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About Varo Bank
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Varo is a self-described “digital consumer bank” with features such as no minimum balances, no monthly fees, branchless banking, automatic savings tools and a secured credit card. You can access your cash at more than 55,000 Allpoint ATMs. Sign up and manage your account on Varo Bank’s website or using its app. Deposits with Varo Bank are insured up to $250,000 with Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
Pros & Cons
- Cash back on debit and credit card
- Early access to direct deposit funds
- Up to 3% APY on savings
- Advances up to $100 with no interest
- Customer service not available 24/7
- No in-person services
What is Varo Bank?
Varo Bank is a fintech company that offers 100% mobile banking services, including checking accounts, savings accounts, the Varo Believe secured credit card, cash advances with no interest and automatic savings tools. Varo doesn’t charge monthly or overdraft fees. Its stated goal is to provide banking solutions that work for everyone and more ways to control your money.
Varo Bank is chartered and regulated as a national bank by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as of 2020, according to the company. Deposits are insured by the FDIC up to $250,000 per depositor.
How does Varo work?
Varo is a simple banking system to sign up for and use. To start, you can download the app, click on “Sign Up” and follow the instructions. You can also use the Varo website. You need a form of personal ID and your Social Security number. There is no credit check when you sign up for a bank account.
After approval, you should receive your Visa debit card in six to nine business days. You can deposit money into your account via direct deposit; transfer from an external bank account or digital wallet; mobile deposit of a paper check; cash deposit at checkout with various retailers; or using a Green Dot MoneyPak.
To withdraw cash with no fee, you can visit Allpoint ATMs, which are located in places such as CVS, Walgreens and Target.
With Varo, you can also apply for a savings account with an annual percentage yield of 3% if you meet certain requirements; otherwise, the APY is 0.5%. Varo’s other products and features include the following:
- Varo Believe secured credit card
- Varo Advance cash advance up to $100
- Early access to direct deposit funds (up to two days earlier)
- Cash back for using your debit or credit card
- Save Your Pay and Save Your Change savings tools
- Free Varo-to-Varo cash transfers
Varo products
Varo’s products start with its checking account, which you get when you first sign up, but it has several other offerings:
- Bank account: The Varo checking account has no minimum balance, no monthly fees and no foreign transaction fees. The debit card is contactless, and you won’t be held liable for unauthorized charges. You can send money to other Varo customers instantly and free. You also have access to direct deposits up to two days early.
- Savings account: The Varo savings account has a starting APY of 0.5%, but you can qualify for a 3% APY if you get direct deposits of at least $1,000 per month, don’t have a negative balance in your checking or savings accounts during the month and keep your savings balance at $5,000 or less for the entire month. The optional Save Your Pay tool lets you transfer a percentage of your direct deposits to your savings account. There's also Save Your Change, which rounds up your transactions to the nearest dollar and adds the difference to your savings.
- Varo Believe: This secured credit card helps you build your credit. It has no annual fee, no APR and no minimum security deposit. Add money to your account and make purchases, then pay your balance when it’s due. You can see your credit score in the Varo app. To qualify, you need $1,000 or more in qualifying direct deposits and an active Varo bank account without a negative balance and with no overdue advance. Varo reports payment history to the three major credit bureaus.
- Varo Advance: Get a cash advance of as much as $100 with no interest. There is a small fee with advances of $50, $75 and $100. You have 30 days to pay back the advance in as many payments as necessary. There are several qualifications, such as having a bank account that's at least 30 days old.
Varo fees
One of Varo’s biggest selling points is the lack of fees. There are no monthly maintenance fees or overdraft fees. There are some fees to be aware of, though.
Varo checking account fees include:
- $2.50 per transaction for out-of-network ATM withdrawals
- Up to $5.95 for cash deposits via third-party money transfers
- $2.50 per transaction for over-the-counter cash withdrawals
Varo Believe fees include:
- $15 for late payments
- $2.50 per transaction for out-of-network ATM withdrawals
Varo Advance fees include:
- $3 for a $50 advance
- $4 for a $75 advance
- $5 for a $100 advance
Varo FAQ
Is Varo a real bank?
Yes, Varo Bank is real. As of publishing, Varo is listed as a national bank chartered and regulated by the OCC.
Is Varo a prepaid card?
The Varo Bank Visa debit card is not a prepaid card. The company does offer a secured credit card called Varo Believe; the Varo Believe Secured Account acts as a security for your spending.
Where can I load a Varo debit card?
You can deposit cash in your Varo checking account at participating Green Dot locations. These include retailers such as:
- 7-Eleven
- Albertsons
- CVS
- Dollar General
- Dollar Tree
- Family Dollar
- Rite Aid
- Safeway
- Walgreens
- Walmart
Is Varo FDIC-insured?
Yes, Varo is FDIC-insured. Deposits are insured up to $250,000.
Is Varo safe?
Varo is safe to use. Your money is FDIC-insured, and your personal information is protected with industry-standard encryption.
Is Varo Bank legit?
Varo Bank is a legitimate banking option for those who are looking for a fully online service. The bank is chartered and regulated by the OCC, and it’s FDIC-insured. There are many benefits, such as the low number of fees, early access to direct deposit funds and high yields on savings accounts. Just keep in mind that you won’t be able to visit a branch, and customer service isn't available 24/7.
Varo Bank Reviews
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- We use intelligent software that helps us maintain the integrity of reviews.
- Our moderators read all reviews to verify quality and helpfulness.
Reviewed Dec. 4, 2024
I filed a dispute with my Varo bank in Feb. and March 2024 for my account being fraudulently messed with. I use tap and pay a lot and It was apparently compromised. They cleared what I had in my bank account and I even contacted Varo's live support on pending charges I seen that I didn't make. They didn't do anything to help me but send me a new card. Then I kept getting emails that I had to verify myself. But my password was changed to log into my Varo, Which to me sounds like Varo remote workers to be honest. I complied and did my police report and filed an IC3 like I was told. Because they did cyber charges as well. Varo made me wait over 90 days to tell me they denied my dispute and didn't give valid reasons.
I kept appealing and my last appeal was in Sept. 9, 2024, and now it's been over the 75-day mark and when I called to see about it they tell me it's still ongoing and I will get an email that I never get by the way. The dispute is #D157 Amount was $6,884.43. Varo sent another email saying they needed the whole police report which I had sent them page by page even the letter from the Federal Trade Commission. Because this cyber attacker took my social and my identity and still has it. I never got my dispute refund, they keep ignoring me. I am fixing to file a class action lawsuit. Because whenever you need to dispute, they don't give you your money back and that isn't a bank to have.
Reviewed Oct. 30, 2024
I used to like them, they have pay anyone feature where it's via text, and credit building option, as well as advance you can build higher SUPPOSEDLY, with increased direct deposit and on time payments as well as account balances $0 or higher. I got up to $100, increased my direct deposits amount by $826, paid my advance 20 days early all 3 times and they DECREASED IT BY $50!! And make you chat about it with no way to talk on the phone to see why. And they can't answer the question via chat. That's horrible incentive and makes me want to close my account altogether as it's more a punishment to decrease when I do everything right, instead of rewarding with and increase like the claim. Bad business.
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Reviewed Oct. 10, 2024
Their customer is basically non-existent. It's even worse for disputes. You either will be given the runaround and waiting in limbo for a decision (almost never in your favor) or they "help" by locking up any Provisional Credit they give you until "after the investigation". You basically have to threaten to take action. That's a slap in the face to customers who use Varo as their primary bank. What's the point of giving a credit (which is supposed to make you whole until they finish their investigation) but making it unavailable to the affected customers.
Reviewed Sept. 28, 2024
If there was a negative rating, Varo would get it. This is the worst bank ever. It's impossible to contact customer service about an issue and the agents on the chat feature are not ** and they either don't understand the issue or are just plain dumb. I highly recommend to NOT use Varo. It's very concerning and scary that you cannot speak to a live agent regarding an issue with your money. Run like hell from Varo.
Reviewed Sept. 25, 2024
The bank used to have very good customer service. Now the only contact is offshore and lengthy wait time for online support. Nothing replaces a human being. Looking for another bank ASAP. Stop trying save money at customer expense.
Reviewed Sept. 16, 2024
Where do I start? Signed up for the direct deposit bonus program. No bonus deposits. Tried to contact customer service, no phone number. Can't chat online, have to use the app. Can no longer log into account online, it just loads and loads and loads. Been doing this for over a week now. Have to use the app. Email address on website for customer service comes back as "no longer in use". Used contact us to send a message, no response from Varo. I just transferred the balance of my money in the account to another bank. Once all transactions have cleared, I'm closing the Varo account.
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2024
On 08-15-2024 at 6:33pm, I went to withdraw $500 from a cardtronics ATM inside of a Circle K that did NOT dispense my funds. I called the 800 number on the machine as the manager advised that of course the machine belongs to a third party. After waiting over 25 minutes, the gentleman at the atm customer service number asked for my name once and the transaction ID once..which he quickly then said that he couldn't find. He said that I have to call my bank and do a dispute for a charge back because there is nothing he can do.
I am almost 100 percent sure that he was just clicking his fingers briefly to ACT like he was even really entering my information. I then called the scam bank VARO to dispute the charge and advised them that they have a camera that can clearly show I received no funds. They denied my claim in 15 minutes and said that I needed to provide the video. I was told to get a copy of the video from the store from the VARO dispute department (which would need a subpoena btw). I contacted the atm company again and the lady asked me 3 questions and told me the same thing as the man the night before. Mind you, this $500 was for rent!! I'm filing with small claims court and of course closing the VARO account. They haven't attempted to do any fraud investigation which is what a fraud department is for.
Legally I can just not get a copy of a video from Circle K. I called their corporate office in which the gentleman sent an email to the district manager. I was told later that day from the store manager Amy, that they legally cannot provide a still picture or any video without a warrant and I could file a police report, in which I did. The police said that it's ridiculous because they cannot do anything with the report since I am filing about a machine and not a person taking my money. The officer stated that the atm company also legally has the capability to audit the machine, which is what VARO could have also gotten a copy of.
Reviewed Aug. 18, 2024
This is the absolute worst bank. If you use their Varo Believe Card they steal your money and lie about it. They took 500 from my account. Won’t admit they messed up or replace my money. You see their name run! Can’t believe they can get by with this.
Reviewed Aug. 6, 2024
Varo Bank offered me a prepaid credit card attached to my bank account they said to help raise my credit score. It dropped my credit score more than 60 points because they reported the money I put on the on the prepaid card as a debit. So they made it look like I was overextending my credit. So I canceled the card. I was assuming so there would be no problem. And there would not be except for Varo likes to retaliate. I had a refund on that card from Walmart of $98. Along with a few other tiny refunds that throughout the time they had kept for themselves. Every transaction dispute that I've ever put in has refunded the money but they told me that my dispute was denied. And they kept the money. That was all $10 and under but now with the $98 they told me I wasn't entitled to the refund that was sent back to me by Walmart because I had not filed the dispute.
The refund came about because of a computer glitch. A computer glitch is not sufficient enough evidence to constitute me being entitled to the refund. Now Walmart is in on it because they required that I report that Walmart did something bad in order to get a refund that they sent me. So they're literally trying to force me to lie to damage a corporations reputation. I refuse to write out why about it. They eventually took me in to not the fact that I did not receive the services which I didn't because I canceled the services.
There's been other refunds that they kept specifically issue by Walmart for things like the milk arrived spoiled and Walmart issued a refund on it but because I didn't file a dispute I wasn't entitled to my refund. All of this on their prepaid card. I've been with Varo since 2020 this unprofessional, illegal activity has been going on since 2022 and it gets a little bit worse every year. It maxed out to just plain theft when the prepaid card became available. They told me another way to be able to get the refund was to reopen the prepaid card. However my credit rating is almost back to where it was when I first took out that card just by me canceling that card and I am not going to reopen another card that is going to lower my credit rating so low that I couldn't get a job doing dishes. So clearly all of this is in retaliation for me not allowing them to ruin my life.
I'm 61 years old. I cannot just start over again and they know that. And my age could be a part of the reason why they're doing it thinking that nobody's going to believe me because I'm old and everybody will think I have Alzheimer's and forgot what I did. But that's just a guess at it. The facts are is that if they're robbing me like this they're doing it to other people. If you look at the receipt it will show that somebody manually went in and declined the amount but they never sent it back to Walmart. They literally sent it back into their own account. I have filed two small disputes with transactions. They declined the disputes but when I would check with the company the company refunded the money. And I've had about five small refunds that they never credited to my account at all.
Reviewed May 22, 2024
Someone can steal your identity and open an account and they won't verify the identity. Someone opened an account under my identity and I've tried emails and calling their number and it's impossible to get in contact with them. I've emailed and it says typical response in 2-3 days and it's already been 2 weeks and no response. You can't even call unless you're a customer. They won't help you. I would advise anyone to not bank with this fraud of a bank.
Varo Bank Company Information
- Company Name:
- Varo Bank
- Website:
- www.varomoney.com
