SmartyPig is a unique online bank (or “piggybank,” as they call themselves) designed to help users save towards a specific goals of their choosing. Because they are an online bank and do not have the overhead of a traditional institution, they are able to offer very competitive yields and no fees on their savings accounts.
While SmartyPig’s savings accounts are meant to help you save for specific goals, they do not carry with them the withdrawal limitations associated with traditional “club” savings accounts. You can withdrawal some or all of your money or move funds from one savings goal to another at any time. The only withdrawal limitation is the federally-mandated maximum of six withdrawals per account per statement cycle. This means that you can withdrawal funds from each individual goal up to six times a month.
SmartyPig deposits are held and insured through Sallie Mae Bank, an FDIC-insured institution.
Smartypig - Gets The Job Done
NOTE: I have had an account with SmartyPig since Oct 2020. I only have SmartyPig for the Online Savings Account and it's somewhat competitive rates. I cannot speak on other benefits that SmartyPig offers.
During these 2+ years, I've had very little issues with them.
Setting up an account online and pushing a transaction from my local bank took a total of 2 - 3 days. I prefer to make small transfers, so I cannot speak on what happens when you make transfers over $1,000.
Reoccuring deposits *external bank* typically pend for a 3 - 4 days (sometimes 7) before going through. I had no issue verifying my external account. The process took 2 days.
External Transfers before 4:00pm process very fast. Typically the transfer is processed within a few hours.
The website is very straightforward and very transparent. You can see a full list of activity, see current APY, the APY tiers based on balance, etc. Bank statements and Tax documents are easily accessible and you receive email notifications.
What seems to be unique to SmartyPig is setting up Goals. You can open a Goal and pull funds from your main SmartyPig account or external. You can track the activities and such for all the Goals on a single page.
I have not made a withdrawal yet, I will update this when I do.
I use the main website, I have no feedback on the mobile app.
I have not needed to speak with customer service and thus have no feedback on it. Overall if you're used to low maintenance savings accounts and want something transparent and a breeze to use I recommend it.
Where Is Your Cd Min/Max Time I Need It For A School Progject
the site makes things really hard to find info and now im gonna fail
Amazing Website Literally Life Changing
I have banked with smartypig for several years now. Hardly ever have any issues. Site is mostly stable and quality experience. Some bugginess but not bad. I set up savings goals there and automatic withdrawals from my personal checking and the goals stack up over time. It's a amazing way to budget and save money and reach many savings goals. I cannot imagine life without this site. It has turned me into such a great saver and made me so financially secure. HIGHLY recommend. The poor reviews might be sketchy customer service or w/e but the site just works and I never need to use customer support since the site is easy to use without help. There's no fees and you just make money on interest on smartypig. Win win. Other reviewers mentioned being called a bot by the login screen of smartypig.com - well then they aren't passing the captcha test! Just click on the little animal that is facing upward, not on the upside down or sideways animals. Not rocket science! Maybe these reviewers are bad review bots!
Smartypig Is Not Smart, They Are Just Pigs
SmartyPig's website says they will pay a higher interest rate as long as your account is no more than $10,000. So I deposited $10,000. At the end of that month, they paid the lower interest rate. When I asked them why, they said that they calculated the interest rate based on what my balance was going to be after they deposited the interest. WTF?
They are not SmartyPigs, they are DumbPigs, so they lost a customer.
Horrible - Don‘T Do It
After opening the account - just like one reviewer said, you couldn’t get back in, continually locked out saying I was a robo guy. You try to call customer service during business hours and they don’t even put you on hold, they just hang up after their call spiel. You can’t chat or email because you have to be logged into the account to use the chat feature. They ask for A LOT of personal information and now I’m trying desperately to find out how to close it. Sallie Mae’s bank website gives the same (only 1) phone number that no one answers - so I’m trying to find someone to call at Sallie Mae. Don’t waste your time with the high APY, thankfully I didn’t deposit any money, but they have a lot of personal info.
Awful - I Don't Trust Them
I started an account because of their 'high' interest rate at the time.
The site looks childish, but I was able to create an account without issues. I linked my other bank account to make an initial deposit. 5 days later, I saw the small deposits (old verification method) and attempted to login to my SmartyPig account. The site continually called me a 'bot' (even with the old picture verification).
Days later, I verified my password that I set up and tried it again. Same result - I'm a 'bot'.
So, figuring I wrote down my password wrong, I had it reset (through the site). Reset the password, waited 5-10 minutes as recommended (why?!?) and tried again. Same thing! I finally called to cancel my account and was told "the website is down, even we can't log in" and to call later. Really. There was no notice or warning on the website!
Don't trust your money with this bank. This experience is making me think this is a data collection site and I'm going to put a notice on my linked bank and credit agencies.
Data as of Q1 2025
Health Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| FDIC Certificate # | 58177 |
| Year Established | 2005 |
| Employees | 1672 |
| Primary Regulator | FDIC |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 4.54% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 47.65% |
| Annual Interest Income | $658.9MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $28.93B$28.33B |
| Loans | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $21.15B$20.25B |
| Deposits | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $20.43B$21.21B |
| Equity Capital | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $2.94B$2.69B |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $1.45B$1.35B |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $141.3MM$136.2MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $0$0 |