Porte is another banking fintech app, this time with the notable feature of 3.00% APY on up to $15,000 on their attached high-yield savings account. To enable access to this account, you must have a one-time occurrence of $1,000+ of direct deposits within one month. There doesn’t appear to be any ongoing requirements after that. This makes it a more simple setup than the 3% APY accounts of HM Bradley and One Finance, albeit with a lower balance limit. Thanks to reader Matt for the tip.

Referral bonus. New sign-ups can also earn an additional $50 bonus if you open a new account via referral link (must open link in mobile browser, goes directly to app store) and establish a direct deposit of at least $500. That’s my link and I will also get the same bonus, so thanks if you use it! If you have issues with the bonus posting, please let me know.

Quick 3% APY math. If you were to max out the $15,000 at 3% APY and this interest rate holds for a year (a big if), you would get $450 of interest over that year. Compare with a 0.50% APY savings account that would earn $75 in interest on $15,000 in a year, for a difference of $375 a year. As long as that gap stays wide enough, that could be an ongoing $20 to $30 a month in extra interest income.

Additional features.

• No monthly fees, no minimum balances.
• Fee-free access to Moneypass ATM network (32,000+ locations).
• Free debit Visa card.
• Mobile check deposit via app.

They have “real human” (their words) customer service available at 800-267-7080. FDIC insurance is provided by their partner bank, MetaBank. This is the same bank behind Netspend, which used to have a more interesting 5% APY prepaid card. Note that interest also posts quarterly.

An important missing feature is that you can’t use their app to link an external bank account to make ACH deposits/withdrawals. You can make one-time deposits via a debit card from one of your other accounts (they use Plaid). You will have to link this account using another online bank as the hub (Ally, CapOne 360, Marcus, etc) to make ACH transfers. Otherwise, you’ll have to use their debit card and use Venmo/Apple Cash or similar. Little things like this show that it is a small start-up.

My experience. I opened the checking account and was allowed to open the savings account immediately after making $1,000 in qualifying direct deposits. (They don’t seem to be highly discerning as to what constitutes a direct deposit, but no guarantees.) You must manually transfer your funds from the checking to savings in order to get the 3% APY, which makes the funds inaccessible to your debit card. Even so, I declined their “Overdraft Service”, as I’d rather they just reject any transaction that would send me into negative territory. It doesn’t appear that the savings can be used as an overdraft source. My routing number is 073972181, which matches MetaBank, NA. I was able to make deposits and withdrawals to this account.

Bottom line. Porte is a new fintech app that offers a notable 3% APY on balances up to $15,000 once you complete a one-time direct deposit of $1,000 within a month. This is currently a much higher interest rate than the competition. The rest of the app is similar to other fintech offerings, but the high-yield savings account may be attractive for savers.

Black Friday promo: If you open via a referral link between 11/27 and 12/25 and complete a direct deposit, HM Bradley will give you 3% APY immediately and lasting until the end of 2020, instead of the usual 1% APY. Normally, you would have to wait until the next quarter so that they can calculate your savings rate. My referral link (wish they had better landing pages, but thanks if you use it).

Applicants who use your unique referral link to successfully open a new HMBradley Account between November 27, 2020 and midnight Pacific Time on December 25, 2020 and establish at least one qualifying direct deposit per month before December 31, 2020 can earn the Tier 1 annual percentage yield from the date of first direct deposit through December 31, 2020. These new customers are eligible to remain in Tier 1 until January 1, 2021, at which point their new Savings Tier will be set based on their savings rate of the previous quarter.

Original review:

HMBradley is a fintech bank startup that differs by offering customers a variable interest rate based on their savings rate. Deposits are FDIC-insured through Hatch Bank. As of October 2020, the top rate is 3% APY, which is over 2% higher than the popular online savings accounts like Ally Bank, Capital One, or Marcus. Is there a catch? What’s the fine print? Here’s my review of HMBradley after opening an account and reading their FAQ, fee schedule, and deposit agreement. Thanks to reader Guarav for the tip.

Rate tiers. Interest is earned on balances up to $100,000 and is set each calendar quarter. The interest rate updates for all customers at the beginning of each calendar quarter: January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, and October 1st. In order to qualify for a “Savings Tier”, you must receive a direct deposit at least once every month and save at least 5% of your quarterly deposits.

New customers start in Tier 3 and stay there as long as they maintain at least one direct deposit per month. For example, if you open in October, the next reset date would be January 1st and your interest earned for the next 3 months is based on your activity in the previous 3 months. Here are the current rates for each tier:

Requires a “real” direct deposit every month. You must receive some sort of direct deposit each month, as defined below:

For our accounts, we define direct deposits as those deposits made by the customer’s employer or a federal or state government agency or retirement benefits administrator. These generally include payments made by corporations and other organizations. We do not consider deposits to an account that are made by an individual using online banking or other payment provider such as PayPal or Venmo as direct deposits.

They appear to be relatively strict on receiving a “real” direct deposit and not a person-to-person transfer. Based on my experience, they have a system for detecting incoming deposits and marking them automatically as “real”, but it is not 100% accurate and your direct deposit may have to be reviewed manually. Their online account interface clearly tells you if you have made the required direct deposit for the current month (see screenshot below). If not, you should contact them in order for them to manually check and mark your transfer as a direct deposit. I have a legit employer direct deposit and still had to do this every month. Having it marked properly is required to get the top rate.

Savings rate is based on ALL deposits and withdrawals. For the calculation of “savings rate”, all deposits are considered including incoming transfers from another personal bank account. At the same time, your “spending” will also include any transfer out of your account, even if it’s just to another bank account that you own.

Basically, money has to keep coming into HMBradley and not go back out, if you maintain a positive savings rate. That’s rather clever. They just have to maintain the high interest rates to keep reinforcing this cycle.

NOW account? No paper checks. It should be noted that HM Bradley’s account is actually a lesser-known form called a “negotiable order of withdrawal (NOW) account”, which per the CFPB which gives the bank the right to require at least seven days written notice of a withdrawal. Supposedly, this is rarely done in practice. Like a checking account, there are no limits on the number of withdrawals each month. However, unlike a checking account… there are no checks! I suspect that not having to deal with paper checks saves them a good chunk of money. I’m personally fine with that as long that equates to a higher interest rate.

The Bank offers Negotiable Order of Withdrawal transaction checking accounts, which allows you to make deposits by check, ACH payment, transfer from another account at the Bank, or wire transfer. NOW accounts only are available to consumers for personal, family, or household purposes. The Bank does not offer business accounts and you agree not to use your HMBradley Account for business purposes. The Bank may request 7 days’ advance notice of a withdrawal or transfer of funds from the NOW account.

Credit card adds 0.50% APY. They recently added a credit card, but it is only open to those that have sizable payroll direct deposits as that is part of their creditworthiness criteria. If you do get it, you can earn another additional 0.50% APY, for a total of up to 3.5% APY.

Additional features. No minimum balance, no monthly fees. $100 minimum to open. Interest is compounded daily and credited monthly. No paper checks. There is fee-free ATM access via your Debit Mastercard at over 55,000 ATMs in the STAR and MoneyPass networks (or at any store that allows for cash back on debit purchases). There is no online billpay (“coming soon”) and there is no ability to deposit checks (remote deposit also “coming soon”). They may close your account without notice if you maintain a zero balance.

My thoughts. In the current rate environment, the ability to earn 3% APY on up to $100,000 is exceptional. I don’t know of any “rewards checking” account has a balance limit of $100,000. This can be a good opportunity if you understand the rules and the top interest rate stays higher than the competition.

All new customers that open now will earn a maximum of 1% APY until the next quarter starts (January 1st, 2021 as of this last update). This is actually a good rate in the current rate environment. If your savings rate is determined to be above 20% as of December 31st and you had a “verified” direct deposit each month, then you will reach Tier 1, but will Tier 1 still be 3% APY then? There is no rate guarantee and they don’t promise to provide any set amount of advance notice. I was happy that they maintained their 3% APY rate for October-December 2020, but it should also be noted that some of their lower rate tiers have already dropped from when they first starting taking deposits.

The idea of incentivized higher savings rates is good, but it may be a tough hurdle for those living paycheck-to-paycheck. On the other hand, as long as you can switch over a partial direct deposit, adding some consistent amount each month with minimal withdrawals would also work.

Bottom line. HMBradley is a digital bank startup that differs by offering customers a high rate (currently up to 3% APY) based on the percentage of their deposits that they save. They require moving over a monthly direct deposit, and the rules are a bit more complex than I’d like, but if the rates hold steady it can be a very competitive offer for motivated savers.

Added 11/16/20: HMB added a new referral program. If you sign up via my referral link, I will get a free “Tier Rewind” if my savings rate drops later on. You can refer others for the same benefit. Thanks if you use it! Also here is an interesting interview with the CEO, which thankfully shows a good respect for anti-fraud vigilance.

There seems to be a new fintech app every day, but that’s also where higher interest rates on FDIC-insured funds still live (after doing your due diligence). I’m genuinely curious to see what each one comes up as a differentiator. One Finance offers up to 3% APY on select balances and replaces overdraft fees with a line-of-credit. Thanks to reader Matt for the tip. New sign-ups can earn a $20 bonus via referral link (Matt’s link) and $5 after their first debit card purchase. FDIC insurance is provided by their partner bank, Coastal Community Bank.

Let’s cut straight to what earns the 3% APY in their “Auto-Save Pocket”:

• Paycheck Auto-Save. Add your paycheck direct deposit and contribute up to 10% of each paycheck. Up to $1,000/month.
• Debit card automated round-ups. Round up every One card purchase to the next dollar and deposit the difference.

If you have any sort of Direct Deposit, you can earn 1% APY on up to another $25,000 (“Save Pocket”). If you don’t have Direct Deposit, you earn 1% APY on up to $5,000.

This structure is rather clever, as it directly incentives real-world savings while inherently limiting the balance on which they pay 3% APY. Even if you made 100 debit card purchases a month, you’d only average $50 a month in savings via roundups. Most people would also have to move over their entire direct deposit to take full advantage of the paycheck deferral portion. It would take $10,000 in monthly direct deposits to max it out.

(There is also no cash back or round-up matching on those debit card purchases, so you’d be giving up potentially valuable cashback/points/miles rewards to get that 3% APY. I’d prefer the 2% cash back, personally.)

Another somewhat unique feature is the no-fee line-of-credit for overdraft protection (charges 12% APY). There is no interest at all if you repay any negative balance by the end of the same month. Even at 12% APY, this can be a lot less painful than a $35 flat fee if you only overdraft by a few dollars for a few days. For example, overdrafting by $500 for a week would cost nothing if you went back up by the end of the month, or about $1.15 if you didn’t. However, if you’re joining this for the 3% APY, this shouldn’t be an issue.

Additional features.

• No monthly fees, no minimum balances.
• Fee-free access to Allpoint ATM network.
• Free debit Mastercard.
• Person-to-person payment system.

Finally, they promise “World-Class Live Customer Service”. That is a bold claim coming from a crowd of startups with the bare minimum of customer service. It’s truly refreshing whenever I speak to a knowledgeable, caring customer service rep these days. They did have some app glitches back around November 12th based on a quick scan on Twitter, so we’ll have to see. I hope they pull it off, a la Zappos.

If you have the ability to move over some direct deposit and save part of it, you should compare with the structure of HM Bradley. It’s easier to earn 3% APY on a big balance with HM Bradley (and with a smaller direct deposit), but it may be harder to maintain the top rate over the long run as you can’t take out net money without hurting your savings rate. One Finance appears better at encouraging steady savings over the long-run, even if your spending varies.

Bottom line. One Finance is a new fintech app that offers up to 3% APY that incentivizes savings from your paycheck and rounding up your debit card purchases. This might be a good fit for people that want a simple, high-interest savings system.