US Digital Banks: Best Digital Banks In The USA

Digital banks in the US are the latest trend these days. Their convenience, ease of use, and innovative features make them an appealing option. Compared to traditional financial institutions, online banks can’t be beaten. 

Digital banking lets you perform several transactions, like transfer funds, pay bills online, keep track of account statements, and lots more. You don't have to wait for the bank working hours or stand in long queues to carry out an online transaction.

These are the 20 best online banks in the USA that offer low minimum deposits, low monthly service fees, and a robust mobile banking architecture.

Digital Banks in US (Online Banks)

• Digital bank for checking accounts – Axos
• Digital bank for savings accounts –  CIT Bank
• Digital bank for combined checking and savings – Aspiration
• Digital bank for credit cards – SoFi
• Digital bank for cashback rewards – Current
• Digital bank to get paid early – Chime
• Debit card for credit building –  Extra
• Digital bank for cash advances – Empower
• Digital bank for investing – M1 Finance
• Digital bank for international money transfers – Wise
• Digital bank for bitcoin and crypto – Robinhood
• Digital bank for freelancers – Lili

Best Digital Bank For Checking Accounts

Axos Bank

Axos Bank offers little to no fee charge and competitive interest rates, suitable for small businesses, commercial lending, and personal accounts.

This online bank gives you the opportunity of investing your money through the Axos Invest Managed Portfolios with an account minimum of $500.

The annual advisory fee is calculated monthly. Hence, there are no hidden fees for transactions, trading commissions, and rebalancing. In addition, they offer up to 1.25% APY.

Here are some features of Axos Bank:

• Offers Mortgages and loans
• Business accounts
• Current accounts
• Savings accounts
• Easy to sign up
• Commercial account
• Investing platform

Best Digital Bank For Savings Account

CIT Bank 

CIT as a parent company has spanned many generations. It was founded as a full-fledged Commercial Investment Trust in the year 2000.

CIT bank offers a full-service banking platform with a broad range of custodial accounts. Unlike other traditional banks, CIT allows you to structure your saving options depending on the account type you desire.

CIT accounts options are: checking accounts, savings accounts, CDs, and money market accounts.

CIT bank allows for a $100 minimum opening deposit but doesn’t charge monthly maintenance fees. CIT also offers active yields on its savings and CD accounts. The checking account earns variable interest and APY of up to 0.25%.

They also offer personal loans and credit products to customers with a wide range of options to choose from. 

Best Digital Bank For Combined Checking and Savings

Aspiration 

Aspiration is a go-to option if you are looking for a suitable checking and savings account from a convenient and environmentally conscious and socially responsible bank.

This financial company helps you neutralize your carbon footprint by planting a tree every time you swipe your card.

They offer a cash management account and savings account. Aspiration offers fee-free withdrawals at Allpoint ATMs. You can also earn 0.25% APY on the first $10,000 of your Spend and Save account and 0.10% APY on funds over $10,000. 

You can receive up to 10% cashback on your debit card purchases when you spend at companies part of the ‘Conscience Coalition.’

Aspiration also gives you cell phone protection and offers an Identity fraud expense reimbursement of up to $1,000 in case of identity theft.

Best Digital Bank For Credit Cards

SoFi 

Unlike other traditional banks, this crypto friendly bank, SoFi, does not charge an annual fee.

Members can earn 2% unlimited cash back, which can be redeemed to help pay a SoFi loan or converted into crypto to trade or invest.

In addition, members can get their APR lowered by 1% by making timely minimum monthly payments for 12 consecutive months.

There are also numerous benefit that comes with SoFi:

• Guaranteed cell phone insurance of about $1,000
• They help protect your MasterCard ID, especially from theft.
• Access to free spending and budgeting tools.
• No foreign transaction fees.

Best Digital Bank For Cashback Rewards

Current 

Current digital bank is a checking account and payment service that enables customers to buy products and receive payments through a safe digital system.

A major advantage of Current is the ability for parents to set up an account for their children to keep track of their spending.

However, it’s open to all age groups and encourages healthy saving habits. Members can earn up to 4% APY on their savings.

Current also offers various cashback offers—for example, it partners with global retailers to provide cashback for products bought.

Members can also earn up to 15 points for each dollar spent on a purchase from a partner company. It also offers free instant transfers to other accounts within the app.

Best Digital Bank to Get Paid Early

Chime 

Chime seeks out the welfare of its members, and thus, provides a checking account for recurring bills for their day-to-day expenses.

Chime is decent for customers seeking a simple, mobile-friendly bank account with no monthly maintenance fees. 

In addition, it allows customers to make additional purchases using the Chime Visa Debit card. And there are no overdraft fees for purchases and withdrawals of up to $200*.

Customers can choose to save for a specified reason or hold funds in their savings accounts. Their high yield savings account lets you earn 1.50%¹ Annual Percentage Yield (APY) with no minimum deposit.

Related: Current vs Chime: Which is Better for You?

Debit Card For Credit Building

Extra

Extra is the first debit card that builds credit and earns rewards points just like a credit card.

Extra is compatible with over 10,000+ banks across the United States, it works by connecting to your bank account and giving you a spending limit (spend power) based on your bank balance. The good thing is, there’s no credit check to determine your ‘spend power’.

When making a transaction, Extra pays for the purchase and automatically deducts the amount from your account the next business day.

At the end of the month, Extra adds up all your purchases and reports them to two credit bureaus (Experian and Equifax) as credit-worthy payments. This helps you build a credible credit history and work towards long-term goals.

Members can earn up to 1% in reward points to spend in Extra’s in-app reward store. The lowest plan starts at $7 a month.

Best Digital bank for cash advances 

Empower

Empower is a digital bank that allows you to make purchases and access your money from the convenience of your home. They offer banking services and structured budgeting tools to help you manage your money to suit your lifestyle. 

During emergencies, they provide members with cash advances with no interest, late fees, or credit history checks.

They also help customers earn up to 10% of their cash back when purchasing products. Their main products and services include a debit card, cashback rewards, budgeting tools (Expense tracking & AutoSave), and cash advances.

Their AutoSave funds are FDIC insured through the NBKC bank, and there are no overdraft fees or account minimums to get started.

However, Empower charges an $8 monthly fee and a foreign transaction fee of 1%. Members also earn a 0.01% APY. 

Best Digital Bank for investing

M1 Finance

M1 Finance is an online investing platform that offers members self-directed trading and automated investing instruments. There are no trading fees, and all you need is $100 to secure an investment account.

Although M1 doesn’t offer a money market account, it has over 80 professionally designed portfolios.

This digital platform also offers members fractional shares, margin lending, custodial accounts, and digital banking.

It uses a pie-based model; therefore, you can easily choose stocks, portfolios, and ETFs to invest in. It also helps you determine what percentage of your money to allocate for every investment.

Best Digital Bank For International Money Transfers

Wise

Formerly known as Transferwise, Wise allows users to send and receive money from 80 countries at a low fee. Members can open an electronic money account and hold money in over 50 currencies. 

Additionally, members from select countries can opt for a Wise debit card they can use to spend in online stores around the world. What makes Wise a standout money transfer platform is that it has really low transfer fees, good exchange rates, and a short transfer period.

Best Digital Bank For Bitcoin and Crypto

Robinhood 

Robinhood offers commission-free investing on stocks, securities, and cryptocurrencies (one of the best cryptocurrency exchanges). For $5 a month, members can upgrade to a Robinhood Gold membership where they can participate in margin investing and pay 2.5% yearly interest on borrowed amounts above $1,000.

Robinhood Cash Management offers a Mastercard debit card, and the debit card is available as both a virtual and a physical card. Members also earn 0.30% APY.

Customers can fund their accounts through a direct deposit of their paycheck or a bank transfer from other savings or checking accounts. Robinhood also offers ‘IPO Access’ where members can be early investors in upcoming IPOs.

Best Digital Bank For Freelancers

Lili 

Lili is purely designed for freelancers and business owners. It's one of the best banks for freelancers that we've reviewed. Not only does it include an easy sign-up process, but they're no hidden fees and it comes with excellent financial resources.

There are no minimum balance requirements or minimum opening deposits. It grants its customers unlimited free transactions. Lili also allows for fee-free ATM access through the Moneypass network. Additionally, there are no overdraft fees for expenses of up to $200.

It also offers you the opportunity to manage your expenses plus plan and save for tax payments through its application tools.

Most importantly, it provides quick and early payments allowing you to receive funds within 2days. Members can also earn 1% APY on their savings.

Other Digital Banks in The US  

Ally Bank

Unlike most online banks in the USA, this bank offers a wide range of free savings, money market accounts, and checking accounts to increase your deposit interest rate. Most importantly, Ally bank gives high-yield savings of 0.05% APY on all account balances.

There are no limits to your balance amount, no management fees, and minimum deposits. If you intend to invest or enter the world of trading, Ally online bank serves as a handy tool where you can easily merge all your income coming in or going out. 

Here are some of its features:

• Offers Personal loans
• Offers Mortgage
• Unrestricted online sign-up
• Checking and Savings accounts
• Helps in Vehicle financing
• Stocks & ETFs investing

Mercury 

Mercury has set up a unified structure targeted at startups and tech-based businesses. This digital bank offers all-digital banking services for checking and savings accounts with no monthly fees.

Mercury also allows members to earn up to 0.08% APY by investing their cash in government securities and money market funds. 

This mobile banking service comes with several financial tools and a full option of developer API access to help customize member accounts. There is no minimum deposit to open an account in Mercury bank, and members have access to virtual cards to enable them to perform several transactions.

Cogni 

Cogni solely serves the people's interest; therefore, it offers three standard products, checking account, Cogni pay, and Cogni Visa Card.

It supports direct deposits of funds from person to person, and there are no transaction fees attached. The procedure for reporting a stolen card is easy; all you have to do is call a service team member to approve the freezing or unfreezing of your card.

Another advantage of Cogni bank is using 256-bit encryption to protect customers' accounts. In addition, all accounts are FDIC insured. There are no overdrafts fees as it offers flexibility, efficiency, and convenient handling of transfers and payments for all customers.

One Finance 

One Finance is focused on helping members build good financial habits therefore, every account comes with four features, Spend, Save, Auto-Save, and Credit Line.

Members can earn 3% APY if they use their Auto-Save feature to set aside up to 10% of their paycheck with a limit of $1,000 per month.

In addition, members can transform their debit cards to credit cards with the Credit Line feature. Qualifying members can get up to a $10,000 limit at a low-interest rate of 1% per month (12% APR).

Quontic 

Quontic helps Individual customers and small business owners access loans, high-interest savings, and checking accounts.

There are no monthly service fees; however, with a 100$ minimum opening deposit, a checking account can earn a high-interest rate of up to 1.01% APY. A savings account can earn up to 0.55% APY, and a certificate of deposit can earn up to 1.20% APY.

Capital One 360

This digital bank offers a wide range of free saving options, checking, business credit products, and CD accounts. There's no minimum balance or opening deposit requirement. Members also enjoy zero ATM fees on more than 70,000 Capital One, Moneypass and Allpoint ATMs.

Their checking account can earn up to 0.10% APY while their savings account earns up to 0.40% APY and their CD accounts earn 0.60% APY. Additionally, their teen checking account and kids saving accounts earn up to 0.10% APY and 0.30% APY respectively.

Oxygen

Oxygen is a digital banking platform whose banking services are provided by The Bancorp Bank. Oxygen caters to members wishing to open personal or business accounts. Personal banking options come in 4 tiers; Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. 

Their lowest tier account, Earth, is free, and members can earn a 0.25% APY on their savings. Their top-tier account, Fire, has an annual fee of $199.99, and members can earn 1.25% APY on their savings. All personal banking plans have cash back rewards and retail and travel benefits. In addition, all accounts are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). 

More: 6 Banks that Don’t Require Social Security Numbers

Conclusion 

As trends change, your ability to bank safely at your convenience is an excellent way to gain control over your finances.

Whether you’re already into digital banking or have not yet tried any of the mobile banking apps available, these digital banks above are some of the best reasons to bank digitally in 2024.

The best part is, you only need a computer or mobile device to get started.