Cheese Rewards Checking review
Cheese Rewards Checking isn't available on Finder right now.
- Fee
- $0 per month
- APY
- N/A
- Minimum deposit to open
- $0
Our verdict
A neobank aimed to help people grow credit.
Cheese is a fintech with services provided by its lending partner. It used to offer a bank account, and switched to offering credit-building loans with terms of either 12 or 24 months with a fixed APR based on location. Cheese reports to all three credit bureaus, so with each on-time loan payment, you're building a positive credit history. And at the end of the term, you get your funds back minus the APR.
Pros
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Reports to all three bureaus
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Flexible repayments
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Get funds back at end of term
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No hard credit check
Cons
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APR varies by location
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No longer offers bank accounts
MUST READ: Cheese shutting down
Cheese is ending its credit-building services, as of February 2024. In a notice sent to Cheese customers, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are discontinuing our credit service business. As a result, we will be closing your credit builder account by February 29th, 2024,” as reported by Fintech Business Weekly. Cheese then promised to return funds to customers who were enrolled in a credit-building loan.
Cheese no longer offers bank accounts or credit-building services, and there’s no news about the neobank’s future.
Compare other credit-building options
What is the Finder Score?
The Finder Score crunches over 300 checking accounts from hundreds of financial institutions. It takes into account the product's monthly fees, overdraft fees, opening deposit, customer support options, ATM network and features — this gives you a simple score out of 10.
To provide a Score, Finder’s banking experts analyze hundreds of checking accounts against what we consider is the best option: no monthly fees, no overdraft fees, a large ATM network of 50,000 or more, additional features outside of typical banking services, and the optional perk of earning interest. Accounts that are nearly free to maintain and use are scored the highest, while accounts with costly fees and few features are scored the lowest.
How Cheese works
Cheese is a neobank with services provided by its lender partner, Synapse Credit LLC. Cheese used to offer a bank account with various perks including cashback rewards, interest, no fees and donation services. Cheese pivoted its focus and started offering credit-building loans, which are small installment loans designed to build positive credit history and build savings.
Cheese offers two loan terms: 12 or 24 months. Loan amounts, range between $500 to $2,000, and the monthly payment ranges around $23 to $177, depending on your interest rate, loan term and loan amount. Cheese charges APR between 5% to 16%, but your actual rate depends on your location. Your payments are stored in a bank account until the end of the term, and you must link a bank account for payments and autopay is an option.
Once you’ve completed the credit-building loan, your funds are released back to you minus the interest paid to Cheese as a fee for the service. Cheese reports all payments to the three major credit bureaus.
Benefits of the Cheese banking account? (no longer offered)
Cheese banking is FDIC insured up to $250,000 through Coastal Community Bank and receives paychecks up to two days earlier than traditional banks. It also has these benefits.
- Cheese Giveback Fund. Cheese has pledged to donate $100,000 to Asian charities and nonprofit organizations.
- Cashback rewards. Earn a flat 0.25% cash back on all purchases, up to $10 in rewards per day, plus up to 10% cash back at over 10,000 stores, including DoorDash, Chewy, Nike and more. View a complete list of offers in the app.
- Competitive interest. Earn a base rate of 0.0% APY on your total balance, plus a boosted rate of 0% APY for 30 days when you refer someone to Cheese and they join and fund the account with $50.
- No fees. This Cheese Rewards Checking account has no monthly fees and no minimum balance requirements.
- Bilingual support. Cheese’s customer support team speaks fluent English and Chinese, with other languages coming soon.
What should I look out for?
As with most digital accounts, Cheese banking doesn’t accept cash deposits or come with check-writing privileges. It also has these potential drawbacks.
- Not available on Android. Cheese banking is only available to iOS and iPhone users. But will become available to Android users by May 2021.
- No joint accounts. You can’t open a Cheese Rewards Checking account with a partner or family member.
- No foreign deposits. Cheese doesn’t accept deposits in foreign funds or checks from banks outside the US, but you can still send and receive international wires.
- Limited support options. Reach customer support only by emailing support@earncheese.com.
If you don’t have an iPhone, explore other rewards checking accounts to find the one that’s right for you.
Cheese’s ATM network and fees
Use your Cheese Mastercard debit card at over 33,000 MoneyPass ATMs nationwide for free. Use the mobile app to find the ATM nearest to you. Cheese doesn’t charge fees for out-of-network ATMs, but the operator might.
How to contact Cheese Rewards Checking customer service?
Cheese’s customer support is fluent in both English and Chinese. Contact them by email at support@earncheese.com.
Checking account ratings
★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor
We analyze top checking accounts and rate them one to five stars based on factors that are most important to you. These factors include: monthly fees, the ease at which monthly fees can be waived, the breadth of ATM access, ATM and overdraft fees, and customer service.
Cheese Rewards Checking is not currently available on Finder
Have you considered SoFi Checking and Savings?
Earn up to 4.00% APY on savings by meeting deposit requirements, and 0.50% APY on checking balances. Members without deposit requirements will earn 0.50% APY on both savings and checking balances. Turn on automatic savings or use the Roundups feature to help you reach your savings goals faster. Get up to $2M of additional FDIC insurance through a network of participating banks.
- 0.50% APY on checking balance
- Up to 4.00% APY on savings
- $0 account or overdraft fees
- Get up to a $300 bonus with direct deposits of $5,000 or more
Your reviews
Cassidy Finder
Writer
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