Update 11/24/20: PrizePool has sent out an e-mail stating that they will be offering PrizePool Series (weekly drawings instead of monthly) and you can win one prize per weekly drawing. Hat tip to Eduardo Baez
Offer at a glance
- Interest Rate:Â Unknown
- Availability:Â Nationwide
- Hard/soft pull:Â Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding:Â Unknown
- Monthly fees:Â None
- Insured:Â FDIC
The Offer
- PrizePool is another prized link savings account similar to Yotta Savings. Every $1 you have in your account you receive one ticket per day. There are $50,000 in monthly prizes given out (one $25,000 grand prize and $25,000 in small prizes). There is a maximum of 750,000 tickets a month which is equivalent to about $25,000 a month. You’re also limited to winning one prize per month.
The Fine Print
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
This account has no monthly fees to worry about
Referral Program
PrizePool has a referral program, when you refer somebody you earn 10% of their winnings (this is an extra 10%, the person you refer doesn’t lose 10%). Below is inaccurate:
a referral is used both the referrer and referree receive 10% of each others monthly winnings for life (this is an extra 10%, neither party loses any of their winnings). For example, if I refer someone and they win $25,000, I’d get $2,500. If I won $25,000, they’d get $2,500. So ideally you’d want to use a referral from somebody who is going to keep funds in their account.
Our Verdict
Yotta Savings started with a very high APY and that has consistently dropped (now down to 1.66-2%). Unlike Yotta it’s difficult to know what the APY will be as all the prizes seem to be pooled? I think we will see a lot of these prized link accounts, probably the first month or so the effective APY will be high before it steadily drops. You can find more high yield accounts by clicking here.
An Early Holiday Gift From PrizePool
Use PrizePool Debit to pay for your purchases from November 14, 2022 to January 13, 2023.
Reach at least $1,500 total spend during the promotion period.
Receive your bonus tickets!
– Reach $1,500 total spend and receive 300k bonus tickets.
– Reach $3,000 total spend and receive 300k additional bonus tickets, totaling 600k bonus tickets.
Win!
(Technically, this step occurs all throughout the journey since you’re still entered into Tap to Win for cash back prizes, earn 100 bonus tickets on every $1 spent, and entered into weekly drawings on top of this promotion
There has been a server error which prevents me from logging in to my account. Does anyone have the same issue?
There has been a sever error which prevents me from logging in to my account. Does anyone else have the same issue?
PrizePool is now offering an additional 5,000 20 cent prizes for each weekly series now, which should enable more people to get a prize each week now.
This seems wrong. I would think you would still need to report it if it’s under 600.
I won a prize! Do I have to pay taxes now?
Written by Frank Chien
That’s great! Saving money has really paid off for you!
If you win less than $600 (in a calendar year), you don’t have to worry about taxes. If you win over $600 (either all at once or with multiple prizes in a calendar year), we’ll send you a 1099 form in the new year which you can file with the rest of your income when you do your taxes.
What kind of winnings are people getting from this, with what balance kept there?
I’ve kept $500 there for a couple months, and I’ve won the same amount in every drawing, which is kinda strange. First monthly drawing 11/1: won $5; second month: $5; then weekly drawings 12/4: $2, 12/11: $2 (plus 10% for each one for using a referral link).
If someone has $1000 (twice as much) there, are you winning about twice as much? Though it’s hard to tell with a small number of drawings.
I have deposited only $483.00 since opening the account at the end of September 2020 and have earned $37.40 in prizes including referrals. So, my current balance is $520.40.
September 2020 drawing –> $5 monthly prize plus $0.50 referral prize ($5.50)
October 2020 drawing –> $10 monthly prize plus $1 referral prize ($11.00)
November 2020 drawing –> $10 monthly prize plus $1 referral prize ($11.00)
December 2020 Week 1 drawing –> $2 weekly prize plus $0.20 referral prize ($2.20)
December 2020 Week 2 drawing –> $2 weekly prize plus $0.20 referral prize ($2.20)
December 2020 Week 3 drawing –> $5 weekly prize plus $0.50 referral prize ($5.50)
It’s funny, after I posted on here, I didn’t win anything at all in the next 4 drawings.
Yotta has been underperforming for me recently as well. Finally got my HMBradley account opened, and I’ve been shifting my money there.
I won nothing in the last weekly drawing of January 8th, 2020. It was my first drawing without a prize.
Anyway, the more people on board, the less chance we have of getting a prize. So, we will start getting nothing more often now.
Few weeks ago, they stated a $500 balance gave you a 50% chance of winning a prize. Now, they say a $1,000 balance gives you a 50% chance of winning a prize. So, having only about $500 gives us slim chances of getting a price.
They are pushing people to deposit at least $5,000 since they say now a $5,000 balance gives you a 95% chance of of winning a prize.
They are escalating their game!
Not trying to be macabre the day before Thanksgiving but it is worth noting that PrizePool does not currently have a “beneficiary designation” function so may be some risks (delays) to your estate planning if you intend on using the account as a primary savings vehicle. I tried to add my wife as a beneficiary as I do with all my savings accounts and they said they could not, but working on it.
Maybe PrizePool can BEAM your savings elsewhere for a while. Why do people even fool around with their savings?
Because some of us consider it semi investment money for yield farming trying to find the best return. I have 6 months expenses of savings to the side but playing with sites like this are worth testing the waters to see what you can get over 90 or 180 days. I wouldn’t expect anyone to drop $50K on Prize Pool.
Thanks for the comment. Yield farming in this case sounds like a gimmick, as this account isn’t going to pay you much more than online savings rates. And if it does, I would be more concerned.
Better off opening bank accounts for sign up bonuses which offer better payoffs for your time and effort.
Please feel free to use the referral code [removed]. When you use this code to create an account, both you and I win additional 10% of any prizes you win. Here’s an example of how this works: You win that month’s $100 prize. You win an additional $10 ($100 x 10% = $10). You win $110 in total: $100 for saving prize + $10 for referral prize. I win $10 the month: 10% of your $100 prize.
No referral codes allowed here