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SoFi vs. Ally Bank: Which Bank Is Right for You?

Review Updated
Matt Frankel, CFP®
By: Matt Frankel, CFP®
Matt Frankel, CFP®
Matt Frankel, CFP®
Writer, Analyst

Matt is a Certified Financial Planner™ and investment advisor based in Columbia, South Carolina. He writes personal finance and investment advice for The Ascent and its parent company The Motley Fool, with more than 4,500 published articles and a 2017 SABEW Best in Business award. Matt writes a weekly investment column ("Ask a Fool") that is syndicated in USA Today, and his work has been regularly featured on CNBC, Fox Business, MSN Money, and many other major outlets. He’s a graduate of the University of South Carolina and Nova Southeastern University, and holds a graduate certificate in financial planning from Florida State University.

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Our Banking Expert

Eric McWhinnie
Check IconFact Checked Eric McWhinnie
Eric McWhinnie
Eric McWhinnie

Eric McWhinnie has been writing and editing digital content since 2010. He specializes in personal finance and investing. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance.

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Many or all of the products here are from our partners that compensate us. It’s how we make money. But our editorial integrity ensures our experts’ opinions aren’t influenced by compensation. Terms may apply to offers listed on this page. APY = Annual Percentage Yield. APYs are subject to change at any time without notice.

SoFi and Ally Bank are two of the few online banks that could be true banking disruptors -- that is, they could potentially completely replace the need for branch-based banking relationships.

Here's a rundown of what you need to know about SoFi and Ally to determine if one might be right for you.

SoFi vs. Ally Bank: Account options

SoFi and Ally Bank have deposit accounts that are featured on several of our "best-of" pages. They offer high-yield deposit products, as well as highly functional checking accounts, so here's a rundown of the key details of each.

Savings accounts

Rates as of Jul 04, 2024
Offer
 
 
Account
Rating
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
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Rating image, 4.75 out of 5 stars.
4.75/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
APY up to 4.60% Rate info Circle with letter I in it. You can earn the maximum APY by having Direct Deposit (no minimum amount required) or by making $5,000 or more in Qualifying Deposits every 30 days. See SoFi Checking and Savings rate sheet at: https://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet. 4.25%
Min. to earn APY $0 $0
Next Steps
Open Account for SoFi Checking and Savings
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We'll start with SoFi, which offers a combination of a checking and savings account (you can't open one without the other, although they are two separate accounts). We'll go into details about the checking side in the next section, but the SoFi savings account is a top product.

The SoFi Checking and Savings account has no fees or minimum balance requirements, and has some interesting features like Vaults, which essentially allow you to create savings accounts within your savings account to save for a specific goal. The account has one of the best APYs on our radar, and it is slightly higher than Ally's, but it requires you to set up direct deposit into the checking account to get the top rate.

The Ally Savings account has a competitive APY, and there are no special requirements to get the top interest rate. It has a similar feature to SoFi's Vaults, as well as no fees or balance requirements.

Checking accounts

Rates as of Jul 04, 2024
Offer
 
 
Account
Rating
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
APY 0.50% Rate info Circle with letter I in it. You can earn the maximum savings APY by having Direct Deposit (no minimum amount required) or by making $5,000 or more in Qualifying Deposits every 30 days. See SoFi Checking and Savings rate sheet at: https://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet. up to 0.25%
Min. to earn APY $0 $1
Next Steps
Open Account for SoFi Checking and Savings
Read Review

Both SoFi and Ally offer online checking accounts. SoFi's checking account must be paired with a savings account, as mentioned in the last section. It is an interest-bearing account and has ATM access at more than 55,000 locations nationwide. The SoFi checking account has excellent overdraft protection for direct deposit customers, and also allows access to paychecks up to two days early.

The Ally Spending Account is Ally's checking account product, and it is also an interest-bearing account. To be clear, neither bank's checking account has an APY that's competitive with online savings accounts, but they do earn some money.

Ally's account has access to more than 43,000 ATMs plus it offers up to $10 per month in out-of-network ATM fee reimbursement. And like SoFi, it also offers early access to direct deposits.

CDs

When it comes to certificates of deposit, Ally Bank CDs are the clear winner. Simply put, SoFi doesn't offer CDs on its platform (not yet, anyway).

On the other hand, Ally is one of our top banks for CDs. It offers CDs in several different term lengths, some of which have highly competitive APYs. Ally's CDs have no minimum deposit, and come in a few unique varieties. The Ally Raise Your Rate CDs come in 2-year and 4-year terms, and allow customers to choose to have their rate adjusted upward if rates rise during the term.

Ally is also one of the few banks to offer no-penalty CDs, which come in an 11-month term and combine the ability to lock in an interest rate with the ability to withdraw the money at any time.

SoFi vs. Ally Bank: APYs

Both banks have highly competitive APYs on all of their deposit products.

With savings accounts, SoFi has a slightly higher APY as of February 2024, but requires account holders to set up direct deposit to get the best rates. On the other hand, Ally's APY is slightly lower but still highly competitive and doesn't have any such requirement.

Interest-bearing checking accounts are somewhat rare to begin with, but SoFi and Ally's checking accounts pay an APY that is in line with similar products from competitors.

Finally, Ally's CDs have competitive interest rates with other top CD banks on our radar, especially considering there's no minimum deposit requirement.

Compare savings rates

Make sure you're getting the best account for you by comparing savings rates and promotions. Here are some of our favorite high-yield savings accounts to consider.

Account APY Promotion Next Steps
up to 4.60%
Rate info Circle with letter I in it. You can earn the maximum APY by having Direct Deposit (no minimum amount required) or by making $5,000 or more in Qualifying Deposits every 30 days. See SoFi Checking and Savings rate sheet at: https://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet.
Min. to earn: $0
New customers can earn up to a $300 bonus with qualifying direct deposits!
4.25%
Rate info Circle with letter I in it. See Capital One website for most up-to-date rates. Advertised Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is variable and accurate as of April 11, 2024. Rates are subject to change at any time before or after account opening.
Min. to earn: $0
N/A
4.25%
Rate info Circle with letter I in it. 4.25% annual percentage yield as of July 4, 2024
Min. to earn: $1
N/A

SoFi vs. Ally Bank: Customer service

SoFi has strong customer service, with phone support available from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT Monday-Thursday and ending at 5 p.m. PT Friday-Sunday. SoFi also has an excellent chat support system, and also provides help to customers through X (formerly Twitter).

Ally offers phone support with representatives available 24/7, which gives it a bit of an advantage, and it also offers live chat and email support.

SoFi vs. Ally Bank: Mobile apps

SoFi has one of the best mobile banking apps in the financial industry. It not only allows customers to manage deposit accounts, loans, credit cards, investments, and more in one place, but it also has some excellent budgeting and financial tools. Everything on SoFi's app is extremely user-friendly.

Ally's app has similar functionality, allowing users to manage all of their financial accounts in one place. It allows customers to access financial advice from a designated advisor and also has some excellent personal finance tools.

SoFi vs. Ally Bank: Which is right for you?

Both of these banks have a lot to like, and both have the capability to be your only bank. There are some small differences between the two, so it could be a smart idea to look at our more thorough reviews of both SoFi and Ally Bank, as well as our individual product reviews (linked throughout) to see which might be the better fit for you.

Rates as of Jul 04, 2024
Award Icon 2024 Award Winner

SoFi Checking and Savings

Open Account for SoFi Checking and Savings
Member FDIC.
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Open Account for SoFi Checking and Savings
Offer Alert
New customers can earn up to a $300 bonus with qualifying direct deposits!
APY
up to 4.60% Rate info Circle with letter I in it. You can earn the maximum APY by having Direct Deposit (no minimum amount required) or by making $5,000 or more in Qualifying Deposits every 30 days. See SoFi Checking and Savings rate sheet at: https://www.sofi.com/legal/banking-rate-sheet.
Min. To Earn APY
$0
  • Competitive APY on both Savings and Checking
  • No account fees
  • Welcome bonus up to $300 (direct deposit required)
  • Early access to direct deposits
  • Tools to help you track savings goals
  • Unlimited number of external transfers (up to daily transaction limits)
  • ATM access
  • FDIC insured (up to $2M with opt-in to SoFi Insured Deposit Program)
  • Combo account only; no stand-alone savings or checking
  • Maximum Savings APY requires direct deposit
  • Overdraft protection requires monthly direct deposit minimum
  • No branch access; online only

For those who plan to set up direct deposit with their new account, we think SoFi Checking and Savings is hard to beat. Not only does this savings account offer a strong APY, but the linked checking account earns an above-average rate, too -- which is a rare perk. Plus, there's the opportunity for a bonus of up to $300 and a long list of extra account features. Frankly, it's the kind of combo that could make it worthwhile to switch banking relationships.

You can earn the maximum APY either by making direct deposits into checking or savings, or by depositing $5,000 or more every 30 days. Learn more.

Read Full Review

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Our methodology for scoring banks and credit unions revolves around evaluating key aspects such as annual percentage yield (APY), brand reputation, fees and minimum requirements, and additional perks.

These criteria are weighted differently across various account types, ensuring a comprehensive assessment that reflects the competitive landscape and economic conditions.

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