Personal Finance Insider writes about products, strategies, and tips to help you make smart decisions with your money. We may receive a small commission from our partners, like American Express, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

Overall bank rating

4.5
4.25
4.5
4.417

Pros and cons

  • No physical branches
  • No joint accounts
  • Low savings rate compared to other online accounts
  • Interest compounded monthly, not daily

Checking

None None None None
  • Pros & Cons
  • Details
    • Pros
    • No minimum opening deposit
    • No monthly service fees
    • No overdraft fees
    • No out-of-network ATM fees
    • Receive your paycheck up to 2 days early
    • Instant Karma gives you the chance to receive a purchase reimbursement
    Cons
    • No physical locations
    • No joint accounts
    • Doesn't reimburse fees charged by out-of-network ATM providers
    • No way to deposit cash
    • No option to overdraw
    • Florida and New York residents are not eligible for Instant Karma benefits
    • 55,000 free ATMs in the Allpoint network
    • With Instant Karma, Credit Karma randomly chooses debit card purchases to reimburse
    • Partner bank is MVB Bank
    • FDIC insured for up to $5 million

    Credit Karma Money Spend is a good free checking account, with no monthly or overdraft fees. You could also receive paychecks and other direct deposits up to two days early .

    Savings

    0.13% APY None 0.13% APY None
  • Pros & Cons
  • Details
    • Pros
    • No minimum opening deposit
    • No monthly service fees
    Cons
    • Earn a higher interest rate with other online savings accounts
    • Interest compounded monthly, not daily
    • No joint accounts
    • No monthly management fees or minimum balance requirements
    • Interest compounded monthly, paid monthly
    • Deposits are FDIC insured through partner bank, MVB Bank

    Credit Karma Money Save has no minimum opening deposit or monthly fees. It pays a higher interest rate than many brick-and-mortar banks, but you can earn a higher interest rate with other online savings accounts .

    How Credit Karma Money works

    Credit Karma is a finance company primarily known for showing you credit scores and reports for free. Credit Karma Money is the company's banking platform, and it has a checking and savings account.

    With Credit Karma, you have free access to 55,000 ATMs around the US in the Allpoint network.

    The Credit Karma mobile app has 4.8 out of 5 stars in the Apple store , and 4.7 out of 5 stars in the Google Play store . You can link your Credit Karma Spend Account to your TransUnion credit report. Then you can see your credit score, upcoming bills, payment due dates, minimum payments due, and outstanding balances in your Credit Karma app.

    Popular Articles

    Credit Karma's Instant Karma feature makes it possible for you to pocket cash. The company uses an algorithm to randomly select customers' debit card purchases to reimburse. If you deposit money into your savings account, you'll enter a sweepstakes to win up to $20,000.

    Your deposits are FDIC insured for up to $5 million through Credit Karma's partner banks.

    Is Credit Karma Money trustworthy?

    Credit Karma doesn't have any recent public controversies.

    The Better Business Bureau scores companies' trustworthiness based on responses to customer complaints, honesty in advertising, and transparency about business practices. The BBB gives Credit Karma a B+ in trustworthiness , because the company hasn't responded to all of the customer complaints on the BBB websites.

    BBB scores aren't always an accurate representation of how you will interact with a company, though. You may want to read online customer reviews or ask friends and family about their experiences with Credit Karma.

    How Credit Karma Money compares

    We've compared Credit Karma Money to two other platforms with early direct deposits: Chime and Capital One 360 .

    Savings APY

    0.50% APY

    Savings APY

    0.40% APY

    All three platforms have checking and savings accounts with no monthly fees. You'll earn a higher interest rate with Chime and Capital One 360 , though.

    Chime and Capital One both let you deposit cash, while Credit Karma Money does not. Chime and Capital One also do not charge foreign transaction fees, making them good options for travelers. Capital One helps you save for individual goals by creating and naming separate pots in your savings accounts, such as "Travel" or "Emergency Fund."

    But you may like Credit Karma's Instant Karma feature, which randomly selects customers for cash rewards.

Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by The Bancorp Bank or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC.

Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by The Bancorp Bank or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC.

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. What you decide to do with your money is up to you. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.