SoFi Checking and Savings Account: Up to $300 Bonus Offer

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SoFi Checking and Savings

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• Our Rating 5/5 How our ratings work
• APY0.50% - 4.50% More Info

  Customers earn 4.50% APY on savings balances when they set up recurring monthly direct deposit of their paycheck or benefits provider via ACH deposit. Alternatively, deposit at least $5,000 each month to earn 4.50% APY on your savings balance. Checking balances earn 0.50% APY. See full terms and disclosures at sofi.com/banking. Direct Deposit Promotion begins on 12/7/2023 and will be available through 12/31/24. SoFi members with Direct Deposit can earn 4.60% 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 4.60% APY for savings (including Vaults). Members without Direct Deposit will earn 1.20% APY on savings balances (including Vaults) and 0.50% APY on checking balances. Interest rates are variable and subject to change at any time. These rates are current as of 10/24/2023. There is no minimum balance requirement. Additional information can be found at http://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet.

• Minimum
  Deposit RequiredN/A
• Intro Bonus $50-$250Expires December 31, 2024 More Info

  New customers can earn a $250 bonus for opening a new SoFi Checking and Savings account and receiving a total of $5,000+ in qualifying direct deposits within the specified evaluation period; receive $1,000 - $4,999 in qualifying direct deposits to earn a $50 bonus.

SoFi Checking and Savings boasts an impressive 4.50% APY on savings balances for customers who set up direct deposit, or who deposit at least $5,000 each month. This account also offers 0.50% APY on checking balances. There are no monthly maintenance fees, and new customers can even earn a generous signup bonus worth up to $250. If you don’t care about physical bank locations, this is a great option.

SoFi Checking and Savings is much like other deposit accounts, except with one big benefit—you can earn up to 4.50% APY on your savings balance, as well as 0.50% APY on your checking balance. New customers can also currently earn a sign-up bonus worth up to $250 just for opening a new Sofi Checking and Savings account and receiving qualifying direct deposits.

You also won't have to jump through a lot of hoops to earn that elevated annual percentage yield (APY). All you have to do is set up monthly direct deposits of your paycheck or government-issued benefits. You won't even have to receive a minimum direct deposit amount to earn the increased APY. If you don't receive monthly direct deposits, you can still earn the top savings rate by depositing $5,000 or more each month.

Read more to find out if signing up for a new account is right for you.

SoFi Checking and Savings: $250 Bonus

It's pretty common for banks to offer a welcome bonus when you sign up and meet certain requirements, and the SoFi Checking and Savings account is no different.

New customers can currently earn a one-time bonus of up to $250 when they open a new SoFi Checking and Savings account before December 31, 2024.

To qualify for the bonus:

• Open a new SoFi Checking and Savings Account.
• Receive at least $1,000 in qualifying direct deposits within a 25-day "Evaluation Period," which begins the day your first qualifying direct deposit is received.
• Hit the minimum requirement to earn a $50 cash bonus.
• Reach the next tier to earn you a $250 bonus.

Once you meet the direct deposit requirement, you'll receive your bonus within seven business days after the Evaluation Period.

While we've seen larger bonuses tied to this account in the past—a SoFi $300 bonus was available for much of 2022, for example—the interest rate on savings balances is higher than it was during previous promotions, which helps make up for the slightly lower cash payout.

If you're looking a new account with a higher sign-up bonus, there are several banks that have more enticing bank account bonus offers.

Recommended Bank Bonuses

Account	Intro Bonus	Min. Dep. Required to Open Account	Learn More
SoFi Checking and Savings Sponsored Open Account	$50-$250Expires December 31, 2024 More Info New customers can earn a $250 bonus for opening a new SoFi Checking and Savings account and receiving a total of $5,000+ in qualifying direct deposits within the specified evaluation period; receive $1,000 - $4,999 in qualifying direct deposits to earn a $50 bonus.	N/A	Open Account
U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking Account (Member FDIC) Open Account	Up to $450Expires December 30, 2024 More Info Earn up to $450 when you open a new U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking account and complete qualifying activities. Subject to certain terms and limitations. Offer valid through December 30, 2024. Member FDIC. Offer may not be available if you are an existing U.S. Bank customer or live outside of the U.S. Bank footprint.	$25	Open Account
BMO Smart Money Checking Account Open Account	$300Expires February 3, 2025 More Info $300 Cash Bonus when you have $4,000 in direct deposits within 90 days of opening between 11/1/24 – 2/3/25. Conditions Apply. BMO Bank N.A. Member FDIC	$25	Open Account
BMO Smart Advantage Checking Open Account	$300Expires February 3, 2025 More Info $300 Cash Bonus when you have $4,000 in direct deposits within 90 days of opening between 11/1/24 – 2/3/25. Conditions Apply. BMO Bank N.A. Member FDIC	$25	Open Account
Key Smart Checking® Open Account	$300Expires May 16, 2025 More Info Earn $300 after qualified activities until 05.16.25 with the no-monthly-maintenance-fee Key Smart Checking®. Geographic restrictions apply and account opening is subject to approval. Offer is available in these states: AK, CO, CT, ID, IN, ME, MA, MI, NY, OH, OR, PA, UT, VT, WA	$10	Open Account

Earn Up to 4.50% APY

SoFi Checking and Savings isn't a high-yield savings account, but it offers a much higher APY than the majority of checking accounts—and also many savings accounts on the market.

How to earn 4.50% APY interest rate on savings

• Monthly direct deposit: Set up a recurring monthly direct deposit of your paycheck or benefits provider via ACH deposit.
  • Qualifying deposits: SoFi defines qualifying direct deposits as transactions made from an enrolled member’s employer, payroll or benefits provider via ACH deposit. There's no minimum deposit required for this method.
• Deposit $5,000 Each Month: If you don't receive direct deposit, you can still earn the top interest rate by adding $5,000 or more in qualifying deposits every 30 days. This includes funds you add to both your checking and savings accounts.
  • Qualifying deposits: In this case, qualifying deposits include ACH deposits, inbound wire transfers, cash or check deposits, peer-to-peer transfers such as PayPal or Venmo, instant funding to your SoFi Bank debit card and push payments to your SoFi Bank debit card.

While it's nice to have multiple ways to earn the top interest rate, the direct deposit method is a little more straightforward, if only because there's no minimum deposit requirement. Regardless if you get a $100 or $4,000 direct deposit from your employer each month, you'll earn 4.50% APY on your savings.

What APY Do You Earn if You Don't Qualify for 4.50%?

If you don't meet any of the requirements to earn 4.50% APY, your APY will be a healthy 1.20% APY on your savings balance, which is still higher than rates offered by many traditional banks. Plus, you earn 0.50% APY on checking balances, regardless of whether you set up direct deposit.

SoFi Direct Deposit Bonus Fine Print

• Deadline to open an account: To be eligible for the bonus, you'll need to open an account by December 31, 2024.
• Qualifying direct deposit: The deposit must come from your employer, payroll or benefits provider—such as a paycheck or government-issued benefits check.
• Bonuses are reported as taxable income: This bonus, like many bank bonuses, is considered miscellaneous income for tax purposes. You may receive a Form 1099-MISC (or Form 1042-S, if applicable) at the start of tax season, and you'll need to claim that income on your tax return, but the value of the bonus tends to outweigh the tax bill.

SoFi Checking and Savings Referral Bonus: $25

Once you become a SoFi member, you can use the app to send referral links to friends or family to also open an account. If they use your unique referral link to open an account, then fund it with $10 or more via qualifying transfers within five days, you will both receive a $25 referral bonus.

How to Get the Referral Bonus

Using the SoFi app, log into your account to access your unique referral link and then do the following:

• Look for the "Invite friends" button (or tile) on your SoFi Checking and Savings home screen.
• Click on the button to generate referral links for friends via a prepopulated SMS, email or social media post.

Terms and conditions apply.

SoFi Promo Codes

No SoFi promo codes are necessary to claim these bonuses. Simply follow the steps above and you can receive your bonus!

Features of SoFi Checking and Savings

Until recently, SoFi was not officially a bank—although customer deposits were FDIC insured. SoFi became an online bank in 2022 and can now offer traditional banking products.

If you opened a SoFi Money account prior to the firm's incorporation as a bank, don't worry—you'll keep your benefits until your spending account is converted to the new Checking and Savings product.

SoFi Checking and Savings Work Together

One thing to know is that you have to open both a checking account and savings account; you can't do solely one or the other. But remember, everyone who opens this account can get 0.50% APY on checking balances and 4.50% APY on savings with direct deposit or monthly deposits of at least $5,000.

No Account Fees

You won't need to worry abut overdraft fees, monthly fees or punitive fees for not meeting a minimum balance requirement.

Plus, you'll have fee-free access to the Allpoint ATM network, which operates 55,000 cash points nationwide. Still, if you use a non-network ATM, you will incur third-party fees.

Get Paid Up to Two Days Early

When you set up direct deposit, you'll receive your paycheck up to two days earlier.

This is based on the timing of when SoFi receives notice of impending payment from your employer or depositor. It's typically up to two days before the scheduled payment date, but your mileage may vary.

SoFi Checking and Savings Rewards

Following the Great Recession, the Federal Reserve capped debit card interchange fees at the behest of Congress, and debit cards with rewards became a dying breed. But recently, these cards have started making a comeback, especially as online banks have grown.

SoFi Checking and Savings offers one of these accounts, and its debit card offers up to 15% cash back with select businesses.

In the SoFi app, you can view various offers for up to 15% back from local retailers and businesses. This gives you a chance to support local businesses and get a little something back in return.

Depending on how you spend your money, you may not be able to take advantage of all of these rewards offers. But if your alternative is a checking account at another bank with no rewards at all, it's easy to see that SoFi has an advantage.

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Other Benefits

Cash-back reward offers, a high APY and bonus offers may be enough for a lot of people to pick SoFi over other banking alternatives. But if you want more, here are some of the other features you can look forward to:

• Vaults: SoFi Savings Vaults are extensions of your account, where you can earmark funds for certain goals. You can create up to 20 Vaults, and there are no fees or minimum balance requirements.
• Roundups: Every purchase you make with your debit card is rounded up to the nearest dollar. The difference is automatically transferred to one of your Vaults, which you can dedicate for that savings. Saving a few cents every time you swipe your card may not sound like a lot, but it can add up over time.
• Money transfers: The app lets you transfer money to anyone, similar to Venmo or Cash App. If they're a SoFi member, they'll receive the funds instantly. If not, they'll receive the cash within two to three business days after they submit their bank account information to get the funds.
• Mobile deposit: While you can't deposit cash into a SoFi account super easily, you can deposit checks via the mobile app.
• No ATM fees: There are no ATM fees if you use one of the more than 55,000 ATMs worldwide in the Allpoint network.

Other Fees

Another benefit of SoFi Checking and Savings is that you don't have to worry about account fees, such as a monthly servicing fee.

That doesn't mean SoFi Checking and Savings is completely fee free, though:

• Out-of-network ATM fees: You'll be charged a fee by the ATM owner, and SoFi won't reimburse that fee like some online banks do.
• Foreign currency conversion fee: You pay 0.2% if you use your debit card to make a purchase or ATM withdrawal in a foreign currency.

How to Maximize SoFi Checking and Savings

SoFi Checking and Savings offers a lot of features you can't get with a traditional checking or savings account. And because it's partnered with SoFi Invest, it makes it easier to transfer funds between its banking and investment accounts, if that's something you want to do. Read our full SoFi Invest review to learn more.

Here's how to maximize the value you can get from SoFi Checking and Savings:

• Read the fine print on the sign-up bonus to make sure you receive the full amount.
• Meet the monthly requirements to qualify for the higher APY and cash-back rewards.
• Check your mobile app regularly for the latest limited-time cash-back offers.
• Take advantage of your Vaults to establish and track savings goals.
• Turn on the Roundup feature so you can save every time you use your debit card.

With the cash-back offers, it's also important to know when not to take advantage of an offer. In general, if you would've spent the money with or without the rewards, activate the offer and get your rewards. But if you're spending money you wouldn't normally just to earn 10% or 15% back, you're losing more than you're gaining.

Pair with a SoFi Credit Card

SoFi also offers a credit card that pairs well with its Checking and Savings account. The SoFi credit card offers flat-rate 2% unlimited cash back for everyday spending. It awards 1% cash back on all eligible purchases—and when you redeem rewards to pay down eligible debt or transfer to your SoFi Checking and Savings or SoFi Invest account, it awards an extra 1%, for a total of 2%.

What's more, when you make 12 on-time payments, the APR on any remaining credit card balance is lowered by 1%. This is a lot of value for a credit card with no annual fee. Check out our top credit card bonus offers to find the right card for you.

Consider SoFi Invest

SoFi Invest provides a lot of options for investors, including active investing, an automated robo-advisor, retirement accounts, cryptocurrency and even fractional shares. This account occasionally features a bonus for new members or a promotion to win free stock.

SoFi's Active Investing platform helps you make that happen. You can buy stocks and exchange-traded funds. There's no account minimum, which means you can start with as little as $1, making it perfect for new investors without high net worths.

Unlike many robo-advisors that charge an annual fee to manage your investment account, SoFi's Automated Investing plan charges no account management fees.

SoFi Invest also offers cryptocurrency trading. What's more, you can trade crypto directly in the SoFi app, which means you don't have to keep track of complicated cryptocurrency wallet passwords.

Related Article

SoFi Active Invest: Compare Investment Options

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Explore SoFi Loans

SoFi Loans offers a variety of personal loans for home improvement, credit card consolidation, medical procedures and relocation assistance. It also offers mortgages and mortgage refinancing loans.

Look Into Student Loan Refinancing

You can also refinance your student loans. Refinancing is a great solution for working graduates who have high-interest, unsubsidized Direct Loans, Graduate PLUS loans or private loans. Federal loans do carry some special benefits like public service forgiveness and economic hardship programs, though, which may not be accessible to you after you refinance.

Strong APY for Checking and Savings

Ready to open a SoFi Checking and Savings Account? Start here.

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Is a SoFi Account Right for You?

SoFi isn't right for everyone. If you like in-person service or deal with a lot of cash, using SoFi may be more trouble than it's worth. But if you don't use cash regularly and prefer an online banking setup, it's one of the better banking options out there. Plus, the bonus for new account holders gives you a great excuse to test drive membership.

That said, take some time to compare SoFi Checking and Savings with checking accounts and high-yield savings accounts, and compare rates and other features to find the right fit for you.

FAQs

• What is SoFi Checking and Savings?

  SoFi Checking and Savings is a deposit account offered by SoFi. It offers up to 4.50% APY on savings balances, no monthly fees or overdraft fees, free ATM access via the Allpoint network and a mobile app.

• How do I earn the SoFi Checking and Savings referral bonus?

  You can earn the SoFi Checking and Savings referral bonus when you share a unique referral code with friends and family and they successfully open a new account and make a deposit of $10 or more within five days of account opening.

  The deposit must be made via an ACH transfer or via "Instant Transfer" from a debit card—Venmo, PayPal, Apple Cash and other P2P transfer platforms are ineligible to earn the referral bonus. Additionally, SoFi Checking and Savings referral bonuses are not available to residents of a few states or to SoFi employees.

• How does the SoFi Checking and Savings Roundup Bonus work?

  When SoFi Checking and Savings account holders set up a Vault, any purchases made with a SoFi debit card are automatically rounded up to the nearest dollar and deposited into the Vault. For example, if you spend $2.75 on a cup of coffee, SoFi debits your account $3 and deposits the extra $0.25 into your Vault. Periodically, SoFi will offer roundup bonuses where members can earn an additional bonus cash just for using the roundup feature.

• Should I consider the SoFi Credit Card?

  You should consider the SoFi Credit Card if you prioritize cash-back rewards for your budgeted spending over travel rewards, and if you are a SoFi member or willing to become one. The Sofi Credit Card has no annual fee, and it offers 2% cash back (earned as points) on eligible purchases. You can redeem your points to pay down your SoFi Credit Card balance or deposit them into a SoFi Checking and Savings or SoFi Invest account for cash back.

Featured photo courtesy of SoFi