Nearside Business Checking $50 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Guide

Nearside is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $50 bonus if you open a Nearside business checking account using a referral link. Here’s what you need to do to earn your Nearside referral bonus: 

1. Open a Nearside business checking account using a referral link (here’s my Nearside referral link). 
2. Spend $100 with your Nearside debit card within one month of opening your Nearside account. 
3. You’ll receive a $50 statement credit within 90 days of meeting the spending requirement.

Nearside used to be called Hatch but recently rebranded itself to Nearside. The rebranding is for the better – Nearside used to charge a $10 per month fee, but with the rebranding, it’s now a completely free business checking account.

The rebranding also makes Nearside one of the easier bank account bonuses currently available. There’s no direct deposit requirement and the only thing you need to do to earn the bonus is spend $100 on your Nearside debit card. Most people should be able to do this pretty easily. And since the account has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements, you won’t have to worry about managing the account after you open it.

In the remainder of this post, I’ll provide some more detail about the Nearside business checking account and walk you through the exact steps to follow so you can earn your Nearside referral bonus. 

What Is Nearside Business Checking? 

As previously stated, Nearside is a free business checking account that offers business banking to sole proprietors and small businesses. It was previously called Hatch but rebranded itself to Nearside in November 2021.

In the past, Nearside isn’t a bank account I would have recommended because it charged a $10 per month fee. However, in October, Nearside quietly removed the monthly fee, turning their business bank account into a free bank account with no fees or minimum balance requirements. That makes Nearside a bank that’s worth looking at.

One interesting feature with Nearside is the cash back rewards you can earn when you make purchases using your Nearside debit card at eligible merchants. You’ll get 5% cashback on certain merchants (mainly online, web companies). Other merchants offer 1-4% cashback. That’s really good for a debit card since most debit cards don’t offer any cashback rewards. 

Nearside has a list of merchants that earn you cashback rewards. You can find that list here.

Nearside Business Checking Account $50 Referral Bonus: Step-By-Step Directions

Nearside is an interesting business checking account, but the primary reason to open a Nearside business checking account is to collect your $50 signup bonus. Opening an account is easy. You can do it online using your phone or computer. Submitting your application should only take a few minutes and assuming there aren’t any issues, you should get approved within a day or two. My account was approved about a day after I submitted my application.

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

1. Open A Nearside Business Checking Account Using A Referral Link. The first thing you’ll need to do is open a Nearside account using a referral link. Here’s my Nearside referral link. The link doesn’t provide the bonus terms, but I referred my wife and received an email notification that someone had used my referral link, so it’s definitely a valid link. 

The account opening process is fairly straightforward. The application should walk you through all of the steps. Since this is a business checking account, you’ll technically need to have some sort of business to be eligible to open this account, but almost everyone should be eligible, especially if you have a side hustle of any sort. Even if you do something as simple as selling things on eBay or Facebook Marketplace, that would make you a business. 

On the first page of the application, you’ll see this screen: 

The majority of people reading this should select sole proprietor as their business type. The name of the business should be your name. If you have a business entity you want to use, feel free to use that. For industry type, pick the industry that most closely matches your business.  

Later in the application, you’ll be asked to link your bank account. You don’t have to do this immediately, but you’ll want to do it eventually because you’ll need to move at least $100 into your Nearside account so you can meet the spending requirement with the Nearside debit card. 

The other thing you’ll have to do during the application is upload a photo of your ID. This is standard practice for any bank account, as banks have to do this as part of federal regulations. 

Once you get through the application, you’ll likely get a message telling you your application is being reviewed. My application was approved about a day later. How long it takes for your application to be approved will likely vary.

2. Spend $100 On Your Nearside Debit Card. Once your account is approved, you should receive your Nearside debit card within 5-7 business days. To meet the $100 spending requirement, you’ll need to put some money into your Nearside account. To do this, link an external account with Nearside, then send $100 or more into your Nearside account. After that, find a way to spend $100 with your debit card

The easiest way to do this is to pay your phone bill or another account that lets you make a payment with your debit card. I’m self-employed, so I have to pay for my health insurance, which I did with my Nearside debit card.

3. You’ll Receive $50 In Statement Credit Within 90 Days Of Meeting The Spending Requirement. The terms state that you’ll receive a $50 statement credit after you meet the spending requirement. I’m not exactly sure what a statement credit means, but I assume it just means they’ll add $50 into your account (I only recently opened this account, so I’m still waiting for my bonus to post). 

Earning $50 after spending $100 that you already have to spend is good for a 50% return on your $100. I’ll gladly take that. 

Refer Your Friends And Earn More Nearside Referral Bonuses 

When you open your Nearside business checking account, you’ll get a referral link that you can use to refer other people. Each person you refer who uses your link and meets the $100 spending requirement earns you $50 (the person you refer will also earn $50 for using your link). 

You can earn a maximum of $500 in referral bonuses per calendar year, so you should be able to refer 10 people per year (note that the $50 you earn for opening the account probably counts toward the $500 maximum, so you might only be able to refer 9 people in your first year). 

If you’re a two-person household, you should be able to earn $150 by opening accounts for both people. To do this, first, open your account using a referral link. Then refer your spouse or partner with your referral link. You’ll get $50 for opening the account, then your spouse will get $50 for using your referral link and you’ll get $50 for referring your spouse. 

Final Thoughts 

Nearside is a relatively unknown business checking account that has an easy referral bonus you can earn. Filling out the application should only take you a few minutes. And the bonus terms are easy to meet. If you feel like supporting this site, please feel free to use my Nearside referral link. 

If you’re looking for a bank account for your business or side hustle, Nearside could also work for that, especially since they have some interesting cashback categories that might be useful for you.

For more information on bank account bonuses, please check out my post, the Ultimate Guide To Bank Account Bonuses. That post goes into great detail about how bank account bonuses work and how you can take advantage of them. It’s essential reading for anyone interested in getting deeper into the world of bank account bonuses.

More Recommended Referral Bonuses 

If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about. 

• Chime is offering new users $100 if you open a Chime account using a referral link. Check out my Chime referral bonus guide for step-by-step directions on how to earn this bonus.
• Lili is another free business checking account that is offering a good signup bonus. Check out my Lili referral bonus guide to learn how to earn your Lili referral bonus.
• M1 Finance is my favorite brokerage account and they also offer a referral bonus if you open an account with a referral link. Here’s my M1 Finance referral link. I’ve also written an M1 Finance referral bonus guide that I recommend checking out.
• Webull is a free brokerage account that gives you free stocks if you open an account using a referral link. Here’s my Webull referral link. For more in-depth directions, check out my WeBull referral bonus guide.
• SoFi is giving away $25 if you open a free SoFi Money account and $15 if you download the SoFi app using a referral link. This is a really easy bonus to earn and should only take you a few minutes to complete. Here’s a post with directions on how to earn your SoFi bonus. 
• Albert is one of my favorite fintech apps. It’s a great tool to help you monitor your finances and save more money. In addition, you’ll get $75 if you open a free Albert Cash account, complete a direct deposit of $200 or more within the first 30 days, and spend $100 on the Albert debit card. Here’s my Albert referral link. I’ve also written an Albert referral bonus guide you should check out. And for an in-depth review, you can check out my Albert app review. 

I hope this info was helpful. Please feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions.