SoFi Checking & Savings $550 Signup Bonus via Rakuten (Nationwide; Requires $5,000 Direct Deposit)

Update 8/20/24: The $350 Rakuten deal is expired. Best now is $230-$250 from SB/MP, plus the $300 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

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 30 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 8/19/24: Rakuten is now up to $350 which can lead to a total bonus of $650. Wow. (ht Peter and Jim)
• Update 7/15/24: Rakuten is now up to $250/25,000; matches the best offer we’ve seen. MyPoints is around $250, Swagbucks $230. (ht Shawntheshawn)
• Update: Now $200 and $300 for a total of $500.
• Update 5/6/24: Rakuten is up to $250 and SoFi is at $300. I believe this $550 is the highest ever (and some people might even value Rakuten at even higher than $250).
• Update 3/17/24: Both Rakuten and Swagbucks at $200 now; plus $300 from SoFi (ht Churnbaby)
• Update 3/1/24: Currently $200 from Swagbucks and $300 from SoFi.
• Update 11/26/23: Both Rakuten and Swagbucks at $200 now; plus $250 from SoFi (ht PN)
• Update 11/25/23: Back to $200 on Swagbucks or $175 on Rakuten.
• Update 10/18/23: Increased on Rakuten to $200/20,000
• Update 10/13/23: This is still on Swagbucks for 20,000 ($200). It’s now also on Rakuten for $175/17,500 which some people might prefer. And you can still get $250 on top of that from SoFi directly when you use either link. (ht ShawntheShawn)
• Update 6/26/23: Swagbucks is now up to $200 with $200 direct deposit. Plus you’ll get $250 from SoFi if you receive  $5,000 in direct deposits. Not as good as the all time highs of $520 total but now it’s close. (ht @addingpennies)
• Update 4/28/23: Swagbucks/MyPoints are now at an extra $150 for $400 total. Not as good as the all time highs of $520 total but still a nice deal. Update 11/17/22: The Swagbucks/MP part is gone right now. The SoFi part is still at $250. Update 10/30/22: Swagbucks still at $220, but SoFi bonus part is down to $250 now (down from $300). Total bonus now of $470; Update 10/21/22: Swagbucks is now $220 on the home page + $300 SoFi bonus; Update 9/30/22: The $175 Swagbucks offer is back (direct link) and – like before – it links to the $300 direct deposit bonus page. Total $475 bonus possible. The $300 deal is valid from 10/1/22 through 12/31/22. Update 8/21/22: The $300 got extended until September 30th, the additional $175 Swagbucks bonus has still not returned. There’s a new referral offer which gives $325: $25 right away when signing up and depositing $10, plus $300 bonus with direct deposit mentioned below. That’s $25 better than the public link below. I don’t think we’ll make a referral thread for this now, you can google around to find a referral link. It might be smarter to wait to see if another Swagbucks deals comes back. Update 6/20/22: Swagbucks/MP component is gone for now. The $300 offer is still around.Update 6/14/22: Swagbucks is down to $75 now and MyPoints is gone. The $300 SoFi offer is still live. Update 5/27/22: The $300 SoFi bonus has been extended through July. We don’t know how long the Swagbucks/MyPoints component will last. (Another update 6/13/22: Reader thedailychurn suggests that if you click through Swagbucks before upgrading your SoFi Money account to become a SoFi Checking & Savings account the Swagbucks/MP can track the upgrade as a new account opening for the $175 bonus. You probably won’t get the $300 signup bonus, though, since it’s not a new account.) Update 5/2/22: They brought back the Swagbucks/MyPoints $175 bonus, so it’s back up to $475 now. Yay!; Update 4/24/22: The Swagbucks part of the deal has expired. The $300 SoFi bonus is still available.; Update: This $300 bonus seems to stack fine with the $175 Swagbucks deal we posted a few months back for a total $475. Simply click through Swagbucks (link | another link | MyPoints) and you’ll see the $300 offer on the landing page, so it should stack. I wonder if they’ll pull the Swagbucks offer as this $300 offer rolls out, so I’d sign up soon.

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. 

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:

• A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
• Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
• PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
• Introduction To ChexSystems
• Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
• What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
• How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
• Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
• How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
• Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
• Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
• Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
• Bank Bonus Posting Times