SoFi Checking and Savings vs Chime

Chime and SoFi both show up in searches for a no-fee spending account. They are not the same kind of company. The sentences below are copied from each provider's page on November 13, 2026. They replace any older rate card on this site.

Side by side

| What we checked | SoFi | Chime | | --- | --- | --- | | Legal name on the page | SoFi Bank, N.A., Member FDIC | Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank | | Who holds deposits | SoFi Checking and Savings is offered through SoFi Bank, N.A. | Banking services provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC | | Monthly fee | Checking page title says no monthly fees | Disclosures have a Fee-free Banking section. No fee for the Chime Savings Account. Cash withdrawal and third-party fees may apply to checking. A monthly checking fee in dollars was not listed on the page we copied | | Checking APY | FAQ says 0.50% APY on checking balances. Rates on the page are current as of 10/20/26 | Not listed as a checking APY on the disclosures page we opened | | Savings APY and conditions | 3.30% with Eligible Direct Deposit as of 10/20/26. A 1.10% boost on a new account can bring that to 4.40%. Not added to SoFi Plus at 4.70% | 4.00% APY for Chime Prime, 3.00% APY for Chime Plus, otherwise 1.00% APY. A checking account is required for savings | | Sign-up bonus | Up to $400 by direct-deposit tier on the offer page, through December 31, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET | None listed on the disclosures page we opened | | Minimum to open | No minimum balance | Not listed as a dollar minimum on the disclosures page we copied | | Overdraft | Page description says no overdraft fees | SpotMe on Debit and SpotMe on Credit, optional and described as no fee. Qualifying members may overdraw up to $20 total, and may later be eligible for a higher combined limit of up to $200 | | ATM | +55K no-fee ATMs | Out-of-network ATM and over-the-counter advance fees may apply, except at FCTI ATMs in a 7-Eleven or Speedway, or Allpoint or Visa Plus Alliance ATMs in the Allpoint network. The fee amount was not listed | | Cash deposit | Not copied from the checking page | Once the retailer accepts cash, funds transfer to the selected Chime account. Barcode and debit-card cash deposits land in checking | | As of | November 13, 2026, SoFi rate date October 20, 2026 | November 13, 2026 |

Advertiser disclosure. If you open an account or sign up through a link on this page, the provider may pay us a fee. Using the link does not cost you extra. The fee helps us keep this site updated, and it does not change our rankings. How we make money

Read SoFi at sofi.com/banking/checking-account and the bonus page. Read Chime at chime.com/disclosures. Application links on this site: SoFi Checking and Savings and Chime.

Who it may fit

SoFi is a bank account at SoFi Bank, N.A., with a published savings rate that depends on eligible direct deposit and a published cash bonus with hard dollar tiers. Chime is a fintech. Its own page says it is not a bank and not FDIC-insured. The banks it names are. If you want the legal name of the insured institution on the account agreement to be the brand you signed up with, SoFi's page does that. If you want Chime's SpotMe tools and its published savings tiers, you are choosing Chime's program at one of the two banks it names.

SoFi is this site's personal editor's choice as of November 13, 2026, on the personal hub. That is not a statement that Chime's 4.00% Prime rate is lower than SoFi in every month, and it is not a statement that Chime is the wrong account if Prime status matches how you get paid.

Early pay is a timing feature, not an APY. Chime says funds are generally available the day the payer's payment file is received, and that timing depends on when that file arrives. The early direct deposit hub groups accounts around that feature. This page does not reprint that hub. No-fee checking is the broader list. Ally's numbers, if you want a third bank, are in Ally vs SoFi Checking and Savings.

Fees and APY conditions

SoFi's checking page says no monthly fees and no minimum balance. Members with Eligible Direct Deposit can earn 3.30% APY on savings, rates current as of October 20, 2026, variable, fees may reduce earnings. The limited-time 1.10% boost applies to a new account with eligible direct deposit and is described as 4.40% savings APY. It is not combined with the 4.70% SoFi Plus balance the page describes. The checking FAQ says 0.50% APY on checking balances. We did not find the savings APY that applies with no Eligible Direct Deposit, so it is not in the table.

The bonus on SoFi's offer page pays $0, $50, or $400. Total eligible direct deposits within 25 calendar days of the first eligible deposit of $1 or more: $1.00 to $999.99 pays $0, $1,000.00 to $4,999.99 pays $50, and $5,000.00 or more pays $400. The promotion on that page runs from May 15, 2026 at 12:01 a.m. ET through December 31, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. ET. One bonus, paid to SoFi Checking, account open and in good standing. Eligible Direct Deposit is a recurring ACH of regular income.

Chime's disclosures say there is no fee for the Chime Savings Account. The savings APY is 4.00% only for Chime Prime, otherwise 3.00% for Chime Plus, or the standard 1.00%. A checking account is required to be eligible for savings. Chime Prime means $3,000 or more in qualifying direct deposits to checking in the past 34 days. The Chime Plus sentence on the page continues past the words we could read in full, so we are not finishing that sentence from memory. Optional services can have fees. We did not find a sign-up bonus amount on the disclosures page.

Overdraft tools

SoFi's checking page description says no overdraft fees. We did not copy a dollar overdraft limit from that page.

Chime's SpotMe on Debit is optional, has no fee, and is attached to checking. SpotMe on Credit is optional, has no interest and no fee, and is an overdraft line tied to the Secured Deposit Account. Qualifying members may overdraw checking and/or the secured deposit account up to $20 total, and may later be eligible for a higher combined limit of up to $200. SpotMe Boost is optional, has no fee, and is subject to limits. These are Chime's product names. They are not a promise that a transaction will be approved.

Out-of-network ATM and over-the-counter advance fees may apply, except at the ATM networks Chime names: FCTI ATMs in a 7-Eleven or Speedway, and Allpoint or Visa Plus Alliance ATMs in the Allpoint network. The dollar amount of the out-of-network fee was not on the section we copied, so we are not printing one. An outbound instant transfer is listed at 1.75% of the amount, with a minimum transfer of $25. The rest of that fee sentence was cut off on the page view we used, so we are not adding a cap.

Cash and checks

Chime says that once the retailer accepts cash, the funds transfer to the selected Chime account. Barcode and debit-card cash deposits land in checking. Mobile check deposit eligibility is determined by Chime and may depend on direct deposit enrollment. We are not describing a cash-deposit fee, because the page did not list one in the section we read.

Legal identity and FDIC

SoFi Bank, National Association, certificate 26881, is active in FDIC BankFind as of November 13, 2026, in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. SoFi's support article describes the standard category limit of up to $250,000 per depositor, and additional coverage of up to $3 million that may be available through the SoFi Insured Deposit Program. The program does not change the standard $250,000 limit into $3 million for every account.

Chime's disclosures say: Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC. Chime is not FDIC-insured. Those two banks are the FDIC-insured members. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. Certain conditions must be satisfied for pass-through insurance to apply. The debit card is issued by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A. pursuant to a Visa U.S.A. Inc. license.

FDIC BankFind, November 13, 2026: The Bancorp Bank, National Association, certificate 35444, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, active. Stride Bank, National Association, certificate 4091, Enid, Oklahoma, active. Chime's page says "N.A.", which matches National Association. We are not naming any other certificate.

How we update this page

Numbers move. This page uses the provider page, dated, and the methodology. If a figure was not on the page, it is omitted rather than filled in from an older review. Checked November 13, 2026.