Cheese; Alyssa Powell/Insider
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- Cheese is a digital banking platform for Asian Americans and immigrants.
- Its checking account pays interest, gives cash back rewards, and lets you receive paychecks early.
- You have the option to donate your sign-up bonus and earned cash back to Asian American nonprofits.
- See Insider’s picks for the best rewards checking accounts »
Should you bank with Cheese?
| You may like Cheese if you … | You may not like Cheese if you … |
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Cheese Account review
Cheese is a good no-fee digital checking account. You’ll earn 0.25% cash back on all purchases, and up to 10% cash back at 10,000 retailers. You’ll also earn
You may like Cheese if you’ve immigrated to the US. Cheese co-founder and CEO Ken Lian told Insider that as an immigrant, he’s struggled to qualify for digital bank accounts that offer perks. So he opened checking accounts at large national banks that basic and charged hefty fees. But with Cheese, immigrants are eligible for perks like cash back, interest, and no fees.
How Cheese works
Cheese is an online banking platform with a checking account meant for immigrants and Asian Americans.
You’ll receive a $5 sign-up bonus. You’ll also earn 0.25% cash back on all purchases and up to 10% at certain retailers, including Asian-owned businesses in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Texas. You may choose to keep your sign-up bonus and cash back, or donate it to one of Cheese’s four partner nonprofits that benefit Asian American communities. Here are the current partners:
- Asian Pacific Fund: Provides grants and scholarships to Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) residents in San Francisco
- Welcome to Chinatown: Supports businesses in New York City’s Chinatown, especially ones that have struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic
- AAPI Women Lead: Supports AAPI women facing racism and sexism
- Southwestern Chinese Students and Scholars Association: Provides scholarships to international students
Cheese has also pledged to donate up to $100,000 to these nonprofits before June 10, 2021. It gave $10,000 on March 10 and will donate $10 for each new Cheese customer.
You’ll have free access to over 30,000 MoneyPass ATMs around the US. Cheese doesn’t charge you for using a non-MoneyPass ATM, but an out-of-network ATM provider may.
Cheese doesn’t charge overdraft fees. If a purchase would overdraw your account, Cheese will just deny the transaction.
To contact customer support, fill out an online form and someone will get back to you within 24 hours. Customer service is available in both English and Mandarin.
Your deposits are FDIC insured for up to $250,000 through Cheese’s partner bank, Coastal Community Bank.
Lian told Insider that the company plans to roll out some more features in the future. For example, he hopes to add live chat, customer support in more languages, and an overdraft line of credit.
Is Cheese trustworthy?
Cheese’s partner bank is Coastal Community Bank. The Better Business Bureau has not given Coastal Community a trustworthiness score yet, because it claims not to have enough information to give a fair rating.
On the bright side, Coastal Community Bank does not have any recent public scandals. So you may decide you’re comfortable keeping your money with Cheese.
How Cheese compares to similar banking platforms
We’ve compared Cheese to two other digital platforms with high interest rates and cash back rewards: OnJuno and Porte.
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Cheese |
Onjuno |
Porte |
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Accounts Checking |
Accounts Checking |
Accounts Checking and savings |
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APY |
APY |
APY |
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Cash back Up to 10% |
Cash back 5% |
Cash back Varies |
| Open an account |
Cheese review vs. OnJuno review
Cheese and OnJuno both offer high-yield checking accounts. Both companies make it easy for immigrants to sign up. But you may prefer Cheese if you’re Asian American or want to support Asian American communities; it donates money to AAPI nonprofits and offers cash back at certain AAPI-owned businesses.
OnJuno’s interest rate is stronger, but Cheese’s cash back rewards are better. Cheese lets you earn up to 10% cash back with numerous retailers on an unlimited amount of purchases. Meanwhile, OnJuno pays you 5% cash back on a limited amount of purchases, and you can only choose five companies to earn rewards with.
So your choice between the two could come down to which would benefit you more – a high interest rate or cash back.
Cheese review vs. Porte Review
You may prefer Porte if you want to open both a checking and savings account. Porte doesn’t pay interest on checking balances, but it does pay
Porte offers good cash back perks, but the offers change every 30 to 45 days. If you want to know what you’re getting ahead of time, you may want to go with Cheese.
Cheese and Porte are both good options if you want to support a charity. With Porte, select to help 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.
But if you’re passionate about supporting Asian American businesses and charities, you’ll probably prefer Cheese.
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.
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