Update 3/27/22: Reposting as there isn’t much time left to meet the new requirements (see below and the comments for much discussion).
Update 1/1/21: Referral bonus no longer being offered
Update 10/1/21: Porte is reducing the APY:
Effective January 1, 2022
The interest rate earned on an average daily balance of $15,000.00 or less will be reduced from 2.97%
with an APY of 3.00%, to 0.20% with an APY of 0.20%. You may, however, earn a higher interest rate of 2.97% with an APY of 3.00% on an average daily balance of $15,000.00 or less if you meet the following qualifications during a calendar quarter:(i) receive at least $3,000.00 in Qualifying Direct Deposits of payroll, pension, or government benefits payments from an employer or government agency into your Porte Spending Account in a calendar quarter,
AND
(ii) make at least fifteen (15) Qualifying Debit Card Purchase Transactions with a merchant for goods or services (excludes transfers and/or cash withdrawals) from your Porte Spending Account within a calendar quarter.You must meet the criteria for both the Qualifying Direct Deposit and Qualifying Debit Card Purchase Transactions during the calendar quarter in order to earn the higher interest rate for such quarter. The Bonus Savings Rate does not apply to the portion of an average daily balance greater than $15,000.00
Update 9/5/21: Referral bonus now down to $50
Update 5/9/21: Referral bonus is now up to $100 for each party from May 4 – September 4th, 2021. (Previously it was $50 for each party.) Do not share referrals in the comments below, instead go here to find a referral.
Offer at a glance
- Interest Rate: 3% APY
- Minimum Balance: None
- Maximum Balance: $15,000
- Availability: Nationwide
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $1,000+
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: No
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: $9.95
- Insured: FDIC
The Offer
- Porte Bank is offering 3% APY on balances up to $15,000 when the following requirements are met (funds need to be in the savings account to earn 3% APY):
- Receive a direct deposit of $1,000 or more per month
Referral Bonus
Porte Bank is offering a bonus of $50 when you refer a friend (both the person referring and being referred get $50) and they open a new account, complete a direct deposit and activate the debit card. Referral links don’t show the $50 bonus but once you go through account set up it does state “you and your friend are eligible for a $50 bonus.” Do not share your referrals in the comments of this post. They can be shared in this linked post instead. You’re limited to receiving ten referral bonuses so keep that in mind.
Avoiding Fees
$9.95, this is waived if you signed up before December 2022.
This account has no monthly fees to worry about
Our Verdict
Seems like a relatively good account and I’m sure this will be very popular due to the referral bonus.
Hat tip to reader Jeffrey T
So had a quiet rainy day and on my to do list was to close some old dormant accounts.
I called Porte to close (no way I could find to do via the app) and was transferred to a retention specialist who offered me $20 to keep it open with no strings as loyal customer appreciation type of thing. I have had zero balance for >6mo. and only a few cents of carryover interest since early 2022.
The $20 appeared in Spend account while I was talking with her… Not bad for 5min phone call. I am planning to spend it right away and take it back to zero 🙂
Try to call to close the account today, was transferred to retention,
To my surprise they offered $60 retention to keep the account around.
The account has 0.18 balance for the last 12 months
Anyone get a 1099 from them for interest for 2022? Still nothing…
I also pulled every penny out from these guys after one too many bad stories. I did the first quarter or two in 2022 back when 3% was solid interest rate, now that’s nothing special at all. Glad to be done with these guys and thankful I never got burned.
got a Pathward (Porte) 1099 on Saturday
anyone know how to get 1099 form if I’ve already closed the account?
They snail mailed it (if you made more than $10 interest). Says Pathward.
Closing this account now. Rate is still at 3% with so many higher options. The 15 debit transactions was just annoying. I forgot last quarter and missed 3 months of interest. It would have been nice if they sent reminders. Or awarded interest monthly so at least you wouldn’t miss the extra two months. Transfer out limit of $300 sucked any way. I was kind of annoyed having to pull from another bank if I wanted my money.
E-mail received today titled “Keeping our promise to you”:
“To show our continued appreciation for you, our loyal Porte™ member, we want to remind you that you will not be charged a monthly fee. For our new Porte customers opening their door to financial freedom after November 2022, we will be introducing a monthly fee of $9.95, which can be waived with a qualifying Direct Deposit of $1,000 or more. 1 This monthly fee will enable us to deliver greater value and continued improvements across our Porte platform as we expand from the mobile world to real-world in-person support, available at ACE Cash Express locations. Find a store near you!”
“1. Monthly fee waived with qualifying direct deposit(s) totaling at least $1,000 in the thirty-five (35) days preceding the date on which the monthly fee is assessed.”
Savings still stuck at 3% w/ quarterly requirements. Haven’t used this one all year and will likely close it out soon.
When I saw this email just now (I came here to post about it), I was hopeful that the promise was that they would raise rates to market value. Needless to say, I was disappointed in the rest of the message.
Do you want to update the Monthly Fee section that there is now a $9.95 monthly fee? It is waived for people that joined before December.
Done
Warning, don’t be stupid like me. I called to close my account, not realizing that it would nuke my online login. Rookie mistake. Now I have to hold my breath for their 1099 INT next year because I can’t remember how long I kept a balance earlier this year. Phone support was absolutely no help in generating a statement.
Based on past experience, they mail a paper 1099-INT regardless of your paperless settings. It will say Metabank (or, now known as Pathward) and the account number.
Seems like many people that maxed out the $15K end up incorrectly getting assessed backup withholding of interest withheld. That makes it even more important and will be a necessary part of your income tax filing to claim interest and all the earnings that were already sent to the IRS.
Thanks
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek . If I had to guess I don’t think I made any interest at all in 2022 because I think I pulled out when they started the requirements to get 3%. I might just try calling early next year to confirm no 1099 issued.
Most banks won’t issue one for less than $10 so if you left around January 1st you’re in the clear.
I received a notification on 10/6 that there was an issue with my Porte account. When I called they said that both accounts (checking & savings) were locked due to Savings inactivity. After repeatedly putting me on hold and intermittently chit-chatting in another language & laughing with others in the room, the CSR told me I’d have to physically mail a copy of both my photo ID and social security card to get back into my accounts and online profile. The entire interaction felt chaotic and a bit “scammy.” I asked if I could just close the account and have them mail my balance. The check was $15 shy of the balance (received yesterday), and they never told me they’d add a fee to it. I called today and was told they would not be giving me my $15 after being asked extremely nebulous questions like, “What was your last activity on the account?” I answered with the last date/time a direct deposit hit and also the last dollar amount and date of an ACH transfer from Porte to another personal account with a different bank. She kept saying that wasn’t the type of answer she was looking for but could not give an example or provide additional context.
I ended up filing a complaint with the CFPB today, and they aren’t currently registered to receive complaints. The 1099-INT I received for 2021 was from Metabank, and the check they sent says NetSpend (same address/PO box as Metabank on 1099), so I listed both in the “Other Information About This Company” section for the complaint.
In the complaint, I ended up asking for my $15 and also a means to access the historical statements (at least my final statement) since the online platform was the only availability Porte even offered. It seems super sketchy that they make it so difficult to get back into your online profile and also refrain from letting you know they’re throwing fees your way. After dealing with their reps, I doubt they’re at all worried about complying with any regulatory policies/etc. and I’m glad I didn’t have more money than I did with them. They seem super unethical and shady given my personal experience.
I read that they charge $15 fee for a paper check to be issued. if you search the comments on this page, someone uploaded an image of the fee schedule via Imgur a while back.
Josh, What was the final outcome? I have been trying for a few weeks or so to transfer a little over $12 from savings to spend (.14 balance) and unable. finally called, on a few holds, and they said they are escalating. They also asked about my phone brand/model, had me uninstall/reinstall app…I am able to do everything except txfer the funds to spend (so i can txfer to another bank). I only left a few bucks in there to be able history, etc–Last activity was mid October when I drained the savings once other banks were paying same or better interest (#1470189)
When I search for Porte in the Customer Complaint Database at the CFPB, one of the complaints I find is against Populus Financial Group, Inc. (F/K/A Ace Cash Express). When I look at the Populus Financial Group website, Porte is listed as one of their brands, so I think that may be the correct entity to cite.
I just tried to link my Ally account with Porte and it wouldn’t allow me to. I’ve seen other people mention here trouble with linking external accounts. Have any of you found out what the issue is? I have previously linked Orion and Heritage with Porte months ago and those links are still working.
I have Ally linked from last year or maybe two years ago. It’s still linked, and I recently used it to pull $15K out of Porte, and P2 used Alliant to do the same, with no issues. I did notice it’s been renamed as Pathward, National Association. Pretty sure it was listed as Metabank before.
My guess is when they rebranded, banks have to allow it to be linked. Metabank already had a long list of banks that wouldn’t link to them. Or, could be just Ally decided they aren’t allowing that bank to link any longer.
Back when I was trying to figure out what counted as a Direct Deposit for Porte I linked a lot of different banks. I am sure you have at least one of them and could try to link those and see if you have the same issue. Alliant, Affinity FCU, PenFed, Service CU, SoFi, etc.
That won’t be necessary. Like I wrote, I have links that still work with Orion and Heritage so I could clear out the funds and then move them to Ally, if needed. It’s a pain but not the worst thing.
BTW, it was definitely Metabank before. Ally recognized it as Pathward when I entered the routing # but then wouldn’t let me link it.
Quarterly interest was posted earlier tonight… (minus the erroneous withholding)
So, where are we moving our funds to? @ANYONE
I moved my $15k to Discover for their $150 promo (yes, I know they’re only at 2.15%/2.20%, but I am still loyal to them). Likely clearing out SoFi for Elements Helium (already have the 4% checking) effective Monday.
$20k in IBonds, $25k next year. Doesn’t seem worth putting any into high yield checking versus Ally/Alliant/Discover. You have any ideas?
IBonds.
I have some small fries at 5-6% (Netspend, Service CU, Global)
Continuing Evansville Teachers (now Liberty) FCU. 3.45
Continuing Presidential Bank, because I am already set up there to pay bills. 3.00
Everything else, Elements Checking 4.00, and this savings acct 3.20: https://www.elements.org/personal/savings/helium-savings/
That kills Porte, Consumers CU, and MECU for me, all at 3%. For MECU, might convert the Reward Checking to CashBack Checking for the $7.50/month and see if they up their rate soon.
Does anyone know if the Porte debit card has any daily/weekly limits? I am having trouble linking Porte to my external accounts so I want to use Cash App to pull the funds out end of the quarter.
Porte debit card terms say the withdrawal limit is Cash app’s limit.
Porte debit POS limit is $5K/transaction
Thanks! My CashApp has 10k per week limit so should be able to move the funds out in little over a week.
Appreciate this post as I was also having trouble linking Porte. This is a great avenue to get the funds out, thanks.
The optional Savings Account linked to your designated PORTE account is made available to Accountholders through Pathward, National Association
Is this new?
ya saw the name change, pathward, as well on my DD. with other banks hovering around 3%, it’s no longer worth it my friends. draining this one and HMB.
The gypsies shall move with the path…. The only problem is determining who shall inherit the windfall on the path.
Oct 1st is almost here!