The cost of being yourself

It’s a widely known fact that the LGBTQ+ community is one that has faced financial and economic hardships — from facing greater job insecurity and lower mobility to tending to live in higher cost, urban areas, and facing higher financial costs of planning to have a family.

At Chime, we’re focused on providing financial stability and access to those who have the hardest time getting it — we serve a large swath of a financially unstable demographic, but also the underrepresented groups within it, like LGBTQ+.

Gwen Gilkey applied for a name change on her passport six times. Each time, she would fill out the required paperwork, add notarized letters from doctors and family members attesting to her identity and name change, and pay hundreds of dollars to send in her application.

The woman behind the counter at the post office, who had originally regarded Gwen with a look of questioning — trans people aren’t very common in her small town — became as frustrated with Gwen’s experience as Gwen was. “By the fourth time I came in to send my application, she actually broke down in tears,” says Gwen. Her ‘post office cheerleader’ even added a letter to Gwen’s last two applications to help with her case and attest to her identity. With the support of her local postal office clerk, family, and friends, as well as the threat of a lawsuit for the discrimination she was experiencing, Gwen’s sixth application was approved. Her name was changed on her passport, which would then allow her to change her name on her driver’s license, social security card, and birth certificate.

The process of changing her name on all of her documents took Gwen over a year and cost her over a thousand dollars. Not only was it a bureaucratic nightmare, but it was expensive, too — and every time she applied, she ran the risk of being declined. But that was not the first or the last financial burden Gwen would bear to be herself.

Being trans: An expensive proposition

“Being trans has hugely impacted my finances,” Gwen says. “Trans folks who are coming out don’t understand how expensive of a proposition being trans is — and neither do most of those outside of the trans community, either.”

Gwen considers herself very privileged, simply for being able to go through a lot of the changes and transition-related procedures she wanted to go through. But doing so set her back financially, even with the generous support she received from her family and friends — support that many trans people can’t count on during their transitions.

“The fact that, even with the support of my family and my friends, my finances were set back 5 or 6 years and I completely wiped out all my savings shows that going through this process without support can be financially devastating.”

What’s more, the reality of being trans is reflected in the homelessness and poverty rates we see in the community. There are so many hidden costs that trans people face as a function of existing that set them back significantly.

“Ultimately, the costs of being trans are hugely prohibitive for a lot of people,” explains Gwen. Many will go to great lengths to get black-market medication from outside of the U.S. to save money and avoid strict regulations, like state-mandated therapy or doctors’ appointments.

Every stage of the process of transitioning costs more money. Even when someone is out of the closet, the costs continue to mount. “When you’re out, it’s not over — you literally have to empty your closet and buy a new wardrobe,” Gwen says.

Every dime counts: Saving and helping others save

For Gwen, one of the best ways she’s coped with the financial burden of being trans is to be thrifty and save money. “I’ve known I was trans for a long time and I’ve always known it would be expensive, so I was constantly trying to save money,” she explains.

Gwen has learned that every dime matters — even the dimes you don’t spend. “Forgoing a meal out might mean you can afford a bottle of hormones,” she says, “Every little bit you save can contribute to a cost you otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford.”

Because she discovered early on that she had to make sacrifices to save money in order to be herself, Gwen continues to be thrifty and focused on saving so that she can avoid future financial hardship. And she credits her financial experiences — and penchant for fighting for every dime — for being drawn to Chime.

“Ultimately, my financial experience is probably what made me so attracted to Chime’s mission,” Gwen says. “Working to help claw back every dollar for the person for whom nobody else is fighting — that resonates with me because of how much every dollar has mattered to me.”

Chiming In: Being trans at Chime

Gwen joined our Risk and Fraud team because of her love of our mission and the culture we’ve cultivated. “I’ve always been out at Chime and consider myself lucky to be in such a positive place; there are so many people working at companies who could be fired if they come out,” she says.

And though we don’t discriminate or tolerate discrimination at Chime, Gwen has played an active role in speaking to our blindspots and how we could be more inclusive. “When I started at Chime, the health insurance offered wasn’t very inclusive of trans people,” she explains. When someone is trans, they have to have regular blood tests to check hormone levels — tests that many insurance providers don’t cover.

Without insurance covering the cost of regular doctor’s visits and blood tests, Gwen’s medical bills started to add up. “I was spending upwards of $400 a month to cover basic medical needs, which I just couldn’t afford,” she says. So, in keeping with one of our values — Chime In — Gwen spoke up. Within a few months, we changed our insurance offering to include a more inclusive carrier, for Gwen and others who might have needs we didn’t consider at first.

“Having insurance saves me hundreds of dollars a month just living my life,” Gwen explains. “I’m not sick, I just have to go to the doctor every so often by law in order to be prescribed the medication I need to be me — and I’m grateful that Chime was willing to find a way to support me through our insurance offering.”

Paying it forward: Making name changes a little bit easier

It may have taken Gwen over a year to change her name on all of her documents and credit cards, but she’s committed to making that process a little easier for members of the trans community moving forward. To that end, her team recently adjusted the name change process for our members at Chime.

Because a lot of institutions — like the DMV or credit card companies — require other documents to be changed before they’ll agree to change your name, the name change process ends up going in a vicious, seemingly impossible, circle. “Something that can be useful in the process of changing your name is having a credit or debit card with your preferred name on it,” explains Gwen. With a piece of ID, like a banking card, that shows your changed name, changing other documents gets a little bit easier.

To that end, we recently opened up our policy regarding account name changes during COVID-19 and in doing so have cracked open the door on named changes for the trans community. “During this time, when government offices are closed and the name change process is paused for many members of the trans community, Chime has made one small part in the long and expensive process of transitioning a little bit easier.”

Gwen wasn’t able to get out of the cycle of bureaucracy that occupied over a year of her life and over a thousand dollars, but she’s able to use that experience and positively impact her beloved trans community. “It’s a small step, but in my experience, every little bit helps,” she says. “If I can make bearing the financial burden of being trans any lighter for our members or other Chimers, I’m going to — because the price of being yourself should never be so high.”