Porte banking review: Get cash back, support charities, and earn up to 3% APY

• Porte (deposits are FDIC insured) pays a high savings interest rate and lets you earn cash back.
• The company matches 0.05% of your purchases and donates the money to one of three charities.
• You must open a Porte checking account to qualify for its savings account.
• Read our picks for the best high-yield savings accounts right now »

Should you use Porte?

The bottom line: Porte has a strong checking and savings account with unique features like cash back, a debt management tool, and donations to charities. But you must open a checking account to be eligible for the savings account.

Porte Account review

Porte Account

The Porte Account is a great checking account with no minimum opening deposit or monthly service fees. You can turn overdrafts on and off in your app. If the overdraft feature is on, you’ll pay a $20 fee when you overdraw. If you turn it off, any transaction that would overdraw your account is denied. This helps you avoid overdraft fees, but you can also opt into overdrafts if you’re in a bind and need to make a purchase.

You’ll earn cash back at participating retailers with Porte. You can see the businesses in your Porte app, and the offers refresh every 30 to 45 days.

You can also choose a charity to support through Porte. Select the Humane Society of the United States, Save the Children, or GLAAD (an LGTBQ+ advocacy group). Supporting a charity won’t cost you anything. Porte matches 0.05% of every purchase you make and gives that money to the organization. You can track how much has gone to the cause in your app.

Porte Savings review

Porte Savings Account

The down side is that Porte only compounds interest quarterly, whereas many online banks compound daily. The more often a bank compounds interest, the more you’ll earn. However, you’ll still earn more at a 0.50% to 3% rate compounded less often than with a bank that pays less but compounds more frequently.

Porte features

Porte is an online banking platform with a checking and high-yield savings account. To be eligible for the savings account, you must first have a checking account and set up direct deposits into checking.

You can earn cash back, use the True Debt Calculator to track and manage your debt, and earn a high savings APY. Porte matches 0.05% of your purchases and donates that money to charity.

You have free access to 32,000 MoneyPass ATMs nationwide. Porte charges a $2.50 fee when you use an out-of-network ATM, and the ATM provider may charge an additional fee.

The mobile app has 4.8 out of 5 stars in the Apple store, and 4.7 out of 5 stars in the Google Play store.

Speak to a live customer service representative by calling Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. CT, or weekends from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. CT.

Your deposits are FDIC insured for up to $250,000 through Porte’s partner bank, MetaBank. Porte does not currently offer joint accounts.

Is Porte trustworthy?

Porte’s partner bank is MetaBank. The Better Business Bureau gives MetaBank an A- in trustworthiness. A good BBB rating signifies a company responds effectively to customer complaints, has honest advertising practices, and is transparent in how it handles business.

The BBB cites customer complaints as its reason for giving MetaBank an A- instead of an A or A+. The bank has received 443 complaints through the BBB in the last three years.

On the bright side, MetaBank doesn’t have any recent public scandals. And considering donating to charity is a large part of Porte’s mission, you may decide you’re comfortable using this banking platform.

How Porte compares to similar banking platforms

We’ve compared Porte to two other companies that give money to charity: Aspiration and Amalgamated Bank.

	Porte	Aspiration	Amalgamated Bank
Social initiatives	Animals, children, LGTBQ+ rights	Environment	Environment, immigration, LGTBQ+ rights, criminal justice, workers’ rights, reproductive rights, gun safety
Savings APY	0.50% to 3.00% APY	0% to 1.00% APY	0.01% to 0.40% APY
Other standout features	Cash back, debt management tool, early direct deposit	Cash back, track your economic impact, savings buckets	Variety of account options
Next steps	Open an account	Open an account	Open an account

Porte review vs. Aspiration review

Your choice between Porte and Aspiration may come down to which cause you care about the most. Porte gives money to organizations supporting animals, children, and LGTBQ+ rights. Aspiration focuses on the environment.

With an Aspiration Account, you choose how much you pay each month, and Aspiration gives 10% of your contribution to charity. The platform helps you track how your actions and purchases impact the economy; you can see certain companies’ economic impact scores, too. You’ll also earn cash back on environmentally sound purchases at companies like TOMS or Blue Apron.

Porte review vs. Amalgamated Bank review

Amalgamated Bank gives to numerous causes. You can read the bank’s stances on various social issues on its website. So you may prefer Amalgamated to Porte if you’re passionate about gun safety, for example. With a Give-Back Checking or Give-Back Savings Account, you can choose from six charities, and Amalgamated will donate the equivalent of half the interest you earn to the cause.

You might like Amalgamated if you want a combination of online and in-person banking. There are branches in California, New York, and Washington DC.

Amalgamated doesn’t have some of the perks Porte offers, though, like cash back, debt management tools, or early direct deposit.

Laura Grace Tarpley is the associate editor of banking and mortgages at Personal Finance Insider, covering mortgages, refinancing, bank accounts, and bank reviews. She is also a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF). Over her four years of covering personal finance, she has written extensively about ways to save, invest, and navigate loans.

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Personal Finance Insider team. We occasionally highlight financial products and services that can help you make smarter decisions with your money. We do not give investment advice or encourage you to adopt a certain investment strategy. What you decide to do with your money is up to you. If you take action based on one of our recommendations, we get a small share of the revenue from our commerce partners. This does not influence whether we feature a financial product or service. We operate independently from our advertising sales team.

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