Earlier this year, some big things happened with SoFi. First, the FinTech became a full-fledged bank after purchasing Golden Pacific Bancorp. Then, in turn, the company announced it was launching an account with the incredibly creative name SoFi Checking and Savings — with SoFi Bank issuing the account instead of Bancorp Bank, which the company previously partnered with for their SoFi Money offering. To encourage users to make the switch, the platform revealed an increased APY for Checking and Savings, but noted that customers didn’t have to move over just yet. Well, cut to a few month later and, while it is still optional to “upgrade,” SoFi is putting a little extra pressure on Money customers to do so.
In a blog post, SoFi announced that, starting June 5th, customers with SoFi Money accounts will no longer earn any interest on their funds. Instead, interest will be exclusive to the Checking and Savings account. Currently, customers with SoFi Checking and Savings accounts and who utilize direct deposit can earn 1.25% APY on their funds while those without direct deposit receive 0.70% APY.
So, with SoFi Checking and Savings offering many of the same features as SoFi Money but with better APY, why are some users resisting the move? Well, when SoFi Money first launched several years ago now, the account offered even more perks — including unlimited ATM reimbursements from any machine worldwide. That feature was later discontinued when SoFi opted to utilize the Allpoint ATM network instead, but the company did preserve the perk for long-time customers. As you may have guessed by now, should users make the move to the new product, they will finally lose this super-useful benefit.
Just in case it wasn’t clear what the goal of this move was, SoFi spelled it out, saying: “Moving forward, our plan is to only build new features for SoFi Checking and Savings and reduce support of SoFi Money.” Personally, that makes me wonder why they don’t just go ahead and kill off the account altogether? Unfortunately, I’m not quite well-versed enough to know the answer to that or why that might not be an option yet, but it seems easier than this slow-death strategy.
I should note that, in the interest of reviewing the latest product, I made the difficult decision to transition my account to SoFi Checking and Savings a few months ago and, yes, it did hurt me to kill off my ATM perk — especially seeing as I did so right before an international trip. Luckily, I discovered that my Point Neon debit card worked fine at the French ATM I tried. And while my ATM fee wasn’t credited as it has been with domestic machines, oddly, the withdrawal processed as a purchase, earning me 1% back. Ironically, that 1% amounted to more than the ATM fee so, as Mr. Sheen would say, winning!
Personally, while I will miss the old SoFi Money, I think it’s high time for SoFi to just rip off the Band-Aid adhesive bandage strip and force us long-time customers to move on. To the company’s credit, though, they didn’t have to let the old perks go on as long as they did — and I haven’t really seen many other FinTechs being so considerate. Because of that, while I may not be as in love with my SoFi account as I once was, I’ll keep it around for old time’s sake.