SoFi Checking & Savings accounts (formerly SoFi Money)

Plaid is not a transfer system. It’s a verification and linking system. The transfers are done via ACH.

As I mentioned in this post, you need a real direct deposit (i.e., payroll, social security, maybe a payment from Wells Fargo Business account, etc) to go from 0.7% to 1.25%.

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This 100% works. I can confirm, as Wells Fargo Direct Pay on my WF business checking is what I used and, I received a notification from SoFi when that DD posted that I would be upgraded to the higher rate.

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I assume the same is true for pulling from another bank. Correct?

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That is correct…you can push in or pull out as much as you want from another bank (subject to their transfer limits of course…LOL)

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Free checks! Small qty but arrived quickly.

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To me the most serious drawback is not being able to add Beneficiaries or POD!! Sofi Bank needs to address this on priority or they will be driving potential customers away.

Joint Accounts, per their website, are insured for 500K. Here is the weblink and extract from their website:-

Are my deposits insured?

Yes, your deposits are FDIC insured up to $250,000 per member (joint accounts are insured up to $500,000). For more information on FDIC insurance coverage, please visit www.FDIC.gov.

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I thought FDIC insurance was $250K per owner per account type, but for Joint accounts it is indeed per co-owner. I’ll update the wiki.

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I’ve been going back and forth about rate chasing since SoFi has a good rate, but not the best. But based on my ACH experience, I think I’m going to stick with SoFi.

Yesterday morning I added a new transfer account to my SoFi portal via plaid - a Bank of America Checking (consumer) account. Since it was through plaid, it showed up immediately. So seconds later I submitted a $2,000 transfer from SoFi to that newly added account. Today I logged into Bank of America, and the $2,000 transfer is showing posted with yesterday’s date. So I can confirm that SoFi has same day ACH with Bank of America, which should mean they have it with at least some other banks as well. Not sure how many accounts you can add to SoFi yet. If I get around to adding a bunch and coming across a limit, I’ll post on here.

This is my first experience with adding an account and moving money that same day without using Zelle (which of course isn’t meant for transferring between your own accounts). It seems that SoFi might actually be my first bank account with an institution that has entered the 21st century.

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Says who?

Says Zelle. You aren’t supposed to have multiple accounts linked to the same person. If you decide to use the separate email trick, that email you made up has to be the email for that bank. If it is a bank you actually use, it isn’t ideal to have their emails going to a throwaway account.

Is it possible to use for transfers between your own accounts? Yes.
Is that cumbersome? Yes.
Is Zelle’s main goal to facilitate peer to peer transfers? Yes.

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You made it sound like they explicitly prohibit this. They do not.

Right. Thankfully I’ve always created a unique email address for every online account I’ve ever used. Just because Zelle associates a user’s bank account with an email address and/or a phone number, does not mean that it “isn’t meant for transferring between your own accounts”.

Most people probably only have accounts at one bank anyway :smile:, so their most important use case may be peer-to-peer. I’m just really glad they don’t have any other restrictions, like requiring a phone number, because that’d make it much more difficult for the likes of me.

correct. they just make it hard for regular joes.

More power to you. Back in the day, I tried this but got burned by a forwarding service and stopped risking it.

Yeah, I remember running into this issue when I first signed up, because zelle wanted you to attach both an email and a phone number (they didn’t tell you you could use either or) to the account. That first time I attached both. Then I tried to do it at another bank and found out that you couldn’t do multiple accounts with the same email/phone. At that point, I had no way of transferring. It took some work, but I was able to detach my phone number from one so then I could transfer from one bank with my email address to another bank with my phone number. Then I added another by using my wife’s number on a joint account. Anyone else’s wife get as annoyed as mine when you say/text, “Honey, you’re about to get texted a code, please read/send it to me.”

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Only if it goes over once a month. :smile:

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Posting in case it may help someone else…

I just discovered this “vault” concept in sofi banking/checking/whatever.

You can schedule transfers basically but it is “smarter”. ie paycheck hits do this and then do that, etc.

I had wanted something like this previously but had only found “astra” which was overkill for me.

I am not sure what else Sofi is hiding from me :slight_smile:

Maybe these tech bros know something after all!

NOTE: “Vault” and “auto pilot” is what I am referring to. I forgot the second term they use.

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For the high rollers…

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That’s a nice offer. Too bad I wasn’t targeted :frowning:

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It looks like it’s annualized at 4%. That is a very good rate, but keep in mind that it is only for 3 months. IIRC, their higher interest rates on deposited money require monthly DD.

What I found just a little twingy … If I read it right, funds may be uninsured for up to 5 days.

Are my deposits insured?

February 14, 2022 21:30 Updated 

Deposits are swept daily to one or more banks (the “Program Banks”) where they earn a variable rate of interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance. Once your deposits reach one of the Program Banks (typically within 2 business days), they are FDIC insured. FDIC Insurance is not provided until the funds arrive at Program Bank. Funds in the SoFi Money Sweep Program are eligible for up to $1.5 million of FDIC insurance through the Program Banks.

If the number of Program Banks changes, or you elect not to use, and/or have existing assets at, one or more of the available banks, the actual amount of FDIC coverage will change.

That’s true for all these Fintech outfits. Sofi holding your money is not FDIC insured. You are trusting them to subsequently deposit the money into one of their program banks, under your name, at which point it is insured.

It’s no different than the sweep accounts at most brokerages. Although with brokers the money is generally covered by SIPC until it’s moved to the FDIC-insured deposit account.

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As you

That is not “no different than”. Ask the @meed18 man if his crypto guaranteed funds were guaranteed. Yes, there was probably fine print in his contract, exactly as what you have pointed out. Sadly, as you pointed out, it’s faith in their skills, knowledge, and ethics that determines whether you’ll invest your money with them.

The process is no different than.