By Andrew Welsch

SoFi Technologies unveiled SoFi Coach on Tuesday, an interactive chat tool powered by artificial intelligence that the company says will provide customers personalized financial guidance.

SoFi Coach will initially be available via SoFi Plus, the company's subscription service that provides customers with perks and benefits; SoFi charges $10 a month for the subscription.

The launch adds to SoFi's growing list of products and services, which have evolved beyond its student loan origins to include offering mortgages, an investing platform, credit cards, and bank accounts. It's also the latest in a string of customer-facing AI capabilities being launched by financial services companies that are seeking to deepen client relationships and stay abreast of a rapidly evolving technology landscape.

With SoFi Coach, customers can better track their spending, manage debt, and plan for the future, according to the San Francisco-based company. Customers can ask questions about how much they spent on recurring subscriptions last year or whether it's better to prioritize paying off their credit cards or student loans. SoFi customers can connect non-SoFi financial accounts to SoFi Coach, which can help it provide more tailored insights.

"SoFi Coach is designed to provide insights and support to help people better understand their finances and ultimately make decisions that are in their best interest," says Brian Walsh, head of advice and planning at SoFi.

Walsh says that he hopes SoFi Coach helps make financial matters easier to understand and financial guidance more accessible. "I have found people can avoid seeking help because they are either busy or because maybe they are ashamed of where they are at or their lack of knowledge," he says. "That can inhibit them from getting the kind of help they need."

SoFi Coach doesn't currently take actions on behalf of users, meaning customers still have to take matters into their own hands after getting insights from the tool. The company says customers have been doing exactly that in early testing of the service, such as adding to their savings and paying down debt.

No AI investing tips. SoFi Coach won't provide investment advice. The company offers a robo-advisor that provides automated investment portfolios. It also provides customers access to financial planners, which it will continue to do alongside offering SoFi Coach. Walsh says SoFi's experience providing financial planning to customers helped inform how it constructed SoFi Coach. He adds that SoFi began providing access to financial planners after customers started requesting additional help overseeing their money and reaching their financial goals.

"This is the next evolution of that type of approach," Walsh says.

The company says it anticipates it will expand what SoFi Coach can do for clients in the future, such as managing subscriptions and tracking expenses. Founded in 2011, SoFi has 14.7 million customers, or members, as the company prefers to call them.

Of course, SoFi isn't the only company introducing AI financial services. Brokerage firm Robinhood provides customers with Cortex, an AI assistant that can help them identify trading opportunities. Charles Schwab recently launched an AI tool to provide portfolio insights.

Tech providers are also getting into personal finance. AI leader OpenAI said this month that it will add a finance component to its chatbot, ChatGPT. It will rely on Plaid, a fintech company, to enable customers to securely connect their financial accounts and receive tailored insights. The opportunity could be big for OpenAI, which said more than 200 million people are already using ChatGPT for help with personal finance matters.

Write to Andrew Welsch at andrew.welsch@barrons.com

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June 02, 2026 09:00 ET (13:00 GMT)

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