15 Best Online Checking Accounts of 2021

Capital One’s checking account earns interest and has no minimum balance.

Monthly fee: None.

Bonus: You have the potential to earn a $150 bonus when you open a Capital One 360 Checking account between June 16 and August 17, 2021, enter the promo code “BONUS150” at account opening and set up and receive two direct deposit payments of $250 or more into the account in the first 75 days.

Special features: The checking rate is 0.10% APY for any balance.

Other pros: 360 Checking account holders have free access to over 70,000 Capital One, Allpoint® and MoneyPass® ATMs nationwide, and a handful of Capital One locations. The bank’s mobile app is highly rated as well.

What you should know: Capital One recently launched an early direct deposit feature.

Chime is a mobile-only financial service that has no overdraft fees, plus a feature that lets certain customers overdraw as much as negative $200 without a fee.

Monthly fee: None.

Special features: In addition to its consumer-friendly overdraft program, Chime has two automatic savings programs. One lets you round up every debit card transaction to the nearest dollar and automatically transfer the difference to your Chime Savings account. The other allows you to choose a percentage of your paycheck that automatically gets transferred into savings. Chime says: "Round Ups automatically round up debit card purchases to the nearest dollar and transfers the round up from your Chime Spending Account to into your savings account. Save When I Get Paid automatically transfers 10% of your direct deposits of $500 or more from your Spending Account into your savings account."

Other pros: Chime doesn’t charge overdraft fees or require a minimum balance. Customers can use over 38,000 free ATMs through two networks, MoneyPass and Visa Plus Alliance, and can receive their direct deposit up to two days early (early access to direct deposit funds depends on payer). If you need to write a check, Chime has a free online feature that creates and mails one on your behalf.

LendingClub offers a Rewards Checking account that combines a competitive interest rate and cash-back rewards. It also has unlimited ATM fee reimbursements, a rare perk, and up to two-day early direct deposit.

Monthly fee: None.

Special features: You get an unlimited 1% cash back on spending with your debit card. And the interest rate has two tiers, 0.10% and 0.15% annual percentage yield, depending on your account balance.

Other pros: LendingClub belongs to the surcharge-free NYCE and MoneyPass ATM networks, and it doesn’t charge out-of-network ATM fees.

Customers of One Finance, a nonbank financial institution, can organize money in linked sub-accounts called "pockets," whether for paying bills or saving toward goals. One Finance also gives customers access to a large ATM network.

Monthly fee: None

Special features: Customers start off with three pockets: Spend, Save and Auto-Save and can create more to customize their experience. Save and Auto-Save pockets earn interest. Save pockets earn 1.00% APY on up to $5,000 in balances, or $25,000 with paycheck direct deposit. The Auto-Save pocket earns 3.00% APY. When you use your debit card, purchases are rounded up to the next dollar, and the difference is deposited in Auto-Save. Customers can also have a portion of their direct deposit paycheck dropped into Auto-Save.

Other pros: One Finance is part of the Allpoint network, which gives customers access to more than 55,000 fee-free ATMs.

Quontic Bank has three checking account options, each with an enticing benefit: high interest, cash rewards and bitcoin rewards.

Monthly fee: None

Special features: The high-interest checking account has a rate of 1.01% APY for customers who make 15 debit card purchases monthly and have balances under $1 million. With cash rewards checking, customers can earn 1.50% cash back on debit card purchases. The bitcoin rewards option earns 1.50% on qualifying debit card purchases, with rewards you can convert to bitcoin.

Other pros: Quontic gives customers free access to more than 90,000 ATMs in the U.S.

Discover Bank’s checking account lets you earn cash back on certain purchases, and you’ll also have access to 60,000 free ATMs.

Monthly fee: None.

Special features: With Discover’s Cashback Debit account, you’ll get 1% cash back on qualifying debit card purchases of up to $3,000 a month.

Other pros: Discover also has a top-rated high-yield online savings account.

What you should know: There is only one physical branch location, in Greenwood, Delaware, so national customers have to be OK with not having face-to-face customer service.

The company says: “ATM transactions, the purchase of money orders or other cash equivalents, cash over portions of point-of-sale transactions, peer-to-peer (P2P) payments (such as Apple Pay Cash), and loan payments or account funding made with your debit card are not eligible for cash back rewards. In addition, purchases made using third-party payment accounts (services such as Venmo® and PayPal™, which also provide P2P payments) may not be eligible for cash back rewards. Apple, the Apple logo and Apple Pay are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries."

Like some other Axos Bank checking accounts, the Rewards Checking has great perks: no overdraft fees and no monthly fees, plus domestic ATM fee reimbursements.

Monthly fee: None.

Special features: With Rewards Checking, you also can earn up to 1.25% APY, but you'll have to jump through a couple of hoops.

Other pros: Axos also has a CashBack Checking rewards program that gives you 1% cash back on debit card transactions that require your signature, if you keep at least $1,500 as the average daily balance. If your account falls below that, you earn 0.50% cash back instead.

Varo Bank is a mobile banking app with an online banking account that doesn’t charge monthly fees and a savings account with a competitive rate.

Monthly fee: None.

Special features: The Varo banking account is a particularly good deal: With no foreign transaction fees and an international ATM network (including 55,000 Allpoint ATMs in the U.S. and abroad), it’s among the best deals for international travelers.

Other pros: Spend most of your time stateside? Varo is still a solid deal. It doesn’t charge monthly service fees or overdraft fees.

Unlike most credit unions, Alliant makes it easy to apply for membership and take advantage of its interest checking and high-quality digital tools. If you don’t meet its other eligibility requirements, you can qualify by supporting an Alliant-affiliated nonprofit at no cost to you.

Monthly fee: None.

Special features: 0.25% APY. To be eligible for this rate, you must opt out of paper statements and make at least one electronic deposit to your account each month.

Other pros: You’ll have access to over 80,000 surcharge-free ATMs and up to $20 monthly in out-of-network ATM fee refunds.

Ally is an online-only bank with a no-fee checking account with a notable rate and a high-yield savings account. And Ally reimburses up to $10 in out-of-network ATM fees monthly.

Monthly fee: None.

Special features: Ally’s Interest Checking has a rate of 0.10% APY for balances below $15,000; 0.25% APY for balances of $15,000 and above.

Other pros: Ally has more than 43,000 surcharge-free Allpoint ATMs, highly rated mobile apps and exceptional customer service. You can contact Ally via phone, real-time chat, messaging and Twitter. You can pair your Ally checking with its savings account, which is among the accounts with the highest yields.

The checking account at Bank5 Connect, online branch of Massachusetts-based Bank Five, has a high rate and ATM fee reimbursements of up to $15 per month.

Monthly fee: None.

Special features: The rate for High-Interest Checking is 0.20% APY and the minimum to earn interest is $100.

Other pros: Account perks include free checks and no ATM fees by the bank. Bank5 Connect also has a highly rated savings account.

NBKC offers a solid 0.15% APY on its Everything Account, which combines checking and savings features in one account.

Monthly fee: None

Special features: The Everything Account has a feature called “Goals.” Goals are sub-accounts that allow you to put money away for different purposes, such as a down payment for a house, an emergency fund or a vacation. No minimum balance is required to earn interest. Customers also have access to a “Financial Snapshot,” which can aggregate NBKC and external account activity to give users a look at their spending and help them set budgets for different categories.

Other pros: NBKC is part of the MoneyPass network, which gives customers access to 34,000 fee-free ATMs.

Nationwide’s Interest Checking account is serviced by Axos Bank and offers a decent 0.10% APY, which is higher than the national average.

Monthly fee: None

Special features: Customers can access their direct deposit paychecks up to two days early and get up to $30 per month in ATM fee reimbursements.

Other pros: Nationwide’s overdraft fee is $25, which is lower than what some competitors charge.

TIAA’s Yield Pledge Checking offers a decent 0.10% APY and is part of the large MoneyPass and Allpoint ATMs networks, although it also offers a generous ATM fee reimbursement program.

Monthly fee: None

Special features: For accounts with a daily average balance of less than $5,000, the bank will reimburse up to $15 a month in non-network ATM fees. Reimbursements are unlimited for balances above that threshold.

Other pros: TIAA offers free overdraft transfers from a linked account or line of credit.

USAA caters to military servicemembers and their families, and its checking account provides great ATM access, no monthly fees and early paydays for active military.

Monthly fee: None

Special features: Active military members can get paid a day early if they have their paycheck direct deposit linked to their USAA account.

USAA customers have access to more than 60,000 USAA-preferred ATMs where the first 10 withdrawals per month are free ($2 after that), or they can use 1,200 USAA-branded ATMs for free. USAA also doesn’t charge an overdraft transfer fee for customers who link another USAA checking or savings account to cover the overdraft.