SoFi Checking & Savings $400 + $335 Signup Bonus (Nationwide; Requires $5,000 Direct Deposit)

Update 7/21/26: We haven’t seen the best rates in a few months, but there are a few decent ones now – Rakuten $250, Swagbucks $335, TCB $200

Update 4/13/26: $415 on Swagbucks + $400 from SoFi

Rakuten link | Swagbucks link | another Swagbucks link | MyPoints link

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $50 – $300
Availability: Nationwide
Direct deposit required: Yes, $1,000 – $5,000
Additional requirements: None
Hard/soft pull: Soft (see also this comment)
Credit card funding: None
Monthly fees: None
Early account termination fee: ?
Household limit: None listed
Expiration date: ~~May 31, 2022 July 31, 2022~~ ~~September 30, 2022~~ January 31, 2023

Contents

1 The Offer
2 The Fine Print
3 Avoiding Fees
- 3.1 Monthly Fees
- 3.2 Early Account Termination Fee
4 Update History
5 Our Verdict

The Offer

Direct link to offer | Terms

SoFi is offering bonus of up to $300 for new customers who signup for their SoFi hybrid checking & savings account and receive direct deposit within 25 days:
- Get $50 bonus with direct deposit of $1,000 – $1,999
- Get $100 bonus with direct deposit of $2,000 – $4,999
- Get $300 bonus with direct deposit of $5,000+

They seem to have rebranded from ‘SoFi Money’ to ‘SoFi Checking and Savings’.

The Fine Print

Eligible Participants: All new members who open a SoFi Checking and Savings account during the Promotion Period and all existing SoFi Checkings and Savings customers who have not previously set up Direct Deposit transactions (“Direct Deposit”) into their SoFi Checking and Savings account as of the beginning of the Promotion Period are eligible for the Program.
Bonus Terms:In order to qualify for eligibility for a bonus, SoFi must receive at least one Qualifying Direct Deposit (as defined below) from an Eligible Participant before the end of the Promotion Period. Qualifying Direct Deposits are defined as deposits of $1,000.00 or greater from an enrolled member’s employer, payroll, or benefits provider via ACH deposit. Deposits that are not from an employer (such as check deposits; P2P transfers such as from PayPal or Venmo, etc.; merchant transactions such as from PayPal, Stripe, Square, etc.; and external bank ACH transfers not from employers) and bank ACH transfers not from employers) do not qualify for this Direct Deposit promotion. The amount of the bonus, if any, will be calculated during the Evaluation Period as described and defined below.
Evaluation Period: The bonus amount will vary based on the total amount of Qualifying Direct Deposits received during the Evaluation Period. The Evaluation Period is defined as 25 days from the date your first Qualifying Direct Deposit is received. For example, if you receive $1,000-$1,999 in Qualifying Direct Deposits in the Evaluation Period, you will receive a cash bonus of $50. A member may only qualify for one bonus tier and will not be eligible for future bonus payments if inflows subsequently increase beyond the Evaluation Period.
Total Qualifying Direct Deposit amount in 30-day Evaluation Period Cash bonus
Payment timeline: SoFi will credit members who meet qualification criteria within 14 days of the end of the Evaluation Period.
This offer cannot be combined with the SoFi Checking and Savings Direct Deposit rate discount on a SoFi personal loan. Bonuses are considered miscellaneous income, and may be reportable to the IRS on Form 1099-MISC (or Form 1042-S, if applicable). SoFi reserves the right to exclude any Members from participating in the Program for any reason, including suspected fraud, misuse, or if suspicious activities are observed. SoFi also reserves the right to stop or make changes to the Program at any time.

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

This account doesn’t have any monthly fees to worry about.

Early Account Termination Fee

Not sure if there is any early termination fee or not, but there is no monthly fee and it’s worth keeping the account open long term for the spending bonuses.

Update History

Update 3/26/26: SoFi is now offering $400 and Rakuten will be offering $400 starting March 27th.
Update 3/3/26: Swagbucks back up to $415 for some.
Update 1/5/26: Swagbucks back up to $415 for some.
Update 12/8/25: Rakuten $400/40,000 is slated to come soon for December 10th only. I’m also seeing it at $505 on Swagbucks.
Update 11/28/25: $375/37,500 in Rakuten app and website
Update 11/24/25: $375/37,500 in Rakuten app
Update 11/6/25: People are seeing on Swagbucks/Inbox $505. Also $250/25,000 on Rakuten.
Update 11/2/25: Rakuten app is up to $375/37,500 for some. Also, someone recently mentioned seeing $505 on Swagbucks app and on Inbox Dollars.
Update 10/13/25: Swagbucks back up to $415 for some.
Update 9/8/25: Rakuten back at $375/37,500
Inboxdollars is $415 for some
Update 9/1/25: $375/37,500 from Rakuten + $300 from SoFi. Not as good as the recent $400 deal but close. (Try stacking with this deal for an additional $75 with SoFi Plus.)
Update 7/30/25: $400/40,000 from Rakuten + $300 from SoFi. Highest ever. Today only. (Try stacking with this deal for an additional $75 with SoFi Plus.)
Update 7/23/25: Many people got an email from Rakuten that next week the offer will be $400/40,000. Highest ever.
Update 7/19/25: $375 in Rakuten app available again (ht ShawntheShawn)
Update 7/2/25: ~~$375/37,500 Rakuten now available online or the Rakuten app. This matches the highest offer ever.~~ Update: TCB is now at $350.
Update 6/2/25: $350/35,000 via Rakuten website or $375/37,500 via the Rakuten app. This matches the highest offer ever.
(Expired) Update 6/12/25: $300/30,000 on Rakuten is back (ht Not Sam)
(Expired) Update 6/4/25: ~~The $300/30,000 version is back~~
Update 5/25/25: [Expired] A lot of people are seeing ~~$375/37,500~~ on Rakuten.
Older update history, see this comment

Our Verdict

I believe $300 is the most we’ve seen from SoFi Money bonuses, though this does require a $5,000 direct deposit. Some readers mention in the comments that SoFi is strict about what they consider to be a ‘direct deposit.’

It’s not clear how quickly you need to get the direct deposit, but it is clear that you have 30 days from when your first direct deposit posts to rack up the $5,000 in direct deposits. E.g. if you sign up on April 5th, get your first direct deposit on May 1, then you have from May 1st through May 30th to meet the $5,000 in combined total direct deposits to qualify for the full $300 bonus.

The fine print states that the income might be reported on a 1099-MISC form which might mean that it won’t get reported at all given the $600 minimum required for that form. Regardless, you’d be legally required to report the bonus.

Separately, the SoFi Money account is actually a nice account to have your regular direct deposit go to since they offer a nice, high APY rate for those who have a monthly direct deposit (any amount) post to their account. At time of this writing that rate is 1.25% APY with no deposit limit.

There’s one rumor in the comments that upgrading your existing SoFi Money account to the new SoFi checking and savings account will be eligible for the $300 bonus as well (though you’ll lose the free ATMs when upgrading), but I’m not assuming this is true unless it gets confirmed.

We’ve added this to our List of Best Bank Bonuses.

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