Cushion

Cushion is fee fighting bot that lives in Facebook Messenger. It's dead simple to use and does all the hard work of negotiating fee reductions for your accounts behind the scenes. Interest charges on your credit card, monthly service fees, and even wire transfer fees are eligible for dispute. Cushion (and the Fee Fighter mascot) helps you authenticate your bank account, gives you a summary of what it's identified as possible fees for reduction, then gets to work with results shared within 24 hours.

In Brief

Get money back from fees paid to your bank accounts.
Receive monthly updates on eligible fees to dispute.
Works in Facebook Messenger.

Pro Tip: Trying Cushion is so easy, it's worth giving it a shot. The user experience may be a bit counter intuitive if you don't frequently use Messenger.

Is this app for me?

If you get charged a monthly service fee for your checking account or pay interest on a credit card, you may be able to get some money back. It's particularly time effective if you have multiple accounts with a given institution. According to Cushion, Americans pay U.S. banks over $200 Billion each year in fees and credit card interest, so there's a good chance there might be some extra funds for you!

What does it do?

Automatically identify eligible fees to dispute from your connected bank.
Contacts the bank and negotiates the fees identified.
Sends summary of refund and notifies you when refund is complete.
Sends updates periodically with proposed fees to dispute.

How much does it cost?

Cushion does all of the above work for you in exchange for 25% of the refunded amount – well worth it when you may have not even have known you had fees in the first place. Note that the ability to discover these fees is free.

What it lacks

Given that Cushion is a Messenger bot, you might guess that the experience is transactional. And it is, but it does deliver clear value for clawing back fees from your bank. If you are looking for an app-like experience, a more holistic picture, or more robust notifications, you might want to try a different app.

How to get started

Although we aren't the most frequent users of Facebook Messenger, getting our account set up and putting the Fee Fighter to work was really easy. And since Messenger lives in the web and as a mobile app, you can use whichever you prefer.

Use your email to sign up on their website -or- get started on their Facebook page.
Open Messenger and connect your bank account.
Cushion identifies fees to dispute.
Give your approval, then sit back and relax.
In about 24 hours, you'll receive an update on your potential refund.