Best Online Banks (May 2024) (2024)

Why You Can Trust the MarketWatch Guides Team

Here’s a breakdown of how we reviewed and rated top banks and credit unions

SoFi Bank

OUR TOP PICK

SoFi Bank earns points in our ranking for its excellent account features, especially its high APY and automatic savings features. The bank packages its online checking and savings accounts together, so you get both. The checking function of the account comes with perks that are usually reserved for savings accounts and credit cards.

All of these benefits come with no monthly service fee or minimum balance requirement. You may also be able to get your paycheck up to two days early when you enroll in direct deposit with your SoFi account.

SoFi’s savings account has a competitive rate at 4.60% — but only if you sign up for direct deposits or have at least $5,000 in qualifying deposits each month. Otherwise, you’ll get an APY that’s significantly lower than what many online banks pay, less than 1.5%.

You can also boost your savings by enabling the account’s Roundup feature, which rounds every debit card purchase you make to the next dollar and deposits the extra amount in your savings account. You can also save for specific goals by creating individual savings buckets, or SoFi Vaults, for items such as an emergency fund, a vacation and a down payment.

SoFi also offers a referral bonus for current customers. If a friend signs up and deposits at least $25, you can currently earn a referral bonus of $75. Current customers can log on to the SoFi dashboard for more details and to get a referral link.

However, SoFi loses points for not offering certificate of deposit (CD) or money market (MMA) accounts.

We opened a SoFi bank account to give you first-hand details about the process. Here are a few of the highlights:

• The application was more involved than most banks — it took us 17 clicks to set up the account — but we were instantly approved.
• SoFi took five business days to allow full access to our initial deposit, significantly longer than most banks we’ve tested.
• The online chat feature was fast and easy to open, but the phone support was slower. In this case, the phone agent took several minutes to look for information on how to order checks, for example.

Discover Bank’s generous savings and checking account perksearn them a top spot on our list. These accountshave no monthly fees and no minimum opening deposit requirements,and itsCashback Debit checking account pays up to 1% cash back on up to $3,000 of debit card purchases each month.You can add cash to your account at no charge at any Walmart, a service no other bank on our list offers for free.

You’llhave the use of more than 60,000 free ATMs across the country and can access your cash up to two days early with direct deposits. You can also opt to enroll in free overdraft protection by connecting yourchecking accountto another deposit account.

The high-yield savings account from Discover Bank earns acompetitiveAPY. Most types of withdrawals are limited to six per month, and the bank may not approve transactions beyond that limit.

Discover is currently offering asign-on bonusfor new savings customers of up to $200 for deposits between $15,000 and $25,000, when you enter offer code GBPP324 when you apply.

However, the bank loses points in its CD category for high minimum deposits. You’ll need at least $2,500 to get the best rates on CDs, while some banks (like Ally) don’t have minimum deposits at all.

We opened an account with Discover so we could provide an insider’s account of the application process.

• It took 19 clicks to open an account with Discover (versus 13-15 for competitors), including oneCAPTCHAscreen, which made the process feel more secure.
• Once the account was open, we liked the transparent dashboard, which clearly showed both our interest rate and APY – a rare feature among online banks.
• We didn’t love that our deposit wasn’t available for five business days or that live chat wasn’t available to us during the application process.

Ally Bank

Seamless Online Experience

Ally Bank earns points across the board for its competitive checking, savings, CD and MMA rates. It offers fee-free checking with its Spending Account. You don’t pay anything for monthly maintenance fees, overdrafts or low daily balances. You’ll earn 0.10% APY on deposited funds, getting a higher rate if your balance is $15,000 or more.

Early direct deposits are available, putting your paycheck in your account up to two days faster than with traditional deposits. You also have access to a fee-free ATM network. Ally reimburses up to $10 per statement cycle if you use other ATMs.

The Ally Bank savings account offers a competitive APY on any balance. You also have ways to boost your savings if you have a Spending account: Ally’s Round Ups feature, which rounds your checking transactions to the nearest dollar to add the difference to your savings, and Surprise Savings, where Ally analyzes your checking account and transfers extra money to savings.

For more help budgeting your money, Ally’s banking platform has tools to organize your savings goals into different categories, or buckets. Create up to 30 spending buckets and up to 10 savings buckets to track goals such as saving for a home, vacation or emergency fund.

When we opened an Ally account, our experience involved a lot of waiting — the bank told us it would take five to seven business days to review and approve our account. That’s a lot longer than most banks – SoFi approved us instantly.

While all banks require your Social Security number, Ally actually required the Social Security card itself during the application process, the only bank we found with this requirement. However, other than that, the application process was user-friendly. Each screen had a link to FAQs and the customer service and chat information clearly displayed, along with the expected wait time. We also liked how easy it was to integrate our new Ally account into our budgeting software.

Varo Bank

BEST BANK IF YOU’RE JUST STARTING OUT

Varo earns points in our ranking for its lack of fees and competitive savings rates, but it only offers checking, savings and a credit builder card. And like some other banks, it allows you to access your paycheck up to two days earlier when you sign up for direct deposit with its checking account than with traditional deposits. Varo is also the only bank on our list to offer a cash advance of up to $500 once you qualify, though you’ll pay an 8% fee for the privilege.

Varo Bank’s savings account earns 5.00% APY on the first $5,000 of your balance if you meet two eligibility requirements: getting qualifying direct deposits of at least $1,000 a month and ending the month with a positive balance in your Varo savings and checking accounts. If you don’t meet these requirements, you’ll receive 3.00% APY – which is still significantly higher than what traditional banks tend to offer. Varo has two savings builder options to increase your savings: “Save Your Change” rounds up each debit transaction and transfers the balance to savings, while an auto-deposit feature allows you to automatically transfer a portion of your paycheck to savings.

While Varo doesn’t have physical branches for account holders to make cash deposits, it partners with Green Dot Network locations such as Walmart to accept cash. There’s no fee from Varo, but a Green Dot retailer may charge up to $5.95.

Varo is currently offering a referral bonus of $25 for each new customer you send their way. You can find a unique link in the Varo app under My Varo > Invite Friends. Both you and your friend will receive a bonus of $25.

LendingClub Bank

GREAT FOR OVERALL RATES

LendingClub scores well for its checking and savings accounts, especially its cash-back program. LendingClub’s Rewards Checking account earns 1% cash back on qualified debit card purchases. There’s no limit on how much you can earn in cash back each month, but to qualify, you need to either keep a monthly account balance of at least $2,500 or receive $2,500 or more in direct deposits. The checking account also earns interest on balances of at least $2,500. To get started, you need to make at least a $25 deposit.

You won’t have to worry about monthly maintenance fees, wire transfer fees or insufficient fund fees with a rewards checking account. You’ll also get monthly reimbursem*nts of fees from out-of-network ATMs.

The high-yield savings account from LendingClub has one of the highest APYson our list, and this rate applies to your entire balance. This savings account also doesn’t have a monthly maintenance fee. However, you’ll need to deposit at least $100 to open the account.

Upgrade

BEST CASH BACK

Upgrade earns points for solid checking and savings accounts, especially that cash-back program. Upgrade offers digital checking and savings accounts, but no CDs or MMAs. You must deposit funds through electronic transfer, and cash can only be withdrawn from ATMs with a checking account. But there are many perks for people who prefer a digital banking experience.

You’ll get all of the Rewards Checking Plus account’s benefits if you set up eligible monthly direct deposits of at least $1,000. This lets you access your paycheck up to two days before payday and earn up to 2% cash back on debit purchases depending on the category.

Adding an eligible direct deposit to your checking account will also get you a much higher APY of above 5.00% on any Premier Savings account balance of $1,000 or more. There are no monthly fees, so you can enjoy that high yield without extra costs.

Alliant Credit Union Bank

Best Online Credit Union

Alliant Credit Union earns points for its online high-yield checking account, whichdoesn’t have a monthly fee or a minimum balance requirement. You can also earn interest on your balance if you opt to receive e-statements and have at least one monthly electronic deposit. Alliant provides free access to over 80,000 ATMs around the country.

Alliant’s high-yield savings account earns fewer points in our ranking, mostly because of itsmid-range APY that you’ll earn if you keep a minimum balance of $100. You can also open as many as 19 supplemental savings accounts to organize your savings by specific goals. These additional accounts earn the same APY, so you can save just as aggressively no matter where you keep your funds.

You’ll need a $5 deposit to open a savings account, and there’s $1 charge for a paper account statement.

FNBO Direct Bank

BEST WORLDWIDE ATM ACCESS

FNBO Direct, an online division of the Nebraska-based bank FNBO, gains points in our ranking for its no-fee interest-bearing checking account. While it has no physical branches, anyonein the U.S. can apply for a checking or savings account.

The free online checking account pays interest and has no monthly fee. It’s a completely digital account, so paper checks aren’t available. You can, however, access ATMs across the world without any fees from FNBO Direct (other banks’ fees may apply).

The high-yield online savings account from FNBO Direct comes with a competitive APY of close to 5.00%. Like the bank’s checking account, it doesn’t have a monthly fee. For both checking and savings, the minimum opening deposit is $1, and the minimum amount needed to earn interest is 1 cent.

Zynlo Bank

BEST SAVINGS BUILDER

Zynlo Bank does well in our ranking because of its high APYs on its checking, savings and MMAs. All of the Zynlo Bank high-yield online accounts require just a $10 opening deposit. The checking account is called More Spending, and the savings account is called Tomorrow Savings.

A “More Spending” checking account earns an interest rate (2.00% APY) that’s higher than many other banks’ savings rates. Zynlo rounds each debit card purchase up to the next dollar and deposits the difference in your Tomorrow Savings account, which the bank matches within the first 100 days. After that, you can keep earning a 100% match if you maintain a $5,000 average daily balance or a 25% match if your balance is lower.

You’ll also have a high APY with a Zynlo savings account. Plus, it allows you to divide your savings into folders meant for different purposes.

Quorum Federal Credit Union Bank

BEST EARLY DIRECT DEPOSIT

Quorum Federal Credit Union offers several checking and savings accounts.

For starters, the QClassic checking account has no monthly fee and lets you access your direct deposit funds up to two days before payday. QChoice comes with a few extra perks, including earning a small amount of interest and having up to $15 in ATM fees reimbursed each month. To avoid a $10 monthly fee for this account, you must receive e-statements and have either at least $1,000 in monthly direct deposits or a minimum average daily balance of $5,000. QPlus offers up to five days’ early access to your direct deposits and an APY of over 1% on balances of $10,000 or more. Avoid the $10 monthly fee with $500 in monthly direct deposits and e-statements. A HighQ savings account, meanwhile, has no minimum balance requirements and earns a competitive APY of 4.25%. However, there’s a $10 monthly fee with this account unless you opt for e-statements.

Quorum offers three types of overdraft protection. Careful, though: this is the only institution on our list that charges overdraft fees. You can keep $500 in a line of credit at no charge. The bank charges $20 to transfer money from a linked account if you have a QClassic account or $37 to cover an overdrafted check or payment for all checking accounts.