10 Best Checking Accounts of May 2022

SoFi’s Checking and Savings account allows customers to put their cash into a general checking and savings balance, and the savings balance can be broken down into subaccounts called Vaults. You can earn 1.25% APY (variable and subject to change) on all account balances as long as you set up direct deposit. There’s no minimum direct deposit amount to earn interest or to get your paycheck two days early, but you’ll need a minimum monthly direct deposit of $1,000 to qualify for overdraft coverage and protection.

Customers earn 1% cash back on up to $3,000 in debit card purchases each month. The account also has no monthly fee, no monthly balance requirement and access to over 60,000 fee-free ATMs. The bank also doesn’t charge overdraft fees; if you try to initiate a transaction that will result in an overdraft, Discover will pull that money from a designated funding account if you’ve enabled overdraft protection. If you haven’t enabled it, then Discover will decline the transaction and you won’t be charged a fee. You can get your paycheck up to two days early when you set up direct deposit with this account.

Rewards Checking has no minimum balance aside from a $50 balance required to open an account, and no monthly maintenance, overdraft or nonsufficient-funds fees. The account also has an annual percentage yield as high as 1.25% on up to $50,000, depending on your account activity. To start earning interest, you need to have at least $1,500 in monthly direct deposits. That earns you 0.40%. To earn the maximum APY, you have to: make 10 debit card purchases — with a minimum of $3 per transaction — or sign up for the Account Aggregation/Personal Finance Manager tool (earns 0.30%). You also need to have an average daily balance of $2,500 in a managed investment portfolio (earns 0.20%), have an average daily balance of $2,500 in a self-directed portfolio (earns 0.20%) and make a monthly Axos consumer loan payment from Rewards Checking (earns 0.15%).

The Free Rewards Checking account offers an exceptionally high annual percentage yield of 2.09% for balances of up to $10,000, as long as you’re able to meet a few spending and online banking requirements. Jumping through some additional hoops will land you as much as 4.09% APY on balances of up to $10,000. If you can’t qualify for these rates, your APY will be 0.01%, and you won’t get unlimited ATM fee refunds.

Monifi customers get two linked accounts, a Spend Balance and a Save Balance. For the Spend Balance, which is like a checking account, there is no monthly fee or minimum balance requirement, and customers have access to more than 55,000 free Allpoint ATMs.

The Xtraordinary Checking account earns an APY as high as 1.75% for balances of up to $25,000. The credit union also gives up to $25 per month in rebates for out-of-network domestic ATM fees. In order to get these benefits, customers must meet certain criteria, including opting in for paperless statements and meeting some spending and deposit requirements. If the requirements aren’t met, you won’t earn interest that month.

The LendingClub Rewards Checking account gives customers two cash-earning benefits: an interest rate and cash back on spending. For the interest rate, if your balance hits $2,500, a 0.10% annual percentage yield kicks in. If you have $100,000 or more, the rate becomes 0.15% APY. For the cash-back benefit, customers can earn unlimited 1% on online and signature-based “credit” purchases with their debit card.

It’s easy to apply for Alliant membership. Just agree to support an Alliant-affiliated nonprofit if you don’t meet the other criteria, and Alliant will make a $5 donation on your behalf. Once you open an account, you’ll have access to Alliant’s services, including more than 80,000 surcharge-free ATMs.

You’ll qualify for an annual percentage yield of 0.25% if you opt out of paper statements and have at least one electronic deposit made to your account each month, such as a direct, ATM or mobile deposit or a transfer from another financial institution. Alliant’s digital tools are a step ahead of those offered by other credit unions. Its mobile check-deposit feature, for instance, lets members make daily deposits of up to $50,000. The account also doesn’t charge a monthly fee.