or Android, and sign up with your name, address, and date of birth. Then, you can start syncing your bank and credit card data to create a hub of all your accounts and spending.
Plum App Key Features:
AI Money Round Ups
An smart algorithm that creates round-ups to automatically set aside extra cash with every spend – the algorithm is designed to never leave you saving more than you can afford.
1.01% AER Interest Account
Plum’s ‘Money Maximiser’ feature will automatically transfer money into your interest account, holding it as long as possible to earn interest before flowing the cash back to your everyday account to cover your spending.
Open Banking
The app uses open banking technology to sync up all your banks and credit card information for one central hub to keep better track of your spending and identify quick savings.
Smart Suggestions
The app’s AI feature will make suggestions on your spending for where you might be able to make additional savings, such as unused subscriptions or bills you may be able to find a better deal on.
Personal Pension
‘Plum Self Invested Personal Pension (SIPP)’ enables you to consolidate any existing pensions you have into one place, and choose to invest in a choice of global funds.
Investing from £1
Plum enables you to open an ISA or GIA account with just £1, giving you the option to control how much you want to invest and where, before doing the rest for you. Investments are held by Gaudi Regulated Services Ltd.
Plum Card
You can use your Visa Plum card anywhere Visa is accepted for general spending, with no additional charge for spending abroad.
Join Plum
All you need to sign up with Plum now is to enter your details and sync up your bank accounts. It’s that easy, and you’ll generally get set up within minutes.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Cons
ConClusion
Overall, Plum is a smart way to put money aside automatically, taking the time-consuming part of budgeting off your hands/ However, it’s worth considering that as the main Plum account does not pay interest, your money won’t be growing with Plum unless you choose to invest your funds or open an Interest pocket, which has other risks.
Subscription savings
Your home dashboard on Plum will show you details such as:
- The amount you’ve automatically set aside this month
- Your linked accounts
- Upcoming regulars
- Latest transactions
Upcoming regulars
This section displays your regular monthly payments (for example, energy bill, broadband, phone bill, gym membership, rent etc).
The section has icons that show what type of payment it is (a lightbulb for bills, shopping bags for what is deemed ‘entertainment’).
Plum also will either have a purple or red ring around the expense. The red ring indicates you may be overspending on that bill.
How does Plum set your money aside automatically?
Plum sets up a direct debit with your bank to automatically add money into a ‘pocket’ within the app. The funds can be withdrawn in 15 minutes and can be a highly effective way to build up a little stockpile of cash with zero effort required.
The AI feature of the app really stands out here. It has an algorithm that is designed to analyse your spending habits and only set aside money that it calculates you can actually afford to save – so Plum promise you’ll never be left short.
security features
Plum is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as an electronic money agent, they work with an Electronic Money Provider partner to set up your E-Wallet (pocket), which is protected by E-Money Safeguarding Rules. If Plum or the E-Money Provider was to collapse or go into bankruptcy, you will be able to claim the monies back from the E-Money Provider.
The app supports facial and biometric ID, and uses 256-bit TLS encryption to keep your data secure.
CHECK OUT THESE OTHER APP REVIEWS:
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- Emma App Review 2022: Is This Budgeting App Worth It?
Other Plum AI Reviews:
On TrustPilot, Plum receives a score of 4.3 (excellent) out of 5. 74% of reviewers rate the app as ‘Excellent’, while 12% rate it as bad.
The excellent reviews are largely down to the AI savings feature, with many people thrilled about how much they’re managing to set aside.
The bad reviews are mixed – some people are unhappy with response times, while others are fed up with the number of notifications they receive.
Interested? Give Plum a try and sign up for free.
Pricing
Basic Plum
It is free to use Plum’s basic tier, which includes automatic deposits, round-ups, weekly deposits, and pay days. The Basic account will also allow free withdrawals, and you can open an Easy Access Interest Pocket at 0.50% AER.
Plum Plus
Plum Plus is £1 a month and gives users everything in Basic Plum plus access to the full range of funds on their investment platform.
Plum Pro
Plum Pro is £2.99 a month, and unlocks additional features such as:
- Pockets & Goals (you can have up to 16 pockets for various savings goals)
- more analytics on your spending
- Premium Interest pockets (1.01% AER interest)
- challenges such as ‘Rainy Days’, 52-week challenge
- 11% cashback on shopping with partnered brands via the Plum app
- Pensions
Plum Ultra
This tier costs £4.99 a month and included all features mentioned above, plus the Money Maximiser, and enhanced rates for Cashback.
Tiers | Basic Plum | Plum Plus | Plum Pro | Plum Ultra |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Automatic Savings | ||||
Round-Up Savings | ||||
Paydays Saver | ||||
Interest on savings | 0.50% Easy Access Interest Account | 1.01% Easy Access Interest Account | 1.01% Easy Access Interest Account | 1.01% Easy Access Interest Account |
Investments | X | |||
Pensions (SIPP) iOS Only | X | |||
Pockets | 1 pocket | 1 pocket | 15 pockets | 15 pockets |
Pocket Goals | X | X | ||
Rainy Days Rule | X | X | ||
52-Week Challenge | X | X | ||
Cashback | X | X | ||
Diagnostics Reporting | X | X | ||
Money Maximiser | X | X | X |