SoFi Overview

SoFi is an online-only “neobank” with over four million members. SoFi offers a combined checking and savings account; student, personal, auto and mortgage loans; credit cards; insurance; and investing, including retirement accounts. In short, you can use SoFi for all of your financial needs. SoFi has about $4.4 billion in assets.

                By                    Karen Doyle

  • Overview

  • Features

  • Banking Experience

  • Competitor Comparison

  • Final Take

  • Checking and Savings Account

  • 5.0

  • Member Rewards

  • 4.8

  • Breadth of Products

  • 5.0

  • Banking Experience

  • 4.8

Pros

  • High interest rates on checking and savings
  • Rewards for using the app
  • No fees or minimums
  • All your banking and investing in one place.

Cons

  • No physical branches

Key Features

SoFi has a wide variety of features, with products and services for just about anyone. Here are a few of the features that stand out.

Checking and Savings Account

The SoFi Checking and Savings account is a single account that combines checking and savings features. When you use it with direct deposit, you get lots of perks. You’ll earn APY interest on your checking balance, plus you’ll get your paycheck up to two days earlier. You’ll also be covered for overdrafts up to $50 for free.

The funds that you designate for savings earn APY. You can also earmark funds for certain goals by putting them in Vaults. And you can use AutoSave to make sure part of your paycheck goes straight into savings.

The SoFi account has no monthly maintenance fees, and you can use over 55,000 ATMs in the Allpoint Network for free. Customers can also organize their money with Vaults and save painlessly with Roundups.

New customers can get a bonus of up to $250 when they open a SoFi Checking account and set up direct deposit. If your direct deposits are between $1,000 and $4,999.99, you get a $50 bonus. When you get direct deposits of $5,000 or more within 25 days of the first direct deposit, you get a bonus of $250. There is no bonus for direct deposits of less than $1,000.

Member Rewards

SoFi has a Member Rewards program that provides points for saving money, getting paid, and using the SoFi app. Points can be redeemed for cash into your SoFi Checking and Savings account, for fractional shares of stock or cryptocurrency in your SoFi Active Invest account, for an extra loan payment on a SoFi loan or for a statement credit to your SoFi credit card.

Breadth of Products

SoFi offers a complete suite of banking, lending and investment products. In addition to the SoFi account, which includes checking and savings, you can get a student, personal, home or auto loan. Also included are auto, life, homeowners, renters or cyber insurance. You can obtain estate planning services and finally, open a SoFi credit card.

With a SoFi active investing account, you can trade your own stocks and ETFs with no commissions. Professional management is not available, but the app provides news and information and there are member events where you can share your experience with other investors. If you prefer a robo-advisor, choose SoFi’s automated investing account and get help with planning, rebalancing and asset allocation. SoFi customers can even invest in IPOs, and cryptocurrency and purchase fractional shares.

Banking Experience

At the heart of the SoFi banking experience is the app. The SoFi app lets you track all of your finances is one place and makes it easy to move money from one account to another and to see your total financial picture at one time.

The SoFi app has a rating of 4.8 stars out of 5 on the App Store, and 4.0 stars on Google Play.

Comparable Neobank Options

Choosing a new bank is a big decision, so you want to compare your options. Be sure to compare the features you’ll actually use — if you have no interest in CDs, or if you won’t be needing an auto loan, you can ignore those rates and focus on the products you will be using. Here are some other banks to consider.

Upgrade

Upgrade’s checking account gives you 2% cash back when you use your debit card for everyday expenses, like gas, convenience, and drug store purchases, monthly subscriptions, etc., and 1% cash back on everything else. You earn APY on savings accounts, or APY on balances of $1,000 or more. You can get personal loans, but no mortgages and Upgrade has no investment options.

Ally

Like SoFi, Ally has a full suite of products: deposit products including checking, savings, and CD accounts; mortgage, auto, and personal loans; credit cards; and investment products including stocks, ETFs, crypto and options. Interest rates at Ally are slightly lower, with checking accounts paying just APY, and savings paying APY.

Final Take

If you’re looking for a single home for all your financial business, and you don’t need to be able to walk into a branch and talk to a teller, SoFi is a solid choice for you. The interest rates are very good, and you can earn rewards and discounts by having everything in one place.

  • Is SoFi Bank legitimate?

  • SoFi is a financial technology company; also known as a fintech. Its checking and savings account is offered through SoFi Bank, N.A., which is a member of FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender. Deposits in SoFi Bank are insured up to $250,000 per depositor by the FDIC. Investment products are offered by SoFi Securities LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Investments are not FDIC-insured and investors can lose money.

  • Is SoFi better than a bank?

  • SoFi offers banking services, along with investments, insurance, and other products and services. Because it is online-only it does not have the overhead of brick-and-mortar bank branches, so it can offer higher interest rates on deposits and lower interest rates on loans than some nationwide banks that have physical locations.

  • Is my money safe in SoFi?

  • Yes. Savings and checking deposit accounts are offered by SoFi Bank, which is a member of FDIC, so these deposits are insured up to $250,000 per depositor. Note that it can take up to two days for your deposits to be transferred to SoFi Bank, and they are not insured until they arrive at the bank.

  • What bank owns SoFi?

  • SoFi Technologies, Inc. is a publicly held company, trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol SOFI.

  • SoFi is a financial technology company; also known as a fintech. Its checking and savings account is offered through SoFi Bank, N.A., which is a member of FDIC and an Equal Housing Lender. Deposits in SoFi Bank are insured up to $250,000 per depositor by the FDIC. Investment products are offered by SoFi Securities LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Investments are not FDIC-insured and investors can lose money.

  • SoFi offers banking services, along with investments, insurance, and other products and services. Because it is online-only it does not have the overhead of brick-and-mortar bank branches, so it can offer higher interest rates on deposits and lower interest rates on loans than some nationwide banks that have physical locations.

  • Yes. Savings and checking deposit accounts are offered by SoFi Bank, which is a member of FDIC, so these deposits are insured up to $250,000 per depositor. Note that it can take up to two days for your deposits to be transferred to SoFi Bank, and they are not insured until they arrive at the bank.

  • SoFi Technologies, Inc. is a publicly held company, trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol SOFI.

Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.

Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of Jan. 4, 2023.