Chime Bank $50 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Guide

Chime is a free online bank that offers a $50 referral bonus if you open a new Chime account using a referral link. To earn the $50 referral bonus, you need to do the following: 

1. Open a new Chime bank account using a referral link (here’s my Chime referral link). 
2. Make a direct deposit of $200 or more within 45 days of opening your account. 
3. The $50 bonus posts to your Chime account within 2 business days of meeting the requirements, but typically posts instantly once the requirements are met.

When it comes to bank account bonuses, Chime is one of the easier banks out there to earn the bonus with and is one of the first banks I recommend for anyone new to earning bank account bonuses. Here’s why:

• No Fees. Chime has no minimum balance requirement and no monthly fees or maintenance fees of any kind. Since it has no fees, this makes it a very easy bank account to manage. 
• Bonus Terms Are Easy To Meet. The terms you have to meet to earn the Chime referral bonus is easy to meet, making this one of the easier bank account bonuses out there. The account requires a $200 direct deposit to earn the bonus, which at first glance might seem difficult, but in fact, almost any ACH transfer from an external bank account into your Chime account meets the direct deposit requirement.
• Bonus Posts Instantly (Or At Most, Within 2 Business Days). Some banks have a long waiting period before your bonus posts. Chime’s terms say your bonus will post within 2 business days of meeting the direct deposit requirement, but in my experience, the bonus almost always posts instantly.
• You Can Refer People With Your Own Referral Link. A big thing about Chime is that once you open a Chime account, you get your own Chime referral link. You’ll earn $50 for every person you refer to Chime and the person you refer will also earn $50 once they open a Chime account with your link and meet the bonus requirements. This makes Chime a very profitable bank account if you have people you can refer. 

In this post, I’ll walk you through exactly what you need to do to earn the $50 Chime referral bonus, as well as provide some additional strategies to make your bonus go even farther. 

But first, some background about Chime before we get started.

What Is Chime Bank? 

Chime is an online bank account that you can access through the Chime app or via the Chime website. The most important thing about Chime is that it has no fees of any sort. This includes no minimum balance requirement, no monthly fees, no maintenance fees, and even no overdraft fees.

Chime is a fintech company, which means that it has a really good mobile app. Indeed, among bank mobile apps, I’d consider Chime one of the nicest and most intuitive banking apps out there. 

Another interesting feature of Chime is how fast it posts transactions. Direct deposits and transfers into the account post 2 days early, which is nice since it means you get access to your money sooner. 

I currently use Chime as a sort of business bank account for myself. I’ve made it so that all of my gig economy earnings go directly into my Chime account. This means I get my pay earlier than I otherwise would, and it helps me to organize my business earnings and expenses. 

Chime Bank $50 Referral Bonus: Step-By-Step Directions

The reason you should open a Chime account is to earn the $50 referral bonus for new Chime account holders. The process should only take you a few minutes to complete, making this well worth your time. You can basically make $50 for just a few minutes of work.

Here are the step-by-step directions to earn your $50 Chime referral bonus.  

1. Open Your Chime Account Using A Referral Link. To earn the $50 Chime referral bonus, first, you need to open a Chime account using a referral link. Here’s my referral link to open your Chime account. Opening a Chime account should only take you a few minutes. 

2. Do A Direct Deposit Of $200 Or More Within 45 Days Of Account Opening.  The next step is to do a direct deposit of $200 or more. If your employer allows you to change your direct deposit easily, then you can do it through your employer. 

The easier way to meet this requirement, however, is to do an ACH push of $200 or more from an external bank into your Chime account. While the terms do say a direct deposit is required, it turns out that doing an ACH push from almost any external bank account meets the direct deposit requirement,

To do this, you’ll want to go log into your non-Chime bank account, link your Chime account to that bank account, then transfer $200 or more into your Chime account. If the transfer works, then the bonus should post instantly, but at most, within 2 business days. 

When I did it, I used Discover Bank, which worked perfectly. Other good accounts to use are Ally, Chase, Capital One 360, Marcus By Goldman Sachs, and many others. 

3. Once The Requirements Are Met, The Bonus Should Post Within 2 Business Days. Once you trigger the direct deposit requirement, the bonus should post either instantly or within 2 business days. If the bonus doesn’t post within 2 business days, try doing a transfer from another bank.  

Remember, you need to do an ACH push into your Chime account to trigger the direct deposit requirement. This means logging into your non-Chime bank account, linking Chime to that account, and pushing the money into Chime all from that external account. You don’t do anything from the Chime interface when trying to meet the direct deposit requirement.

Pro-Tip: Refer Your Friends And Earn More Chime Referral Bonuses 

When you open your Chime account, you get your own referral link that you can use to refer other people to Chime. You get $50 for every person that you refer to Chime, up to $1,000 per calendar year.

Note that in my experience, Chime actually seems to limit this number to $950 worth of referrals per calendar year. That means you should be able to refer up to 19 people per calendar year (in theory you should be able to refer 20 people per calendar year, but it seems like Chime cuts you off at 19 people).

The pro-move is that if you have a spouse or partner, you can (and should) refer them and have them follow the same process to earn the referral bonus. They’ll earn $50 for using your referral link and you’ll earn $50 for referring them.

Thus, someone with a two-person household can earn $150 with just a few minutes of work. You get $50 for opening your account. Then you get $50 for referring your spouse. And then your spouse gets $50 for using your referral link. This makes Chime a very easy $150 net gain for a two-person household. 

Final Thoughts 

Chime is a very easy bank account bonus that is the perfect introduction for beginners new to the world of bank account bonuses. Since it’s a totally free account, you don’t have to worry about managing the account or doing anything with it. I would typically recommend keeping your Chime account open forever so that you can keep referring people. 

The entire process to earn this bonus is really fast, so you should be able to earn your $50 Chime referral bonus with just a little bit of work. You can open your Chime account and earn your bonus using my Chime referral link.

If you have two people, you’ll make $150 altogether with just a few minutes of work. This makes this referral bonus well worth taking advantage of.

If you’re interested in diving deeper into the world of bank account bonuses, I wrote the Ultimate Guide To Bank Account Bonuses, which you should definitely check out. That post goes into a lot of detail about how bank account bonuses work and how you can take advantage of them.