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When it comes to maintaining healthy finances, keeping as much money in your bank account is essential. No one can really complain about extra money.
Banks have a tendency to throw a lot of fees your way that you may not even be aware of. There are various charges that can pop up on your statement each month. These charges are often small enough to escape notice.
But after many months of this, all those little charges add up. You come to realize you are missing out on hundreds of dollars. That’s when most people get on the phone and start arguing with their bank about the charges and getting them reversed.
Arguing with your bank is a major headache ready to happen. Thankfully Cushion was created to let you save your breath and argue on your behalf.
Check out the review below for all the details.
Table of Contents
About Cushion
Cushion was developed as a way to safeguard your money. Particularly keeping your money safe from hidden fees, transaction fees, atm fees, monthly service fees and interest charges.
All of those fees can really add up, costing you hundreds of dollars. Instead of personally arguing with your bank, Cushion is designed to put that money back in your bank where it belongs, taking the hassle out of your hands.
CEO Paul Kesserwani created Cushion based on his own personal experience in arguing with banks trying to get his money back.
In his research, Paul discovered that Americans were paying their banks nearly $200 billion each year in fees and interest charges. Because of this, Paul created Cushion to look for and dispute these charges.
Cushion will not only rectify mistakes that pop up on your bank statement, but it also works to prevent those pesky charges from happening in the future.
Meet Fee Fighter
Utilizing consumer-centric technology, Cushion uses a Facebook Messenger bot, called Fee Fighter, that disputes bank charges on your behalf. Fee Fighter claims he has a black belt in fee negotiation.
The best thing about Fee Fighter is that he does not waste any time. As soon as you give him the go ahead and access to your bank account(s), he will start scanning through your information to see where he can get you money.
Communicating with Fee Fighter is easy and he will always ask permission before trying to negotiate for you. Fee Fighter’s quick work can have you seeing a refund in 24 hours or less.
One thing to note is that when Fee Fighter is successful in disputing a charge, Cushion will take a 25% (sometimes less) cut of the money found. This is done so that Cushion can remain free for its users.
Getting Started With Cushion
Cushion is simple and easy to get started with. The only thing you’ll need is the Facebook Messenger app so that you can connect with Fee Fighter, the Facebook Messenger bot designed to get you your money back.
On the website you’ll be asked to put in your email and from there you’ll be taken over to the Facebook Messenger webpage and asked to sign in. Cushion will pop up in your messenger and you can click on “Get Started”.
Fee Fighter will immediately appear and start chatting with you. He’ll introduce himself and tell you that his full-time job is to review your finances, find ways to save you money, and act on those opportunities.
Next he’ll ask to see if Cushion supports your bank or credit card company. Since Cushion is still in Beta testing, there are not a lot of banks they support just yet. The top banks and credit card companies they do support are Chase, Amex, WellsFargo, and PNC.
Once your bank is connected, Fee Fighter will start checking your accounts and look for the money that’s owed to you.
How Cushion Disputes Your Charges
Once you are connected with Cushion, Fee Fighter will constantly work on tracking your bank fees and will send you updates and ask your permission before removing them. All communication is done via Facebook Messenger.
The Cushion bot is very quick to respond and catches fees quickly, probably before you would even notice them. When Fee Fighter finds a charge worth disputing, he will contact you to see if you want him to move forward and from there contact the bank.
Fee Fighter disputes fees via secure email or by chatting online with your baking and credit card institutions. The process can take up to 24 hours and when a refund is successful, Fee Fighter will let you know.
You are not required to talk with anyone but Fee Fighter, so he really is fighting on your behalf and doing all the heavy lifting.
If Fee Fighter does manage to get a charge reversed or fee waived, Cushion will keep 25% of the refunded amount.
These are the main disputes that Cushion will argue on your behalf:
- ATM Fees
- Interest Charges
- Overdraft Fees
- Wire Transfer Fees
- Late Fees
- Withdrawal Fees
Feeling Secure With Cushion
Giving an unseen robot your banking information can feel a little scary. But rest assured that your data remains safe with Cushion.
Cushion is partnered with leading security vendors and utilizes advanced data encryption to guard you against unauthorized access to your personal and financial information.
While you do input your banking login information when you connect your account with Cushion, Cushion does not store any of your passwords or login information on their server.
Who Cushion Benefits
Cushion is great for anyone with multiple bank accounts or for those individuals who find themselves frequently facing fees and various charges with their bank.
Most people won’t take the time to get on the phone and argue with their bank over a fee on their statement. It is often assumed that these fees are just a normal part of working with a bank.
Cushion disagrees and knows when a refund should be demanded and has the skills and knowledge to talk with a banking institution on your behalf.
After reading several reviews, people have claimed Cushion has gotten them anywhere from $100 to $500 in refunds. It is mind blowing to think that all those charges or overdraft fees were not even noticed in the first place.
Pros and Cons of Cushion
Pros
- Free to sign up with
- Easy communication via Facebook Messenger
- No need to download an app
- Quick connection with your banks
- Fast communication with Fee Fighter
- Fee Fighter can take up to 24 hours to get your money back but some people report getting a refund in as little as 30 minutes
- Hassle free
- If there isn’t a fee or refund to be found, Fee Fighter will leave you alone and not bombard you with messages
- Convenient way to save more money
- Never pay out of pocket to have your charges negotiated
- Instantly alerts you when there is a fee or charge in your account
Cons
- Not connected with very many banks
- Takes 25% of your refunded money
- Limited to those that use Facebook and Facebook Messenger
- No official app to open and check in with
- Limited to just finding fees and transaction charges
- If you don’t have any fees, Cushion is useless for you
- There is an app called Cushion, so finding this can get confusing as they are completely different
What’s On the Horizon For Cushion
One of the biggest complaints I’ve seen about Cushion is that they are not connected with very many banks or credit card companies.
But Cushion is working on remedying this and getting more banks affiliated with them so that they can connect with more users.
If you signed up with Cushion and created an account but didn’t have a bank they worked with, they will send you an email when that changes.
The company also claims that they are working on other projects to move them beyond simply fee fighting. They will send updates to their users once these new options are available.
Is Cushion Legit and Worth Checking Out?
While Cushion is still relatively new, it is definitely a legitimate tool that is helping people fight banking fees and charges and getting them their money back.
If you wonder why banks would even bother with offering up a refund, it is because it is far easier to give you your money bank than it would be to lose your business entirely and have to find a new customer to bring on.
Cushion is pretty unique in that it is the only service of its kind that uses artificial intelligence to negotiate with banks on your behalf to dispute charges and fees.
If this sounds like something you need, then Cushion is definitely worth checking out as Fee Fighter is really saving people money. Again, keep in mind that Cushion does keep a 25% cut of your refunded money, which I think is a little high, but is the only way the service remains free.
Because Cushion is currently only limited to disputing banking charges, it won’t be useful to everyone. Personally, I don’t find it to be something I need in my life as I never have any hidden fees or charges with my bank.
I also don’t like that Cushion is also limited to only communicating with customers via Facebook Messenger. Since I already had Facebook Messenger this wasn’t a problem for me, but for those that don’t use Facebook at all, Cushion won’t be available for them unless they sign up.
In general, if you have multiple bank accounts or credit cards, I would recommend giving Cushion a try, just so you can stay on top of any late fees or interest charges that you may accrue over time.
Other Apps That Get You Cash
I wanted to list a few apps that can get you some extra cash in the event that your bank isn’t supported by Cushion or if you don’t think you will get much use out of Cushion.
The apps below can get you cashback when you do some of your everyday shopping.
- Ibotta ($10 bonus when you redeem your first offer)
- CoinOut (cash back for both in-person and online purchases)
- Trunow ($2 sign-up bonus with promo TOF19)
- Fetch Rewards ($1.50 bonus with promo HH3MN)
- TopCashBack (Periodically has a sign-up bonus; earn $10 when you refer a friend)
- BeFrugal ($10 sign-up bonus)
- SwagBucks ($5 sign-up bonus)
Final Thoughts
I really like how unique Cushion is and I am looking forward to seeing what else they will have available for their users. It would be great if they develop other ways to get people extra money beyond refunding charges that may occur on their bank account.
If you have tried Cushion or if you will try it, let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy frugaling!
