- SoFi doesn’t support adding beneficiaries (or POD) to their bank accounts.
- You can add a joint owner, but they must not already have an account at SoFi. The FDIC coverage is $250K per co-owner, so a Joint account is covered for $500K.
- ACH transactions (initiated at SoFi) cannot be scheduled (the article that claims otherwise does not apply to checking/savings). The transfer dialog actually has a line that says: “Frequency: One-time, today”, which makes one think it’s possible to change. It is not, just a stupid UI design.
- ACH limit (for transactions initiated at SoFi) to/from is $50K/day and $100K/mo. Not as bad as Alliant (25K/day) or the big banks, but not as good as many other online banks.
- SoFi uses Plaid to connect external bank accounts. I don’t see another option. For the uninitiated (like me), Plaid requires the logon info to your other bank’s online account. You can change your password after linking.
- You may connect up to five external accounts for ACH transfers.
- Most Account Alerts, including deposits and withdrawals, can only be delivered via Push Notifications (i.e., requires SoFi app). This is the first account I’ve ever had that doesn’t also support email and SMS for all alerts. Either I’m getting old or their millennial & Gen Z target audience is stupid. Or both.
- Free checks! Small qty but arrived quickly.
Thanks for a pretty thorough write up. That 1.25% is nice, and as you said, industry leading, but it sure has a fair whack of limitations.
I hope that you only have to provide the logon info for 30 - 60 seconds for verification of ownership only. I’ve done this once (can’t remember which financial institution) and then immediately changed my password.
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I believe the password can be changed after linking. They also prompted for one of them secret questions (as the bank would prompt for a login from an unrecognized device) in addition to username and password, so that should also be changed. I’ll verify tomorrow.
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It’s definitely targeted towards younger people, for whom a phone or tablet is their primary device. They’d only use a real computer at work.
I’m old but sort of do that too. I haven’t routinely used a computer daily in a decade or so…
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I’ve had sofi for years and honestly, I can’t really say I have anything good or bad to say about them compared to any other bank. I’ve done pretty much every bonus they’ve offered, so I’ve made quite a bit off of them. Not sure how many of those beside the opening bonus have dried up at the moment, but after you sign up, keep an eye on your email or DoC for them. If you are tempted to open an invest account, take out a loan, etc. I suggest waiting until there is a good bonus before you do it. The only time I’ve had to deal with their customer service was when a bonus didn’t post for a technical reason that was likely my fault. Several CSRs over several calls over several weeks told me it would post only for nothing to happen in the following weeks. But eventually I got a helpful lady that that made it happen manually. So in that sense, they are in the top 10% of banks in my mind (most would never do that). If you have any other questions about the SoFi experience, feel free to ask.
One other caveat. @scripta mentioned that you can get the 1.25% with any amount of DD. I think I saw somewhere not too long ago that you needed at least $500 in DD to qualify, but that might have been old or might have been a $500 DD requirement to qualify for a % decrease on a loan, so that might be where I’m mistaken. So don’t be surprised if they change that requirement if too many people take advantage by only sending $10 from their paycheck into SoFi.
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Right on the https://www.sofi.com/banking/ page:
This is a pretty aggressive offer (1.25% checking, no fees, no requirements besides DD), so who knows how long any of it will last. The real caveat is that they’re somewhat strict about what counts as a direct deposit.
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I suppose it depends on how you use it and maybe on how fast you can type. I use a big monitor and a full-size ergonomic keyboard. I get frustrated with my 10" FireHD by the lack of screen space and a proper keyboard if I have to use it for anything other than watching movies.
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For anyone that already has SoFi and hasn’t “upgraded” to the new checking account that gives the 1.25%, it’s important to note that you do give up unlimited ATM reimbursements when you “upgrade”.
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Since SoFi Is discussing the possibility of adding beneficiaries to the new SoFi Checking and Savings accounts, this would be a good time to get on the SoFi Bank chat and make the suggestion that you would like to see it added…Bombard them with the suggestion…it could help… 
I already did…
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This is what makes me think the 1.25% is a flash in the pan rate. I had a legacy account and, of course, “upgraded” it to get the increased rate. I really didn’t have a need for the ATM reimbursements as I have a Fidelity account for that.
I suspect they want to eliminate as many of these legacy accounts as possible, using the 1.25% rate as the carrot to do so. I very well could be wrong, but I don’t expect them to be a rate leader over the longer haul.
That doesn’t make much sense…if they used it as a “carrot” then once they dropped the rates (or didn’t remain competitive) there would be massive outflows of cash and direct deposits from them…
They would just be “screwing” themselves as it were… 
Now that they are an actual bank…they’d want to maintain a solid cash base…
And the atm rebates only apply to accounts open up to mid 2020 or prior…What good is atm rebates if you are only getting .25% apy anyway?
Personally… i would rather get 1.25% apy and Allpoint…i have other debit cards to use if i should need an atm rebate…And there are lots of free Allpoint atms everywhere you go…
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I don’t understand Plaid. Joined SoFi today and got 0-0 trying to add external accounts.
First of all they ask for ID then password. Strange…
But I tried 4 different bank/CU adding info and got 4 rejected. What am I doing wrong?
For instance. Alliant CU. ID & password. How do you show whether its Savings or Checking account? I’m thinking that’s where I’m missing out.
Anyway help needed.
@pattyb53 Why are you linking up? Is it required? You should be able to add Sofi to Alliant or another bank and ACH the funds to Sofi.
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I’ve used plaid a bunch and very rarely had issues. Some banks don’t play well, but I wouldn’t suspect Alliant to be one of them. As for your question, every time I link my Ally account with plaid, after I do the login, password, and text verification, plaid then prompts me asking which account at Ally I want to link (checking or savings). Then it only links the account I choose, not every account listed under that login.
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Presumably your Alliant login is for all of your accounts, right? After you provide the login, they’ll ask for a security word (one of five I think that you’ve set for Alliant), same as would happen when you login from a new device. After that it will ask you which Alliant account you want to link. The question is weird though, it asks “which one is your primary account”, but what they really want to know is which account you want to link for ACH.
It’s not required to push from another bank, it’s only required to push/pull from SoFi.
Alliant has a daily ACH limit of $25K. SoFi has a daily limit of $50K but a monthly of $100K. If you’ve got a bunch of money to move, it’ll take a while. Writing a check might be better, but then you’d lose some interest, and mobile check deposit also has limits. Wire transfer is another option, but it’s not free and may also have transaction limits, though they should be higher.
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Found out the hard way that the MONTHLY limit is $100K. 
Interesting part is that when transfer out from SoFi they allow really huge amounts both daily and monthly…
Are you sure? Because the FAQ I linked about the $50K/day limit says "$50,000 is the maximum daily limit on ACH transfers in or out of the account. "
I double checked…you are right…50K daily limit in or out of the account…
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This is confirmed. I changed my source account password, initiated a pull into SoFi, and the money was withdrawn from the source account.