# Chizel

> Chizel is a debt payoff app that automatically rounds up your purchases and applies the spare change toward your debt. Round up. Pay down. Chizel away your debt.

## What Chizel Does

Chizel connects to your bank account via Plaid, rounds up every purchase to the nearest dollar (or more with Boost Mode), accumulates the spare change in a secure pool, and sweeps it directly to your highest-priority debt account on a regular schedule. Real payments, real principal reduction, no manual effort.

## Who It Is For

Anyone carrying credit card debt, student loans, auto loans, personal loans, or other consumer debt who wants to accelerate payoff without overhauling their budget or building willpower. Works especially well as a supplement to an existing debt payoff strategy (avalanche or snowball).

## Key Features

- **Chizel Change automation**: Every purchase generates a Chizel Change contribution. The $4.60 coffee costs $5.00; the $0.40 difference goes toward debt.
- **Boost Mode**: Round to the nearest $5 or $10, or apply a percentage of each purchase — for faster accumulation.
- **Debt priority**: Set which debt gets paid first. Chizel applies all Chizel Change to your top-priority balance.
- **Chizel Score**: A 0–100 debt health score calculated from payment consistency, active sweep streak, balance reduction rate, engagement, and profile completeness.
- **Debt-free date projection**: Shows your estimated debt-free date based on current minimum payments plus Chizel Change contributions.
- **Automatic sweeps**: When your Chizel Change Pool hits the threshold, Chizel initiates a real payment to your creditor.

## How Chizel Change Works

1. User connects bank via Plaid (read-only access to transaction data)
2. Chizel monitors transactions in real time
3. Each purchase is rounded up to the nearest unit (dollar, $5, $10, or % of purchase based on Boost Mode setting)
4. Chizel Change amounts accumulate in the user's pool balance
5. When pool exceeds the sweep threshold, Chizel sweeps the pool to the highest-priority debt account
6. Payment reduces principal on the debt account directly

## Pricing

- Starter: $9.99/month
- Plus: $14.99/month
- Pro: $19.99/month
- All plans: 30-day free trial, no credit card required

## Technology

- Bank connection: Plaid (same technology used by Venmo, Coinbase, Robinhood)
- Payment processing: Unit (FDIC-insured banking partner)
- Subscription billing: Stripe
- Platform: Web app (Progressive Web App, installable on mobile)

## Security

- No storage of banking credentials
- Read-only bank connection via Plaid
- All data encrypted in transit and at rest
- User data never sold or shared with third parties

## Contact

- Website: https://chizel.co
- Support: support@chizel.co
- Press: press@chizel.co

## Important Pages

- Homepage: https://chizel.co
- About: https://chizel.co/about
- FAQ: https://chizel.co/faq
- Blog: https://chizel.co/blog
- Press: https://chizel.co/press
- Sign up: https://chizel.co/signup

## Content

Chizel publishes a personal finance blog covering:
- Debt payoff strategies (avalanche, snowball, consolidation, Chizel Change automation)
- Credit card APR and interest mechanics
- Credit score improvement
- Student loan repayment (IDR, PSLF, refinancing)
- Emergency fund building while paying debt
- Zero-based budgeting
- Debt consolidation pros and cons
- Debt-to-income ratio

All blog content is at https://chizel.co/blog