Ibotta now deducts $3.99 from your account balance each month from inactive accounts. An account is defined as inactive if it hasn’t redeemed an offer in 180 days.
Here’s the relevant section from the terms:
6.7. Account Maintenance Fees. There are costs associated with the creation and maintenance of your Ibotta account, and those costs are covered by the fees Ibotta earns when you redeem Offers. Therefore, if you have redeemed at least one Offer during the past 180 days, your account will not be assessed any account maintenance costs. If, however, you do not redeem at least one Offer during any 180 day period, Ibotta will deduct from your Ibotta account, on a monthly basis, the lesser of (i) $3.99 USD, or (ii) the amount then reflected in your Ibotta account (in either case, an “Account Maintenance Fee”). No Account Maintenance Fees will be charged or deducted during the first six months after you initially register for your Ibotta account. Ibotta will attempt to notify you before any Account Maintenance Fee is deducted from your account, or if the Account Maintenance Fee amount changes, by sending you an email to the address we have on file for you. Subject to Ibotta’s right to terminate your account under these Terms, Ibotta will stop charging your account for Account Maintenance Fees for six months if you redeem at least one Offer. Under no circumstances will you ever pay an Account Maintenance Fee with anything other than amounts in your Ibotta account – we will never ask you to make a payment for Account Maintenance Fees with credit or debit cards, checks or cash.
Not sure if an online portal purchase counts as ‘redeeming an offer’, but I assume it does. Getting a referral bonus does not count.
Ultimately, you either want to keep your account balance at $0 which will keep it fee-free, or you want to have some sort of activity every 6 months. They do have a $20 minimum to cash out so it’s not always an option to keep your account balance to $0.
Let us know in the comments of easy things to do to keep your account active, especially if you’re aware of any recurring ideas. Check out our review of Ibotta here.
