The 5 BEST Digital Bank Accounts of 2023
In this blog, we’re going to be going over the 5 best digital bank accounts of 2023, along with one bonus honorable mention, to hopefully help you decide where you should hold your cash. Now unfortunately, with inflation currently above 7% and the APYs offered by these high-yield accounts at only around 0.5–1%, the cash that we’re holding inside of our bank accounts is going to be losing purchasing power no matter what. But the 5 digital bank accounts that we’re going to discuss in this blog will still offer interest rates that are much higher than the national average and are going to fluctuate over time.
So, high-yield savings accounts and checking accounts are great places to store some extra cash, whether that’s for an emergency fund or just to pay the bills. Now, I think that two other very important things to look for in a bank account are, number one, no fees, no minimums, or anything like that, so the bank accounts that we’re going to talk about are going to focus a lot on this. And number two, I think it’s important to look for what unique features set each one of these bank accounts apart from the competition because, for the most part, a lot of these checking and savings accounts are very similar to each other. So let’s get started here. These are going to be in no particular order because each one is a good option and is going to appeal to different people based on what you’re looking for.
1. Chime
The first bank account on this list is a favorite of mine due to its interface and its simplicity, and that is going to be Chime, and they have checking and savings accounts. So what I really like about Chime is how simple their product offerings are and how simple their app interface is because Chime is an online-only bank account with no physical in-person branch locations. They essentially offer three core products, and each one of these products is going to have no fees, which, as I said, is a very important thing to look for in a bank account. There’s a checking account that comes with a debit card, a savings account that offers a 0.5% APY, and a credit card that helps to build credit as the name suggests. So with the Chime checking account, there are no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements, no foreign transaction fees, access to over 60,000 fee-free ATMs, and an overdraft feature called Spot Me, where Chime can effectively spot you between $20 and $200 if you overdraft with your Chime debit card.
You can also receive your paycheck up to two days early with Direct Deposit, which is another nice feature that we’ve been seeing more and more bank accounts offer in recent years. On top of these things, Chime also offers two automatic savings features: you can round up your debit card purchases to the nearest dollar, and you can automatically transfer over 10% of your paycheck into your Chime savings account. And like I said, that savings account is going to offer 0.5% APY as of the writing of this blog in 2023. That’s going to be much higher than the national average and competitive with other high-yield savings accounts that we’re going to get later on. Again, the interest rate for this account and other bank accounts in this blog could definitely change and increase over time.
But overall, I like what the Chime checking and savings accounts offer and how easily they seem to work together. If you see it as a downside, these accounts and others on this list are online-only bank accounts, so there are not going to be any physical branch locations. You can still deposit checks by using the camera feature within the Chime app, and if you need to deposit actual cash into your Chime checking account, all you need to do is go into the app and see which retail stores accept cash deposits. Just be aware, though, that a few stores do charge a small fee for this. So I really like Chime, and I included them on this list due to their simple and clean app interface that makes normal, everyday banking very easy. But I also like the savings features and the credit builder card that Chime offers in addition to those bank accounts. I know that a lot of people really value the usability of their bank accounts, with a lot of the larger national banks’ apps and websites looking dated and cluttered.
2. SoFi
Moving along to the second bank account that is going to be similar to Chime due to the fact that it’s also an online-only bank account at this moment However, whereas Chime is a financial technology company and not really a bank—it is just a partner with actual banks—this next bank account comes from a company that recently received approval to become a national bank. That company is SoFi, and their checking and savings accounts are the next-best bank accounts for 2023 that I wanted to go over. Now if I had to pick just one bank account in this blog as my favorite, this SoFi account would have to be it because they managed to pack so many different features into this one great app where you manage this bank account.
So first, just like Chime, there are going to be no fees and no minimum balances, which is what I like to see. On top of that, there are plenty of nice features, like that same two-day early paycheck with direct deposit, overdraft coverage up to $50 if you qualify, access to a network of over 55,000 fee-free ATMs, and vaults where you can set aside money for different savings goals. Another great feature is that with the SoFi checking and savings account, you can earn what is the highest APY out of all the bank accounts in this blog at 1% APY on the first $50,000 of balances in one account. Now the downside to this 1% APY is that it’s only going to be available if you set up direct deposit, which many people have from their employers. There’s currently no minimum direct deposit required to get this rate, but if you like SoFi and what this account offers, then I think setting up direct deposit makes a lot of sense anyway.
Without that setup, you’re still going to get a 0.25% APY, which is much better than many other bank accounts. Now, within the SoFi app, there are a lot of things that you can do outside of managing your bank account. You can invest in stocks, ETFs, and crypto with SoFi Invest. You can manage any of the loans that you might have with SoFi, and there’s even a no-annual-fee SoFi credit card that offers unlimited 2% cashback on everything that I think can be a very good option if you’re a SoFi customer and you’re looking for a very simple cashback credit card setup. But the feature that I really like in the SoFi app that I think sets it apart and goes well with the bank account is something called SoFi Relay. This is basically a high-level view of your spending, your credit score, and your net worth. And it gives you quick and easy access to this information so that you can know if you’re on the right track to building wealth.
Now, this is not the only financial tool that I personally use to track these things, but anytime I need to log into my bank account to check my balance or something like that, I think it’s always very useful to get a quick glance at all this other information at the same time. So in my opinion, SoFi is an amazing app with that relay feature. The SoFi checking and savings account is an amazing new bank account that offers a top APY and a lot of other really great and useful features that you would expect from a very highly-rated online bank account.
3. Ally
Let’s go on to the third-best digital bank account on this list of the best bank accounts in 2023. So for the third bank account, this really was one of the first banks that helped make online banking and high-yield savings accounts more popular with more people. and that is going to be an Ally bank. So Ally Bank has a good reputation for their products and offers some competitive checking and savings options for their interest checking account. Currently, they’re offering a 0.1% APY if you have less than $15,000 as a minimum daily balance and a 0.25% APY if that minimum daily balance is at $15,000 or higher. As a checking account, that’s much better than some of the other options out there that are offered by more traditional national banks.
But more importantly, there are no monthly maintenance fees and no minimum balance requirements. They do list a few uncommon fees on their website, but for the most part, those fees are not going to matter to the majority of people out there. So I just appreciate their transparency with fees here. With Ally interest checking, you’ll get features like mobile check deposit, access to over 43,000 fee-free ATMs, as well as a couple of fee-free overdraft protection options. Then, with the Ally online savings account, you’re going to get the same upfront transparency about some of those less common fees. And you’re also going to get with that savings account a 0.5% APY as of the writing of this blog.
I probably should mention this again right here for anyone that’s reading this blog much further in the future, but all of the rates that we discuss here in this blog are subject to change over time. Interest rates that are paid out by these bank accounts are always going to have the potential to go up or down year after year, depending on the bank and depending on other interest rates. But back to ally, along with having a solid APY compared to other online banking options, Ally bank and their savings account also has another cool feature called buckets where
You can essentially have 10 sub-accounts or buckets within that savings account to save for different goals. I think this is a really cool feature, and we are seeing some other bank accounts like SoFi offer a similar feature, but Ally really helped to popularize this a few years ago. There’s also what Ally calls “boosters,” which is another nice benefit that really helps automate savings for a lot of people by just making it easier to save. But that’s basically it for Ally; it’s simple and straightforward and a very effective online banking option because of that. I think Ally is best for people who want to bank with a company that has a solid reputation and offers exactly what they need. It’s pretty basic, but because it’s pretty basic and has a good reputation, it makes it an excellent option for a lot of people out there.
4. Capital One
Now next, for number 4 on my list of the best digital bank accounts of 2023, we’re going to move over to a company name that a lot of you might be more familiar with, and that is going to be Capital One and their 360 checking and 360 savings accounts. So Capital One is a bank and a company that is a lot more established compared to some of the other company names that we’ve discussed in this blog. They have some amazing credit cards and other financial products as well, but when it comes to banking, I think that Capital One has done a great job at setting itself apart from some other larger national bank competitors.
First, I think that they’ve made banking very easy with some of their features and a clean app interface. Like many other top bank accounts, both their 360 checking and 360 savings accounts have no fees or minimums, and they each offer an above-average APY, with their savings account currently offering 0.4% and their checking account offering 0.1%. Again, these are not high returns right now, but they are still much better than the 0.01% APY that a lot of other bank accounts offer, and APY can increase over time. With the 360 checking account, Capital One also offers features like overdraft protections, two-day early receipt of paychecks, and access to over 70,000 fee-free ATMs. You can deposit checks with your phone, but one of the main reasons why I decided to include Capital One and these 360 bank accounts on this list of the best bank accounts in 2023 was because, in addition to all the great features that you would expect from an online banking experience as Capital One has, Capital One is also going to give its customers the option for an in-person banking experience as well.
Now, in-person branch locations are all going to depend on what city or town you live in and what Capital One locations might be near you. Still, if you do find yourself having to use the bank in person to deposit cash or do things like that pretty often, then this could be a good option for you. And another really unique feature that Capital One offers when it comes to in-person banking is going to be the Capital One cafes, which are basically just a mix between a coffee shop and a bank. I actually had a chance to go visit one a few months ago in Philly to grab a coffee, and I thought it was pretty cool. I don’t really see myself needing to take advantage of this in-person banking option because I can’t really remember the last time I had to go to a bank to do anything, but for anyone out there that wants this feature or if you just want a good APY and some other solid online banking features that Capital One offers with their 360 accounts, then I think Capital One is a great option for you.
5. Discover
Okay, then, for the fifth bank account on this list of the best bank accounts, we’re going to go over to another name that’s pretty large in the financial world because they’re well known for their credit card, and that is going to be Discover. Now, Discover also keeps it very simple here with their checking and savings accounts, but there is one unique feature that I wanted to talk about here, which is why I decided to include it on my list. Also, just like all the other bank accounts that I’ve mentioned in this blog, there are going to be no fees and no minimums for both checking and savings. For the savings account, Discover also offers a very competitive 0.5% APY as of the writing of this blog.
But the reason I wanted to talk about Discover was because of their cashback debit online checking option, which allows you to get 1% cash back on up to $3,000 of spending that you do with your Discover debit card that is linked to your checking account. Usually, it’s only credit cards that are able to offer any sort of cashback, so I thought it was very cool to see and very different that Discover was offering 1% cashback with their debit card. Now, I would still recommend that if you know how to use a credit card responsibly, almost 100% of the time I would use a credit card over a debit card when you can because that credit card is going to earn better cashback and better points, and it just has much better rewards and benefits as well.
But if you’re someone who personally believes that you cannot use a credit card the right way and you’re better off using a debit card, or if it’s a certain purchase where you can’t use a credit card and you have to use a debit card instead, then getting 1% back with this Discover debit card is a pretty good feature. I will note that as I was writing this blog, Discover’s website was saying that this checking account was getting an upgrade and was not available to current applicants. So if you’re interested in this checking account, just check back a little bit later because there may be a few more features added as well. But outside of all that, with Discover’s checking account, you’re also going to get access to over 60,000 fee-free ATMs worldwide, and you’re going to get a mobile check deposit. So Discover is going to be another good option from a large bank that’s been around for a while. It’s offering a very competitive APY and some simple but straightforward features that you would expect from an online checking and savings account, but that 1% back with the debit card that Discover has, that is going to be the feature that sticks out to me and one that some people might be interested in.
Charles Schwab
And lastly, as an honorable mention for the bank account, I felt like I had to talk about the Charles Schwab high-yield investor checking account. This is an account that I’ve heard a lot of good things about, and many people have discussed this checking account in different forums. Now, this is a good bank account, but I had to mention it here for one main reason, and that is because Schwab is going to reimburse you for any ATM fees that you might incur by using the debit card that comes with this account at ATMs worldwide. That is a significant feature for many people that is not available in many other bank accounts. If you’re out and need some cash, you just pull out your Schwab debit card and use it at any ATM nearby; you don’t have to worry about some stupid $5 or $7 ATM fee. And I can think of so many situations where this debit card would have been handy for me to have in the past.
There are no minimum balances or fees, including no foreign transaction fees, which is nice for this account, but there are really two reasons why I decided not to include it on my list of the best bank accounts and kept it as an honorable mention instead. First of all, the APY for this checking account is just bad; it’s only 0.03% APY, and if you want to open up a related savings account, that is only going to offer 0.05% APY. And second, if you want to open this high-yield investor checking account, you will also have to open a Schwab brokerage account at the same time. There are no minimums or fees associated with opening and keeping that brokerage account, but some people just don’t want to open another brokerage.
I personally plan to get the Schwab Amex Platinum card at some point in the future, so I can cash out some of my Amex membership rewards points at a higher rate into a Schwab brokerage account. So at that time, when I eventually get that credit card, it’ll make sense for me to open up the brokerage account, and get the debit card associated with the checking account so that I can also get the ATM fee reimbursement benefit. Now, as I said, that debit card is going to be one of the main reasons why a lot of people open up this bank account, but overall, Schwab does have a very good reputation. While it might not have a good APY, that ATM fee reimbursement feature is very valuable to me. And that’s why, in the future, I plan to use this Schwab high-yield investor checking account as a secondary bank account. So what do you think about the bank accounts that I included here on this list of the best bank accounts in 2023? Do you have accounts with any of these banks, or do you plan on switching to any of these banks anytime soon? Or did I leave any other good bank accounts off of this list? Let me know in the comments section below.
