The highest savings APY available today through a linked checking account is Axos Bank's Axos ONE, at up to 5.00% APY for new customers — but only on the first $49,999.99, and only for accounts opened between October 1 and December 1, 2026. SoFi is second at up to 4.40% APY for new members, and both rates require you to keep routing a direct deposit into the paired checking account every month. If you do not want conditions, Pibank pays 4.40% APY on savings with no linked checking at all. That matters more than it looks: the two bundled headline rates are temporary promotional boosts, so the "upgrade" can quietly become the lower-paying option after six months.
Table of Contents
- The three rates worth comparing right now
- What counts as a qualifying deposit
- Is the checking upgrade actually worth it?
- How these rates compare to an ordinary bank
- Will these rates fall soon?
- A practical sequence
- Frequently Asked Questions
The three rates worth comparing right now
Axos ONE is a paired product — a checking account and a savings account that only hit their advertised rates together. According to Axos Bank's Axos ONE disclosure, savings pays a boosted 4.21% APY on the first $249,999.99 (3.50% above that) only when the linked Axos ONE Checking receives at least $1,500 in monthly qualifying direct deposits and keeps a $1,500 average daily balance. Checking then pays 0.51% APY. The same disclosure adds a limited-time new-customer promotion for accounts opened October 1 through December 1, 2026: an extra 0.79%, taking the boosted savings rate to 5.00% APY — but capped at the first $49,999.99 and limited to Axos Checking, not other Axos products. SoFi's structure is simpler and the bar is lower.
SoFi's published rates, current as of 10/20/26, show 3.30% APY on savings and Vaults and 0.50% APY on checking for members with an eligible direct deposit or $5,000 in deposits every 31 days. Without that, savings drops to 0.80%. New Checking and Savings members can add a limited-time 1.10% boost on the base rate for up to six months, reaching up to 4.40% APY, and only while the deposit activity continues. Varo Bank sits in a different tier. It pays 1.00% APY on all savings balances and up to 3.75% APY on the first $5,000 for customers who receive at least $1,000 in qualifying direct deposits in a calendar month and end the month with positive balances in both accounts. Qualification is assessed monthly, and the higher rate applies the following month.
What counts as a qualifying deposit
This is where most people lose the rate. Axos counts ACH transfers, inbound wires, mobile check deposits and real-time payments. It excludes internal transfers, interest and bonuses — so moving your own money between Axos accounts does nothing, and neither does pushing cash in from a brokerage sweep if it arrives as an internal credit. Timing is a second trap.
Axos requires the qualifying transactions to post by the 25th of the month, and both accounts must be open on the interest-payment date. A paycheck that lands on the 28th misses that month entirely. SoFi and Varo run on rolling or monthly checks rather than a cutoff date. SoFi looks at every 31 days and accepts either an eligible direct deposit or $5,000 in qualifying deposits, which gives freelancers and contractors a path that does not depend on an employer's payroll file. Varo's $1,000 monthly direct-deposit threshold is the lowest of the three.
Is the checking upgrade actually worth it?
Run the numbers against the alternative before you move a paycheck. Pibank, a brand of Intercredit Bank, N.A., advertises 4.40% APY on Pibank Savings with no minimum balance to open or maintain, no account fees and no linked-checking requirement, valid as of 10/21/2026, with a $5,000,000 per-account cap.
So the comparison is narrower than the headlines suggest: The upgrade pays off if you were going to route a direct deposit somewhere anyway and your balance fits inside the cap. It stops paying off the moment your income is irregular, your balance grows past the capped tier, or the promotional clock runs out and you do not move the money.
- **Under $50,000, first six months:** Axos at 5.00% beats Pibank's 4.40% by 0.60 percentage points — about $300 a year on a $50,000 balance, prorated to roughly $150 over the promotional window.
- **After the promotion ends:** Axos falls to 4.21% and SoFi to 3.30%, both below Pibank's unconditional 4.40%.
- **Above $250,000:** Axos pays 3.50% on the excess, while Pibank's rate holds to $5,000,000.
- **Any month you miss the deposit:** SoFi drops to 0.80% and Varo to 1.00% on most of the balance.
How these rates compare to an ordinary bank
The gap is enormous, and it is the real reason to act. The FDIC's national deposit rates as of October 19, 2026 were 0.38% for savings, 0.07% for interest checking and 0.63% for money market, against a 4.63% national rate cap on each.
That means every offer on this page pays roughly ten times the national savings average — and even the fallback rates do better than a typical branch account. $20,000 earns about $76 a year at the national average and about $880 at 4.40%. If your emergency fund is sitting in a brick-and-mortar savings account, the decision that moves the most money is leaving it, not picking perfectly between the four accounts above.
Will these rates fall soon?
Deposit APYs track the federal funds rate, and that rate is not falling at the moment. The Federal Reserve's October 28, 2026 statement held the target range at 3-3/4 to 4 percent by a 10–2 vote, with the two dissenters preferring a hike — this after a quarter-point increase on September 16.
Every rate here is still variable, which means the bank can change it at any time regardless of what the Fed does. But the near-term pressure is not downward, so the risk to your yield over the next few months is the promotional expiry, not a rate cut.
A practical sequence
If you open Axos ONE, mark the 25th of each month on your calendar — a direct deposit that posts on the 26th earns you the unboosted rate for that entire month.
- Check the Axos window first. The promotion only covers accounts opened October 1 through December 1, 2026, so if you want 5.00%, the account has to exist before December 1.
- Confirm your employer can split or redirect a direct deposit of at least $1,500 a month, and that it posts before the 25th.
- Keep the balance you want at 5.00% under $49,999.99; park anything above that where the rate does not step down.
- Set a calendar reminder for the month the six-month boost ends, on either Axos or SoFi.
- If you cannot guarantee a monthly direct deposit, skip the bundle and open the no-conditions 4.40% account instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does moving money from another bank count as a qualifying direct deposit?
At Axos, an ACH transfer from an outside bank does count, but an internal transfer between your own Axos accounts does not, and neither does interest or a bonus credit.
What happens to my money if I miss a month's deposit requirement?
Nothing happens to the balance — only the rate changes. SoFi falls to 0.80% on savings, Varo to 1.00%, and Axos to its unboosted rate until you requalify.
Is there a balance cap I should know about?
Yes, and they differ sharply. Axos's 5.00% promotional rate covers only the first $49,999.99, Varo's 3.75% covers the first $5,000, and Pibank's 4.40% runs to $5,000,000 per account.
