The problem with vibes-based budgeting
Today is an exciting day at Crew. We’re narrowing our focus to helping people stick to their budget.
We’ll do that by giving you the absolute best tools you need to understand and control your spending.
Vibes-based budgeting
Is your budgeting approach to pause before buying something and ask yourself, “does this feel like something I can afford?”
If so you may be doing vibes-based budgeting.
Maybe you have a great income and a low fixed rate mortgage, so vibes has been working okay for you.
But it could be so much better!
The budget paradox
Before starting Crew our team all worked at Divvy, which was an expense management solution for companies.
Imagine a credit card with a built in budget. Leaders could add people to a budget and let them spend out of it, but it was impossible to spend more than was in the budget.
Our CFO loved being a user of Divvy.
“I’ve never had this much actual control over our spending, and at the same time people have never felt this free.”
That paradox is the magic of a budget.
It turns out that knowing how much money you have to spend is really freeing.
Should you budget?
At Crew we think everyone should have a budget regardless of income or situation.
Small purchases that pass a vibes check can add up, and being intentional about your spending makes it easier to get where you’re trying to go financially.
Simply deciding in advance how much you want to spend, and where, can remove a lot of financial stress and uncertainty.
Most budgeting tools are kind of intense, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
You don’t need a dozen line items in your budget, and managing your budget tool shouldn’t become a part time job (unless that’s what you’re into).
Where should your budget live?
Millions of families have turned to dedicated budgeting apps that integrate with their credit cards and report on their spending.
That approach has worked for many families, but there are some real challenges. These tools are typically:
- High Effort - Require significant ongoing manual work
- Expensive - Are subscription supported
We think there’s a better way.
What if your banking app knew what your budget was, and enabled you to stick to it proactively?
This would resolve the challenges with the add-on budgeting tools by being:
- Low Effort - Automate funding and spending directly from your budget
- No cost - Supported by earnings on deposits and merchant fees
Budgeting in Crew
That’s what we’ve built with Crew.
Crew is built around a high interest checking account that currently earns 3.7% annual percentage yield (APY).¹ That’s up to 9x the average savings interest rate.²
Within that checking account, you can set up as many pockets as you’d like to organize your money. We recommend keeping it simple, adding a pocket for bills, savings, and giving.
With our Autopilot feature, you can then automatically split your paychecks into each of these pockets.
Finally, spend directly out of each pocket with a single debit card. Your spouse can do the same thing with their own card if you add them as a joint owner to your Crew account.
You can even set up and automate budgets for your kids in Crew as well.
Staying organized is easy — open up Crew before swiping your card to change which pocket your card is connected to, or update transactions after the fact if necessary.
Bills that are drawn out of your account can be automatically routed into a bills pockets, so you can more easily track your spending and know what’s safe to spend.
If you haven’t signed up for Crew yet, use this link to boost your current rate of 3.7% for three months (that's 4.2% APY today). We’ve got a lot more good stuff in the hopper to make Crew the ideal budgeting solution and can’t wait to have you aboard.
Crew is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by Bangor Savings Bank, Member FDIC. The Crew Mastercard® Debit Card is issued by Bangor Savings Bank, Member FDIC, pursuant to license by Mastercard International Incorporated. Mastercard is a registered trademark, and the circle design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated. Spend anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
1. APY is variable and may change after account opening. The advertised 3.7% checking APY is accurate through Mar 31, 2025 and may change at any time. There is no minimum balance or deposit required to obtain the advertised APY.
2. National average interest rate of 0.41% retrieved on Feb 22, 2025 from the FDIC National Rate Caps Home here, updated Feb 18, 2025.
