SoFi Bank Review (Get Up To $250 Bonus Cash)

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SoFi Bank provides a diverse range of online banking solutions that can boost your interest earnings and simplify access to your income. Here’s a quick overview of some of the platform’s top financial tools to enhance your financial well-being.

SoFi Bank Review: What is SoFi Bank?

SoFi Bank is definitely a real bank and became a national bank in 2022 and offers an FDIC-insured checking and savings product. The platform is part of SoFi Technologies, a personal finance technology service that got its start by issuing student loans with competitive rates and minimal lender fees.

The brand has expanded to include many financial services and even sponsors a professional sports stadium in Los Angeles.

You can use SoFi exclusively for its free checking account. It’s also possible to use its other services including fee-free investing, credit insights, and career coaching.

SoFi Checking and Savings

A SoFi Checking & Savings account is free to open and has no minimum balance requirements or service fees.

Some of the account’s most valuable features include:

• Earn up to 4.50% APY interest on savings and Vaults (direct deposit customers only)
• Earn 0.50% APY on checking account balances
• No overdraft fees (on up to $50 in overdraft protection with qualifying direct deposits)
• Over 55,000 fee-free Allpoint ATMs
• Automated bill pay
• Up to $2 million in FDIC Insurance

These various perks make SoFi Checking & Savings one of the best free checking accounts. This is SoFi’s only banking option, but it provides the best features of most online checking or savings accounts. For example, you can shift your long-term savings into savings vaults separate from your checking account balance that you pay bills with.

SoFi Checking & Savings is a good option for savers who receive at least $5,000 in direct deposits every 30 days. This monthly deposit amount qualifies you for the highest available interest rate of up to 4.50% APY on Savings and Vaults plus 0.50% on checking deposits. Customers who don’t meet the direct deposit requirements earn 1.20% APY on Savings and Vaults for the monthly period plus 0.50% on checking balances.

SoFi members with Direct Deposit or $5,000 or more in Qualifying Deposits during the 30-Day Evaluation Period can earn 4.50% annual percentage yield (APY) on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances. There is no minimum Direct Deposit amount required to qualify for the stated interest rate. Members without either Direct Deposit or Qualifying Deposits, during the 30-Day Evaluation Period will earn 1.20% APY on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances. Only SoFi members with direct deposit are eligible for other SoFi Plus benefits. Interest rates are variable and subject to change at any time. These rates are current as of 8/27/2024. There is no minimum balance requirement. Additional information can be found at http://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet.

Like most banking accounts, you will benefit the most from this account if you enroll in direct deposit so you earn a higher interest rate, qualify for overdraft protection, and can earn a signup bonus. You will receive your banking details at account opening that you can provide to your employer and benefits provider to start depositing your income into your SoFi account instead.

Up To $300 Checking Account Bonus

New SoFi Checking & Savings members can earn up to $300 in bonus cash by signing up and setting up direct deposit. After waiting typically 2-4 weeks for the direct deposit to hit, members can collect a cash bonus of $50 to $300, depending on the direct deposit amount.

Related: The Best Checking Account Bonuses

SoFi Insights

Continuing with the SoFi Bank review, let’s look at Insights by SoFi (previously SoFi Relay), which provides complimentary financial insights, including:

• Credit score monitoring
• Budgeting
• investment value tracking

You can receive weekly credit score updates for your VantageScore 3.0 from your TransUnion credit report. The service lists several factors that hurt and harm your score but doesn’t provide personalized advice to improve your credit.

Related: Best Places to Get Free Credit Score Checks

SoFi Credit Card

The SoFi Credit Card is a stellar cash-back credit card that earns up to 3% back on purchases. It doesn’t charge an annual fee or a foreign transaction fee.

Here is a summary of the best cardholder benefits:

• 3% back on travel purchases through SoFi Travel powered by Expedia
• 2% back on all remaining purchases
• Up to $1,000 in complimentary cell phone coverage
• World Elite Mastercard benefits

You can redeem your points for maximum value for cash back, investments, or eligible loan payments. A participating SoFi account is necessary for the previous redemption options.

Cash statement credits are available, but the redemption value is only 0.5 cents which effectively means you earn 1.5% back on qualifying travel purchases and 1% back on everything else. If you don’t plan on being a loyal SoFi user, other cash-back credit cards are ideal.

SoFi Member Benefits

Creating a SoFi membership account provides several benefits that competing financial institutions usually don’t provide.

• SoFi Plus: Premium benefits include higher rates on savings, interest rate discounted personal loan rates, and no-fee overdraft coverage. You’re eligible for complimentary membership when you receive qualifying direct deposits in SoFi Checking & Savings.
• SoFi Member Rewards: Earn points for various activities such as account logins, monitoring your credit, or making payments. Points are redeemable for cash, stock slices, loan contributions, or SoFi Credit Card statement credits.
• Career Coaching: 100% free help with job searches, personal branding, and career transitions.
• Financial Planning: Receive personalized advice to plan for upcoming financial goals. This service is available to all members, including recent graduates, working professionals, and those nearing retirement.

You can explore the various benefits further in the SoFi App.

Is SoFi Bank Safe?

When writing this SoFi Bank review, we had to consider what our readers may ask, including whether this bank is safe. SoFi Bank is trustworthy and provides up to $250,000 in FDIC Insurance benefits and a combined coverage limit of $2 million through its partner banks. This is one of the best coverage policies in online banking. Additionally, there are no service fees or minimum balance requirements.

The flexibility of making deposits and withdrawals can make it easy for SoFi Checking & Savings to be your primary banking account to receive direct deposits and pay bills.

Additionally, phone customer support is available daily, including on the weekend.

Is SoFi Checking & Savings Worth It?

Opening a SoFi Checking & Savings account can be worth it if you’re an existing SoFi customer or want to avoid traditional bank fees. However, you must have qualifying direct deposits to earn the highest interest rate which rivals with high-yield savings accounts, and to also receive complimentary overdraft protection and see your paycheck deposit up to two days sooner.

If you don’t plan on enrolling in direct deposit, your account balance will still earn the base interest rate.

SoFi Bank Pros and Cons

This SoFi Bank review wouldn’t be complete without looking at the pros and cons. Here are some of the positives and negatives of banking with SoFi.

Pros

• No account fees or balance is required
• Earn interest on all deposits
• Earn debit card rewards
• Over 55,000 fee-free ATMs
• Free member benefits like career coaching

Cons

• Select benefits require direct deposit
• Can only earn the bank deposit with qualifying direct deposits
• Some people won’t want to open a checking and savings account

Alternatives to SoFi Checking & Savings

We couldn’t leave this SoFi Bank review without providing some alternatives. These online banks are also worth considering to earn interest and enjoy special banking perks.

CIT Bank

CIT Bank offers a variety of checking and savings products, including bank CDs which provide a fixed interest rate for the investment term. The various products can help you earn a competitive rate with flexible deposit and balance requirements.

Related: Is CIT Bank Trustworthy? What To Know About The Online Bank

Quontic Bank

Quontic Bank offers several rewards checking accounts and high-yield savings products. Its Cash Rewards Checking account can earn cash back on each debit card purchase.

In addition, the Quontic Bank High Yield Savings Account product earns a competitive yield without a required ongoing balance or recurring direct deposits. You only need to make a minimum $100 opening deposit.

Related: Quontic Bank Review

Summary of Sofi Checking Account

In conclusion, this SoFi Bank review has hopefully given you a clearer picture of this bank. There’s plenty to like about SoFi Bank, as you can earn a competitive interest rate, avoid nuisance fees, and have complimentary access to multiple management tools. However, you might find the account benefits lacking if you don’t receive direct deposits or don’t plan on using the institution’s other financial services.

Disclosures

SoFi Checking and Savings

The SoFi Checking Account and the SoFi Savings Account are deposit accounts offered by SoFi Bank, N.A (“SoFi Bank”), a member of FDIC and a wholly owned subsidiary of Social Finance, Inc. Only deposit products offered by SoFi Bank are FDIC insured.

SoFi Insights

SoFi offers personal tools to view, aggregate, and manage your information from multiple accounts. The information compiled includes accounts held at SoFi and at external financial institutions, such as a bank account or a loan serviced by another institution. SoFi offers these tools under the product name brand of “Insights.” If you elect to connect an external account in Insights, you authorize SoFi to obtain information from the Connected Account external account and use it as described below (“Connected Accounts”). SoFi’s Insights tools are intended to only provide organizational services for your financial information. The SoFi Insights tools and services are not intended to provide any financial planning, investment, tax, or retirement planning services or advice. SoFi does NOT undertake any review of your account information to provide you with any advice or guidance. SoFi does not make any determination about the suitability or appropriateness of any transactions you might undertake at SoFi or elsewhere. If you elect to use Insights, you are fully and solely responsible for your accounts and agree SoFi’s only role is to aggregate compile data to information for presentment to you.

SoFi also offers you the opportunity to obtain your credit score from a single credit reporting agency for the purpose of allowing you to monitor your credit score.

SoFi Invest

SoFi Credit Card

The SoFi Credit Card is issued by The Bank of Missouri (TBOM) (“Issuer”) pursuant to license by Mastercard® International Incorporated and can be used everywhere Mastercard is accepted. Mastercard is a registered trademark, and the circles design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated.

Rewards points, which in turn can be redeemed as cash rewards, are earned with every eligible purchase made with the SoFi Credit Card for a customer who is in good standing. No points will be earned with respect to reversed transactions, returned purchases, or other similar transactions. See Rewards Details<SoFi.com/card/rewards> for more information on eligible purchases.

Financial Planning

Neither the Investment Advisor Representatives of SoFi Wealth, nor the Registered Representatives of SoFi Securities are compensated for the sale of any product or service sold through any SoFi Invest platform. Information related to lending products contained herein should not be construed as an offer to sell, solicitation to buy or a pre-qualification of any loan product offered by SoFi Lending Corp and/or its affiliates.