Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account FAQ (2024)

Getting started

The Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account makes it easy to transfer money, pay bills and more online or on your phone—without a physical bank. More features include:

We’ll automatically find bills you pay that could raise your credit scores^Ø.
Get your paycheck up to 2 days early^†, plus a $50 bonus^‡, with direct deposit.
We don’t charge any monthly fees^¶, and there’s no minimum balance.
Access to 55,000+ no-fee Allpoint ATMs** worldwide.
Get an Experian Smart Money™ Debit Card that you can add to your digital wallet and start using instantly.

Along with your account, you’ll have access to Experian membership benefits like your Experian credit report, FICO^® Score*, credit monitoring and more.

*Credit score calculated based on FICO^® Score 8 model. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO^® Score than FICO^® Score 8, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more.

Opening a digital checking account through Experian takes only a few minutes on Experian.com or through your Experian app. You’ll need to verify some personal info like your name, phone number, physical address and email address so we can confirm you’re eligible to open an account^ӂ.

There are no monthly fees, and no minimum balance required to open an Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account. Generally, we don't charge you any fees to move money in or out of your account, set up direct deposit, make transfers or pay bills. There are fees to deposit cash, make foreign transactions and get cash at out-of-network ATMs. See the Cardholder Agreement for applicable fees.

Your account number or PRN is a unique set of 12 digits assigned to you when you open an account. Your routing number is a 9-digit code used to identify your financial institution. You can find these numbers in your account settings.

You might need these numbers to set up direct deposit, so your employer or payroll provider might ask you for them. It’s important to keep these numbers private and not share them with anyone to prevent fraud or identity theft. You'll never receive a phone call from us asking for these numbers—but if you contact us for help with your account, our customer support agents may ask for your account number.

Using your debit card

As soon as you open your digital checking account, you’ll get a virtual debit card. Deposit money and add your card to your digital wallet to start using it immediately with contactless tap to pay.

Once you get a physical card, you can activate it by:

Moving money

There are 3 ways to deposit money into your digital checking account:

Set up direct deposit
Transfer from your other bank accounts
Deposit cash at popular retailers including CVS Pharmacy, 7-Eleven and Walmart^#

It’s easy to set up direct deposit—simply connect to a participating employer and we’ll automatically set up or switch your direct deposit to your Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account. If you can’t find your employer or you want to set up direct deposit manually, you can download a form right from your digital checking account or give your account number and routing number to your employer or payroll provider.

You can choose to deposit your full paycheck, a portion of your paycheck or a percentage of it, if supported by your employer.

After your direct deposit is set up, you’ll start receiving your money in your account at whatever schedule your employer has decided. It may take 2 or more pay periods for your direct deposit to show up in your digital checking account.

Sign in to your account and select “Transfer.” You’ll need to connect at least one external bank account to Experian to transfer between it and your digital checking account. Your digital checking account can’t transfer to or from a credit card.

After your transfer, it may take up to 4 business days for your available account balance to update. Transfers received after 11:59 pm MST will take an additional business day.

The maximum balance for an Experian digital checking account is $75,000. You can transfer up to $5,000 daily, $15,000 weekly and $75,000 annually to external accounts from your Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account.

Direct deposits are subject to a limit of $8,000 per day and $20,000 per month. Any amount greater than the limit will be deposited the following day or month per funding rules. You can still receive your paycheck up to 2 days in advance†, but only in amounts less than the limits.

Account benefits

First, you’ll need to set up direct deposit. From there, your paycheck^† becomes available based on the timing of your employer or payroll provider. Your employer might send your direct deposit information 1–2 days before payday. If they do, we’ll be able to add those funds to your account. You don’t have to do anything else to start getting your paycheck early—if your employer submits the direct deposit information early, you’ll receive it automatically.

To be eligible for the $50 bonus, your account needs to be credited with $1,000 in direct deposits within 45 business days of opening. This can be a single deposit of $1,000 or more, or a combination of deposits that equal $1,000.

After you meet these requirements, we’ll deposit the bonus into your account within 10 days, as long as your account is active and in good standing at the time the bonus is paid. You can only claim one $50 bonus.^‡

Bills you pay with your Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account could actually help raise your credit scores! Your account is automatically connected to Experian Boost^®, which could help you get credit for some of the bills you already pay.

Otherwise, opening a checking account generally has no impact on your credit scores. Purchases made through your account and the amount of money in it also don’t affect your scores.

Your Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account connects automatically to Experian Boost^®. When you pay bills with your digital checking account, we’ll detect your boost-eligible payments automatically. Just add the payments to your Experian credit file, and then you could instantly raise^Ø your FICO^® Score*.

*Credit score calculated based on FICO^® Score 8 model. Your lender or insurer may use a different FICO^® Score than FICO^® Score 8, or another type of credit score altogether. Learn more.

Safety and security

If you see activity on your digital checking account that you don’t recognize—like your PIN was updated or a transfer was initiated—you should lock your debit card and call us at (833) 804-0770 (toll-free) or +1 (479) 343-6242 (international). Our agents are available every day, 5 am–9 pm PT. You should also monitor your bank statements and let us know if you notice any transactions you didn’t authorize.

Your digital checking account does not have overdraft protection or overdraft fees, which means that if you try to make a transaction that exceeds the amount of money in your account, the purchase will be declined.

Yes. Banking services for your digital checking account are provided by Community Federal Savings Bank (CFSB). Funds in your Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account are held in a shared account at CFSB and are insured up to $250,000 for each account ownership category.§ You do not need to purchase or apply for deposit insurance—by opening a digital checking account, you automatically receive coverage for your deposits. Learn more on the FDIC website.

Yes! In addition to being FDIC insured^§, your digital checking account comes with bank-level SSL security encryption to make sure your data is safe too.

If you ever notice a transaction you don’t recognize, you can lock your card immediately in account settings to prevent further unauthorized transactions. Then, give us a call at (833) 804-0770. Our agents are available every day, 5 am–9 pm PT. There may be limited live support on holidays.

If you want to keep track of your transactions, you can set up customized alerts to email you when your account has transactions over a certain dollar amount.

The Experian Smart Money™ Debit Card is issued by Community Federal Savings Bank (CFSB), pursuant to a license from Mastercard International. Banking services provided by CFSB, Member FDIC. Experian is a Program Manager, not a bank.

^§Funds in your Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account are held in a pooled deposit account at Community Federal Savings Bank and insured up to $250,000 for each account ownership category. Learn more at FDIC.gov.

^ӂThe Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account is only available to residents of U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

^øResults will vary. Not all payments are boost-eligible. Some users may not receive an improved score or approval odds. Not all lenders use Experian credit files, and not all lenders use scores impacted by Experian Boost^®. Learn more.

^†Early access to your direct deposit depends on the timing of receipt of the incoming direct deposit file. We generally make direct deposits available up to 2 days earlier than the payment date specified in the direct deposit file. Early availability of direct deposits is not guaranteed and may vary from deposit to deposit. Daily and monthly deposit limits apply. See Cardholder Agreement.

^‡To be eligible for the $50 bonus, your Experian Smart Money™ Digital Checking Account must be credited with at least $1,000 in direct deposits within 45 business days of opening your account, and your account must stay active and in good standing at the time the bonus is paid. The bonus will be deposited into your account within 10 business days, once earned. Limit 1 bonus per cardholder. Offer subject to change by Experian at any time without prior notice. Terms and conditions apply. See the Incentives section in the Cardholder Agreement to learn more.

**Access to over 55,000 surcharge-free ATMs with the Allpoint ATM network. You may be charged a fee for attempting a cash withdrawal with an out-of-network ATM or point-of-sale device by Experian and/or the operator including for a balance inquiry even if you do not complete a cash withdrawal. Learn more.

^#Limits apply. See Cardholder Agreement.

Mastercard and the circles design are registered trademarks of Mastercard International Incorporated.