Acorns Banking Review 2024 (2024)

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The bottom line: You may like an Acorns Checking Account if you want to automatically save and invest spare change from your regular purchases. If you want a more straightforward account, read through our best checking accounts guide.

Acorns Banking Pros and Cons

About Acorns Banking

Acorns is an online-only investment platform that helps you save and invest. Acorns has three subscription plans, and all offer the Acorns Checking Account. The new Mighty Oak Debit Card is available with the $5 or $9 monthly subscription fee tiers.

Here's a quick overview of the three subscription plans available.

The Acorns mobile app is rated 4.6 out of 5 stars in the Google Play Store and 4.7 out of 5 stars in the Apple Store.

Contact customer support 24/7 through the live chat feature on the mobile app, visit the help center, submit a ticket through email, or call 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. PT seven days a week.

Acorns isn't a bank, but its banking services are issued by its partner banks, Lincoln Savings Bank and NBKC Bank. Both banks are FDIC-insured financial institutions.

Is Acorns Trustworthy?

The Better Business Bureau gives Acorns an F rating because it has received a high volume of customer complaints, failed to respond to some of the complaints filed against the business, and has a few unresolved customer complaints. The BBB grades companies based on responses to customer complaints, honesty in advertising, and transparency about business practices.

Acorns has no recent public scandals, so you may still decide you're comfortable keeping your money with this company.

Acorns Banking FAQs

Acorns Banking Reviews

Acorns Checking Account

The Acorns Checking Account may be a solid option if you're looking for an online platform where you can save and invest. The Acorns Checking Account is offered through all three Acorns subscriptions, and your account is automatically tied to an Acorns Invest and Acorns Later account.

The checking account has no overdraft fees and access to 55,000 free ATMs through the Allpoint network. It also has several unique features that help you invest.

For example, when you initiate a purchase with your debit card, Acorns rounds your purchase up to the nearest dollar and invests your round-ups. You could simply link your debit card from an external account to your Acorns Invest and Later accounts, and Acorns will invest your round-ups once they total up to $5. But with an Acorns Checking Account, round-ups are invested in real-time, so you can start earning compound interest faster.

Acorns also comes with a program called Acorns Earn. Shop with an Acorns partner (partners include UberEats, Apple, and Walmart), and it will invest a set percentage of your purchase with your Acorns account.

You can sign up for Smart Deposit with Acorns Checking. When you set up direct deposits into your Acorns Checking account, the company will automatically transfer a certain percentage into your Invest and Later accounts. This can help you save and invest more quickly.

The money in your Acorns Checking Account is FDIC-insured for up to $250,000.

Acorns Mighty Oak Debit Card

If you have the $5 or $9 monthly subscription fee tiers, you'll get the Mighty Oak Debit Card with your Acorns Checking Account instead of the standard Acorns Visa debit card.

You might like the Mighty Oak Debit Card if you're looking to earn interest on your money. You'll be able to earn 3.00% APY on the Checking Account and 5.00% APY on the Emergency Fund (the savings rate is on par with the best high-yield savings accounts). The Emergency Fund is a tool that lets you set aside money for an emergency, and it's also a feature available with the $5 or $9 monthly subscription fee tiers.

You may also get the subscription cost waived with the Mighty Oak Debit Card if you receive direct deposits of $250 or more per month.

How Acorns Banking Compares

Acorns Banking vs. Betterment Banking

Acorns and Betterment are both online platforms that focus on helping customers invest. Unlike Acorns Checking, your, Betterment Checking accountwill not help you invest through Betterment — instead, it's designed to be a more traditional checking account.

However, Betterment does have a feature called the two-way sweep, which determines how much extra money you have in your Betterment Checking account and moves it to your Betterment Cash Reserve account (a type of savings account) so it can earn interest.

Unlike Acorns, Betterment Checking is free to use. Your decision between an Acorns Checking Account and Betterment Checking Account will probably come down to whether you want a traditional checking account or one that helps you invest.

Betterment Cash Reserve Review

Acorns Banking vs. Stash

Like Acorns, Stash is an online micro-investing company that has created a checking account to help users invest smarter.

A Stash bank account offers Stock-Back rewards. If you make a purchase at Amazon, for example, then Stash invests 0.125% of your purchase in a fraction of an Amazon stock. If you spend money with a company that doesn't have a partnership with Stash, then Stash invests in an ETF related to the industry you spent money with. You can access a Stash bank account at $3 or $9 per month plans.

If you think you'll use ATMs a lot, you might prefer Acorns Checking. You also might prefer Acorns if you are interested in the Mighty Oak Debit Card. Available through the $5 or $9 monthly subscription fee subscription plans, the Mighty Oak Debit Card notably lets you earn 3.00% APY on Checking and 5.00% APY on an Emergency Fund APY. The monthly subscription fee is also waivable if you have the Mighty Oak Debit Card and meet certain monthly direct deposit requirements.

Stash Review

Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed Acorns Banking

At Personal Finance Insider, we rate products on a scale from zero to five stars. We used our bank account methodology to review the Acorns Checking Accounts, specifically looking at factors like minimum opening requirements, monthly services fees, overdraft protection services, ATM network/fees, customer support availability, mobile app ratings, and ethics of the company. Since the Mighty Oak Debit Card is linked to the Acorns Checking Account, we also considered similar features to determine our rating.