Credit Cards Cash-Back Credit Cards

SoFi Credit Card Review 2023

overall rating
3.8

A no-fee card with rewards that go toward saving or paying down debt

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The SoFi credit card offers 2% unlimited cash back on eligible purchases when redeemed toward investing, saving, or paying down an eligible loan with SoFi. It doesn’t charge an annual fee or foreign transaction fees.

SoFi Credit Card

Overall Rating
3.8
SoFi Credit Card
On Bank of Missouri's Secured Site.
Current Offer

Earn up to $100 when you open and fund a SoFi Money and a SoFi Invest account after getting approved for the SoFi Credit Card (See Terms).

Recommended Credit
Score Our recommended ranges are based off of the FICO® Score 8 credit-scoring model. Credit score is one of the many factors lenders review in considering your application.
350 579
580 669
670 739
740 799
800 850
Good - Excellent
Regular APR (%) 17.74% - 29.74% variable
Annual Fee $0
Rewards Earning Rate Earn 2% cash back on all eligible purchases—and when you redeem it to pay down eligible debt, save, or invest with SoFi.
Balance Transfer Fee Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
Foreign transaction fee (%) 0%
how this card stacks up
When compared among all rewards cards in our database:
Rewards
Benefits
Low Fees
Security/Customer Experience
Low Interest
worst best

Company Overview

Short for Social Finance, SoFi is an online bank and personal finance company whose operations date back to 2011. It provides services such as mortgages, credit cards, and personal loans, as well as student loan and auto loan refinancing. It is accessible to its account holders through both mobile devices and desktop computers.

Pros
  • Can use rewards to save, invest, or pay off debt

  • Unlimited 2% cash back when you redeem points in certain ways

Cons
  • High balance transfer and cash advance fees

Pros Explained

  • Can use rewards to save, invest, or pay off debt: You can redeem your rewards into your SoFi Checking and Savings account to save, SoFi Invest account to invest, or SoFi student loan or SoFi personal loan accounts to pay down debt. Using your rewards for these redemption options, instead of spending them in other ways, can help you improve your financial situation.
  • Unlimited 2% cash back when you redeem points in certain ways: The SoFi credit card offers 2% unlimited cash back on eligible purchases when redeemed toward investing, saving, or paying down an eligible loan with SoFi. The higher redemption rate matches some of the more popular no-annual-fee cash back credit cards available today.

Cons Explained

  • High balance transfer and cash advance fees: This card charges higher balance transfer fees and cash advance fees (at $10 or 5% of each transaction, whichever is greater) than some competitive credit cards charge. Additionally, SoFi is only currently accepting balance transfers from recipients of promotional offers. Those considering using this card for a cash advance or balance transfer may find better options elsewhere.

Who This Card Is Best For

The SoFi credit card may be a good fit for you if you want to use your credit card rewards to better your financial situation and not be tempted to use them for other purposes. The credit card rewards program gives you the 2% equivalent cash back reward rate only if you redeem your rewards into a SoFi Checking and Savings account, purchase investments via SoFi Invest, or use them to pay down the balance of your SoFi student loan or SoFi personal loan.

People who want more flexibility and true cash back, without having to redeem their rewards into a SoFi account, may be better off with another credit card that offers a similar redemption value.

Rewards Earning Details

Though this card is described as earning cash back, technically you earn points: 2 points per dollar spent with your card. If you don’t make the minimum payment for a billing cycle by the payment due date, you will not earn points for purchases posted to your account during that billing cycle.

You forfeit your points if your credit card account is canceled for any reason. Additionally, SoFi may cancel some or all of your points if the company decides you have violated the terms of its rewards program.

Rewards Redemption Details

You can redeem your points for the following options:

  • Promotional offers listed on the redeem points page
  • Cash deposited into your SoFi Checking and Savings account
  • Shares credited to your SoFi Invest account
  • Cash applied to the balance of your SoFi student loan or SoFi personal loan

Technically, your points are worth $0.01 each. However, because purchases receive 2 points per $1 spent, this effectively means the card earns 2% cash back as long as you redeem your points using the four methods listed above.

If you decide to redeem your points for a statement credit instead, each point is only worth $0.005 cents.

You can’t redeem points if your account is past due or your SoFi credit card account is canceled.

How to Maximize Your Rewards

This card’s rewards program is straightforward, so it isn’t difficult to maximize your rewards. Put all eligible purchases on the card to maximize the points you earn. Then, redeem your points to deposit cash in your SoFi Checking and Savings account, get shares credited to your SoFi Invest account, or apply cash to your SoFi student loan or personal loan balance and get the additional point per point redeemed.

Outstanding Benefits

  • Cell phone protection: The credit card comes with up to $1,000 in complimentary cell phone insurance coverage.

Standard Benefits

  • Concierge services
  • Free ShopRunner membership for unlimited free two-day shipping and free return shipping at select online stores
  • Special promotional offers at Fandango, Lyft, and DoorDash

Cardholder Experience

The SoFi credit card is issued by the Bank of Missouri, which was not ranked in J.D. Power’s 2022 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study. SoFi has 24/7 customer support available by phone for cardholders.

Security Features

This credit card offers Mastercard ID Theft Protection. You also get access to emergency card replacement through your Mastercard benefits.

Fees to Watch out For

This card does not charge foreign transaction fees, which is a nice feature if you travel outside the U.S. But if you make a balance transfer or take a cash advance, you’ll face fees of $10 or 5% of each transaction, whichever is greater. Note, however, that SoFi is only accepting balance transfers from recipients of promotional offers at this time.

Final Verdict

The SoFi credit card makes it easy to use your credit card rewards responsibly, as long as you have other SoFi accounts, such as SoFi Checking and Savings, SoFi Invest, SoFi student loans, or SoFi personal loans.

The 2% cash back earning rate is decent for a no-annual-fee credit card, but having to stay in the SoFi ecosystem to get it may frustrate some cardholders. If you aren’t a big fan of keeping everything with SoFi, you may want to consider other cash back credit cards that offer a similar rewards rate.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Credit Score Do I Need for a SoFi Credit Card?

SoFi requires credit card applicants to have a credit score in the good range (so no lower than 670).

Does SoFi Do a Soft or Hard Credit Pull?

SoFi runs a soft credit pull on all applicants who apply for their credit cards.

What Bank Issues the SoFi Credit Card?

The Bank of Missouri issues the SoFi credit card.

What Is the High Limit for the SoFi Credit Card?

The highest limits reported by SoFi credit card account holders are in the $25,000 range.

Next Steps
For SoFi Credit Card
on Bank of Missouri's Secured Site.
Compare This Card
See how this card compares to similar cards
CURRENT CARD
SoFi Credit Card
overall rating
3.8
Recommended Credit
Score Our recommended ranges are based off of the FICO® Score 8 credit-scoring model. Credit score is one of the many factors lenders review in considering your application.
350 579
580 669
670 739
740 799
800 850
Good - Excellent
Regular APR (%) 17.74% - 29.74% variable
Annual Fee $0
Rewards Earning Rate Earn 2% cash back on all eligible purchases—and when you redeem it to pay down eligible debt, save, or invest with SoFi.
Investopedia Credit Card Rating Methodology
Investopedia is committed to delivering the best credit card recommendations in the industry. We’ll tell you when a card is good, we’ll tell you when a card is bad, and we’ll only call a card the best if we would recommend it to our friends or family members.
Overall Star Rating Explained
To rate credit cards we objectively assess, score and weight nearly 100 individual card features which roll up into five major feature sets: fees, interest, rewards, benefits and security/customer service. Here’s how we weighted those feature sets for the overall star rating of a card:
We have applied our proprietary rating methodology to every generally-accepted credit card in the U.S. domestic market to allow consumers to make fully informed choices. It’s important to note that for our overall score that we make a number of assumptions about how you would be using your credit card:
  1. While we make no assumption as to whether balances are carried on a given card we do assign varying weights to all credit cards’ introductory APR (if present) in addition to the regular, long term purchase and balance transfer interest rates.
  2. We utilize BLS (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics) income and average category spending data to calculate annual earnings rates for rewards cards that offer cash back, points or miles rewards at a set rate on all spending or in consideration of bonus rewards for certain spending categories, like gasoline, groceries, restaurants or travel.
  3. We determine the maximum points value of rewards cards by dividing the points, cash back or miles required to exchange for the retail price of the most valuable redemption option (for example, in the case of a card that offers a domestic roundtrip airline ticket as a redemption option vs. another redemption option of lesser value that requires the same amount of points or miles to acquire, we would base the rewards value on the airline ticket).
  • Cards that are selected best overall in their respective categories generally feature most if not all of the following attributes:
  • Low or Reasonable Fees Credit card fees come in many forms but the primary ones involve those for annual card membership and balance transfer. There are a myriad of reward and non-reward card options that charge no annual fee but for the many that do assess an annual fee the cost is often justified by their lucrative ongoing rewards and initial signup bonuses. Balance transfer fees are occasionally waived during introductory periods with certain cards, a factor which is heavily and positively weighted in our scoring model for cards offering this benefit. When charged, balance transfer fees range between 3% - 5%, which we grade accordingly. Other standard fees can generally be avoided, such as those for paying late or taking cash advances but we rate those relative to other cards in the market for reference, though with less weight assigned
  • Competitive Interest Many cards offer 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers for varying lengths and then revert to a permanent or regular APR (based on a variable rate tied to the prime rate) that applies to any balances not paid in full. We rate both introductory APR percentage and length (in months) along with the midpoint of the variable regular APR interest rate range.
  • Valuable Rewards Credit card reward programs can be based on cash back, points or travel rewards (which can be generic or travel partner-specific, as with airline and hotel co-brand card programs). For cards that offer rewards we determine the value per dollar spent along with average redemption values and assign more favorable ratings to cards that offer superior consumer value. We also assign value to sign-up bonus offers and their initial spending requirements, when present.
  • Excellent Benefits Credit card benefits cover a range of offerings like concierge service, TSA Pre-check, auto rental coverage, travel accident insurance, lost luggage assistance and free credit scores. We rate cards on the number and level of over a dozen standard and upscale benefits and provide extra weighting emphasis for those travel-related perks that apply to premium travel cards when present.
  • Solid Security/Customer Service Security and customer service features like lost or stolen card replacement, being able to lock one’s card from an issuer app and 24 hour customer support are becoming more standard across the card market and we provide a significant amount of weighting to features in this area.
  • You can also read the full version of our methodology for a more in-depth look at how we assess cards and award them the best in various categories.