Sable Review: Fees, Functionalities, Credibility, and Monito's Recommendation

The short answer is a big yes: with Sable, you'll have access to a checking account, debit card and (optionally) a credit card that are functionally on par with those offered by registered US banks.

Although still a relatively small company in comparison to many other US neobanks, Sable is indeed a safe and secure checking account option that's duly licensed and regulated in the US, with FDIC-insured deposits of up to $250,000 per user through Sable's banking partner Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC. In addition, Sable also offers Zero Liability Protection through its partnership with Mastercard, through which Sable credit and debit cards are issued.

As far as the user is concerned, what this means is that you'll be fully protected on all fronts; with up to $250,000 in deposits guaranteed to be paid back to you in the event that Sable faces financial difficulty and secure protection against any unauthorized transactions that take place using your card in the event of theft or fraud.

Building its company image on "inclusive banking," Sable stands out among most US-based digital banking solutions in that its checking account and debit card is available to all US residents, regardless of whether you're a freshly-arrived Green Card holder or a born-and-bred US citizen. In our opinion, this gives Sable a critical edge over some of its major alternatives, many of which require US citizenship.

All told, Sable offers several unique products to customers, and we review the major ones below:

Sable Checking Account

Sable's account is a fully-fledged checking account held in deposit by the Coastal Community Bank, meaning it is functionally on the same level as checking offerings at any traditional bank, but for a fraction of the price. This gives you the following day-to-day financial services:

• Deposit processing: Top-up money into your bank account.
• Withdrawals: Withdraw cash at ATMs.
• Direct debits: Set up recurring ACH transfers in which funds are automatically deducted from your account.
• Debit card: Use a debit card to make cashless payments and withdraw money (more on this later).
• Bank wires: Send and receive domestic wires and receive international wires (though it's not yet possible to send international wires with Sable).

In essence, this means that you can take advantage of all the basic features of an ordinary bank account through Sable, making it an excellent banking alternative for new arrivals or a second account for US citizens who may already have a primary bank account elsewhere.

However, the one major drawback of Sable's checking account is that it doesn't offer top-up via credit or debit card, leaving bank deposits into your Sable account as the most accessible top-up method. However, it does offer cash as a top-up method* and integration with hundreds of different financial apps (more on this below).

Furthermore, Sable is not well-geared toward travel and foreign currency spending, offering no multi-currency functionality and processing all payments in the US dollar only. While your Sable credit and debit card will still most certainly be usable overseas, this means you'll be paying additional currency conversion fees if you decide to use the service on your next trip abroad.

Finally, it's worth being well aware that Sable's checking account offers only the essential financial services we discussed above and does not offer more specialized financial services or credit-related services such as interest, overdraft, investments, joint accounts, or personal loans.

Sable Mobile App

Offering a slick and widely-praised mobile app that's available for download on both Google Play and the App Store, Sable provides an easy-to-use and clean user experience with a straightforward interface and a lack of information overload. It offers several interesting features, including:

• Virtual contactless card payments via the app;
• Automatic spending categorization;
• In-app international transfers, powered by Wise;
• Credit history and credit limit management;
• Blocking and unblocking cards;
• Access to live chat customer support.

Sable

A significant advantage of the Sable app is that it comes integrated with the mobile payments platform Plaid, which means you'll be able to make convenient in-app payments to and from your Sable account and other mobile bank accounts (e.g. Chime®, Varo, etc.), money transfer apps (e.g. Wise, Cash App, Venmo, WorldRemit, etc.), as well as many major investments, savings, and personal and business finance apps such as Acorns, Expensify, Truebill, Stripe, and many others.

Sable Debit Card

Sable offers a physical debit Mastercard that arrives in the post between five and seven working days after a successful application. You'll also receive a virtual card automatically as soon as your Sable account is approved. Like the physical card, the virtual card is a Mastercard with a dedicated card number, meaning you'll be able to use it for online payments and link it to mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Sable debit cards don't yet have contactless payments built-in, meaning you'll need to use a mobile wallet to make contactless payments at stores, cafes, and restaurants, for example.

Sable

A major perk of the physical debit card is that it accrues 1.00% cashback on most purchases, including major brands such as Amazon, Uber, Uber Eats, Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, and Whole Foods. Furthermore, as we touched on earlier, all purchases made through your debit card are purchase protected via Mastercard and extended warrantee with Sable itself, giving your purchases world-class security.

In addition, the Sable debit card also gives you a dollar-for-dollar match on all cash back at the end of your first year with Sable’s Double Cash Bonus.

Sable ONE Credit Card — Is It Any Good?

In addition to the debit card and checking account offered by Sable (which is the main subject of this review), customers have the option to apply for a Sable ONE credit card, which allows you to build your credit history and spend money with a black credit Mastercard.

Like many credit card offerings, Sable's credit card offers cashback on most purchases, with 2.00% cashback applying to everyday purchases at popular retailers such as Amazon, Uber, Uber Eats, Whole Foods, Netflix, and Spotify and 1.00% cashback on everything else. What's more, the credit program comes with no annual fee, no additional currency conversion costs when spending abroad (only the base Mastercard exchange rate), and requires no minimum security deposit — you can move as much or as little as you like from your regular Sable account into your credit account.

What's more, after as little as four months of spending only the money in your secured credit account (which can be added via your Sable bank account), the Sable ONE credit program also allows you to gain access to unsecured credit (provided you have a good payment history).

Additionally, the credit card also gives you the following perks:

• Dollar-for-dollar match on all cash back at the end of your first year with Sable’s Double Cash Bonus.
• Auto-review to an unsecured card in as little as four months (which is around three times faster than anywhere else) with Sable’s graduation promise.
• Up to $10,000 credit limit.

All in all, considering you won't pay a dime in monthly fees for the Sable ONE credit card and taking into account the decent cashback and good credit-building functionality, Sable ONE is an excellent credit card and a real advantage to the overall Sable product, in our opinion. This is especially true for newcomers in the US who are looking for an easy way to get on track with their financial lives, including credit history.

* Up to $500 every 24 hours via CVS, Walmart, Walgreens, Dollar General, etc.