SoFi Review 2024: Checking and Savings

The SoFi® combination checking and savings account features a high APY, no monthly or overdraft fees and good remote customer service options.
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Written by Chanelle Bessette
Lead Writer
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Edited by Tim Manni
Lead Assigning Editor
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SoFi Bank, N.A.
Learn more

at SoFi Bank, N.A., Member FDIC

  • Savings
  • Checking
  • Customer experience
  • Overdraft fees

Overall institution rating

4.9

NerdWallet rating 
The bottom line:

Financial services company and brokerage SoFi gained its bank charter in 2022 and launched a combination checking and savings account, which is not a common offering. SoFi's account features some of the best rates available, no monthly fees and a solid free overdraft coverage program for customers who qualify. To earn SoFi’s highest rate on its savings account — one of NerdWallet’s picks for best high-yield online savings — requires meeting a steep minimum deposit each month.

Though this account is a combo account, we've covered the checking and savings portions separately since money held in the different parts of the account can earn different annual percentage yields. Here’s a quick look at SoFi’s APYs:

Checking account: 0.50% APY. Savings account without direct deposit or $5,000 in monthly deposits: 1.20% APY. Savings account with direct deposit or $5,000 in monthly deposits: 4.00% APY.

Best for: Those who want to earn high interest, don’t need to deposit cash often and don’t mind using customer service online or by phone instead of at bank branches.

Pros

  • No overdraft fees.
  • No monthly fees.
  • Competitive rate on savings account.
  • Large, free, nationwide ATM network.
  • Early direct deposit.

Cons

  • No branch access.
  • Fees for cash deposits.
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Full review

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What the Nerds think


Margarette Burnette, Banking Senior Writer
"I’m all about making it easy to save money, so I appreciate how SoFi helps you put your savings on autopilot. You can sign up for automatic features, like rounding up debit card purchases to the nearest dollar and saving the spare change, or the 'set it and forget it' feature that puts a part of your paycheck into savings each time you get paid. You'll need to be comfortable banking online, though, since there aren't any branches. But there are also no monthly fees and both your savings and checking balances earn interest."


Savings

SoFi Checking and Savings

Savings

Member FDIC

4.5

/5
 NerdWallet rating 
APY
4.00%
With $0 min. balance for APY
Bonus
$300
Earn up to $300 with direct deposit. Terms apply.
Learn more

at SoFi Bank, N.A.

With direct deposit set up, you’ll earn a higher rate on your savings balance than you would without direct deposit or meeting a minimum deposit requirement. For customers who set up direct deposit in any amount or who deposit at least $5,000 every 30 days into their account using other accepted methods, SoFi savings pays a competitive 4.00% APY on the savings balance.

$5,000 is a steep requirement, and what’s necessary every 30 days in order to qualify for the higher APY without direct deposit. Setting up direct deposit — for which there’s no minimum requirement — is probably more feasible for most people. Other online savings accounts may offer a higher APY but require a high minimum balance.

If a customer hasn’t set up direct deposit, then they will earn 1.20% on their savings account balance, with no balance minimums or limits. While that’s much lower than SoFi’s maximum rate, it still beats the national savings average of 0.43% APY.

Savings features. The savings account also comes with Vaults, which are subaccounts that can be designated for different savings goals. If a customer has at least one Vault, they can also set up an automatic savings program called Roundups, which allows SoFi to round up debit card purchases to the nearest dollar and deposit the difference into a Vault of the customer’s choice. These features can help make it easier to organize your money and manage your finances.

Checking

SoFi Checking and Savings

Checking

Member FDIC

5.0

/5
 NerdWallet rating 
Monthly fee
$0
APY
0.50%
With $0 min. balance for APY
Bonus
$300
Earn up to $300 with direct deposit. Terms apply.
Learn more

at SoFi Bank, N.A.

SoFi's Checking and Savings account is a combined account, but the checking and savings balances earn different rates. Whether you set up direct deposit or not, you’ll earn 0.50% (APY is variable and subject to change) on your checking balance. That’s much higher than the national average of 0.08% for interest checking accounts.

Early paycheck. In addition to a higher APY, customers who set up direct deposit also have the ability to receive their paycheck two days early. There’s no minimum direct deposit requirement to earn either perk, but there is a $1,000 monthly direct deposit requirement to qualify for overdraft coverage.

Wide access to ATMs. SoFi is part of the Allpoint ATM network, so customers can use tens of thousands of nationwide machines for free to withdraw cash.

Costly cash deposit services. If customers want to deposit cash, then they'll need to visit a Green Dot retail location, which you can find at places including 7-Eleven, CVS, Rite Aid, Safeway, Walgreens and Walmart. Green Dot charges a fee of up to $4.95 per deposit. Other online checking accounts allow customers to make cash deposits for free at retail locations.

SoFi says: "We do not charge any account, service or maintenance fees for SoFi Checking and Savings. We do charge a transaction fee to process each outgoing wire transfer. SoFi does not charge a fee for incoming wire transfers, however the sending bank may charge a fee. Our fee policy is subject to change at any time. See the SoFi Checking & Savings Fee Sheet for details at sofi.com/legal/banking-fees/."

Customer experience

4.7

NerdWallet rating 

Convenient remote customer service options. SoFi is an online-only bank and financial services company. It offers strong remote customer service options, including extended business hours seven days a week for customer service phone calls, a robust X (Twitter) account to handle customer questions and complaints, a virtual assistant chat feature for customers who are logged in, and a website with a large FAQ section. Its mobile app also has a strong customer star rating in the Apple App Store and a solid rating in the Google Play Store.

Note that customers can have either an individual account or a jointly owned account, but not both.

Federal insurance for up to $2 million. A unique feature that SoFi offers is the option to have up to $2 million of your account funds federally insured. The standard insurance coverage from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is $250,000 per person, per bank, per category, but SoFi is able to offer FDIC insurance for a much bigger amount through its partnership with a network of other banks.

Learn more about FDIC insurance limits and how to insure your money when you’re banking over $250,000.

Overdraft fees

5.0

NerdWallet rating 

No overdraft fees and strong overdraft protection programs. SoFi doesn’t charge overdraft fees. If a customer has direct deposits of $1,000 or more per month, they qualify to opt in to overdraft protection coverage services.

For overdraft protection, SoFi will transfer funds from a customer’s general savings balance to cover a transaction when their checking balance is low. For overdraft coverage, SoFi will spot a customer up to $50 to cover a debit card transaction.

For customers who opt out of overdraft protection coverage, SoFi will simply decline any transactions that would result in an overdraft.

» Tend to overdraw your account? See our list of the best banks for overdrafts

Methodology

NerdWallet’s overall ratings for banks and credit unions are weighted averages of several categories: checking, savings, certificates of deposit or credit union share certificates, banking experience and overdraft fees. Factors we consider, depending on the category, include rates and fees, ATM and branch access, account features and limits, user-facing technology, customer service and innovation. The stars represent ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars). Ratings are rounded to the nearest half-star.

Frequently asked questions