One Finance Review: A Combined High-Yield Bank Account With Checking and Savings Features

One Finance is not a full-service bank in the usual sense. Instead, the online bank lets people do all of their banking from one account. The account offers an opportunity to earn high APY and carries no monthly fees. Find out if this bank account is right for you in our in-depth One Finance review.

Instead of offering several kinds of accounts, One Finance operates via one single bank account. Accounts are equipped with pockets to allow you to manage your money in a variety of ways. One accounts automatically come with Spend (checking), Save (savings), and Auto-Save (high-yield savings) pockets, but there's no limit to how many pockets customers can create, which can help you budget money and set savings goals.

We've highlighted some of the best features and drawbacks below. Take note of these details as you decide whether to open an account.

Top perks

Up to 3.00% APY

Customers earn 1.00% APY on Save pocket balances up to $5,000 or up to $25,000 with a qualifying direct deposit. You can earn 3.00% APY via Auto-Save deposits. One accounts offer two ways to deposit money into the Auto-Save pocket. You can set up your account to round up purchases made with the One card to the nearest dollar, automatically depositing the rounded-up amount into this pocket. Also, you can automatically save up to 10% ($1,000 per month maximum) of your direct-deposit paychecks. All Auto-Save deposits earn 3.00% APY.

Early direct deposit

One customers can access paycheck funds up to two days early, depending on how an employer transmits deposits.

Credit line

Qualifying One account holders have access to a credit line to use as needed. One Finance sets your credit line limit, up to $10,000, based on your credit and income. There is no interest charged in the month you borrow. After that, you owe 1% interest per month (12% APR).

No fees

One Finance doesn't charge many of the fees you might find at other banks. There are no monthly maintenance fees, overdraft fees, non-sufficient funds fees, foreign transaction fees, or ATM fees (when using ATMs within the Allpoint network).

Money management

Not only are checking and savings features housed in one bank account, but customers can also set up custom pockets to cover expenses in their budgets or to save towards goals. You can also set up shared pockets with other customers. Customers can assign a specific pocket that their One card pulls from, too.

Credit Builder

A customer can build up a credit score with the One account. To do this, they set up and fund a Credit Builder pocket with at least $20, and assign their One card to pull from this pocket. Payments to the pocket are reported to the three major credit bureaus, similar to a credit card.

What could be improved

High-yield APY is limited

You can only make $1,000 worth of Auto-Save direct deposits each month. Only customers with a qualifying direct deposit can extend the Save pocket balance that earns this APY to $25,000. All others only earn 1% APY on balances up to $5,000.

These are your options for depositing money into and withdrawing money from your One Account.

Deposit options

You can add money to your One account in any of the following ways:

• External ACH transfer
• Direct deposits
• Mobile check deposit
• Wire transfers
• Peer-to-peer services

You currently cannot deposit cash into One accounts.

Withdrawal options

Below are your options for withdrawing money from your One account:

• External bank transfers
• ATM withdrawals
• Peer-to-peer services

One customers have access to fee-free ATM use at over 55,000 Allpoint network ATMs worldwide. You may be charged a fee by ATM owners when using ATMs outside of the Allpoint network.

While you can deposit funds into your One account via wire transfer, you can't send wire transfers from your account.

One bank accounts combine checking and savings into one easy-to-manage account, but it may not be right for everyone. If it doesn't seem like a good fit, you may want to consider other choices.

One Finance is a good fit for those who love the idea of having all of their money housed in one bank account. It's also a good option for people who regularly use a debit card for purchases or plan to set up direct deposit, since those activities earn high-yield interest. The Credit Builder feature makes it a solid choice for people who would like to improve their credit without a secured credit card.

Despite its modern features and promises of easier money management, having several savings and budget pockets under the same account may require more work than having separate bank accounts for everything. If you take advantage of its Auto-Save features, though, it could be as easy to use as advertised. Whether One Finance seems promising or not, you should always shop around to find the best bank account to fit your needs.