*The terms state that this offer expired on September 30, 2021. I’ll update this post again if it comes back.
If you’re looking for more easy bank account bonuses you can earn, check out some of the guides I’ve written below:
- Chime Bank Referral Bonus – Step By Step Guide
- SoFi Money Referral Bonus – Step By Step Guide
- Lili Referral Bonus – Step By Step Guide
- M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide
- Brex Card $250 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Guide
Radius Bank is currently offering a $50 referral bonus if you open a free Radius Bank Rewards Checking Account and maintain a balance of $500 or more for 60 days. To earn your $50 Radius Bank referral bonus, you have to do the following:
- Open a Radius Bank Rewards Checking Account using a referral link (here is my referral link that you can use to earn your $50 bonus). If you use my referral link, it should automatically include my referral code, but if for some reason you don’t see it, be sure to enter the referral code kx682c in the promo code or referral code box during the application process.
- Fund your account with $500 or more and leave it in your account for 60 days.
- Once you meet this 60-day requirement, you’ll receive your $50 referral bonus within 30 days.
What makes this bonus so appealing is how simple it is to earn. The account has no fees, so you don’t have to worry about doing anything to avoid fees. The account also doesn’t require a direct deposit or require you to do any debit card transactions. All you have to do is fund the account and leave it there for the requisite period of time. The only real downside is that the bonus takes between 60 and 90 days to post, but that’s not really too big of a deal as long as you remember to check the account after you’ve funded it.
If you do the math, the return on your $500 deposit is outstanding. Getting $50 for funding your account with $500 means that you’ll earn a 10% rate of return within 90 days. Annualized, that comes out to a 40% guaranteed rate of return. Of course, $50 isn’t the most lucrative bank bonus available, but it’s still good when you consider how easy it is to earn this bonus.
In the rest of this post, we’ll go over what Radius Bank is and I’ll walk you through the exact step-by-step instructions you need to follow to earn your bonus. I’ll also go through some additional strategies you can use to earn more from this referral bonus offer.
*Note: Radius Bank recently rebranded their bank to LendingClub Bank. Everything still works the same and the only real change was the name. The bonus still appears to be valid as well. When you click the referral link, you’ll see the refer-a-friend terms at the bottom of the page.
What Is Radius Bank?
Radius Bank is an online bank based in Massachusetts. For our purposes, the important account they offer is their Radius Bank Rewards Checking Account. This is a free checking account that allows you to earn 1% cashback on your debit card purchases if you meet certain requirements. Specifically, to qualify for cashback, you have to have $2,500 of direct deposits each month and maintain a minimum balance of $2,500. Personally, I don’t think it’s worth doing this since I prefer using credit cards, but if you’re someone who doesn’t use credit cards, then it might make sense to use Radius Bank as your primary bank to earn cash back on your debit card purchases.
Most important to me is whether a bank charges fees. And Radius Bank shines here. They have no monthly fees and no minimum balance requirement. You do need to open the account with at least $100, but after you do that, you don’t have to maintain that balance. The checking account stays free regardless of how much you have in it.
When it comes to the app, Radius Bank has a good one. It’s intuitive and generally easy to use. It has a nice feature where it keeps track of how much money has gone into the account each month and how much money has left the account. This can give you a nice overview of how much money is coming in and out of your account each month.
In short, I think Radius Bank is a pretty good bank. I don’t use it as my primary checking account, but it’s one that you could use as your primary checking account without any issues.
And when it comes to bank account bonuses, Radius Bank is a good one because it’s low maintenance. With no fees and no minimum balance requirement, this is an easy bank account to open to earn a bank account bonus (and it’s especially good for beginners looking to dip their toe into the bank account bonus world).
Radius Bank Referral Bonus: Step-By-Step Directions
With all that said, here are the step-by-step directions for you to follow to earn your Radius Bank referral bonus:
1. Open Your Radius Bank Rewards Checking Account Using A Referral Link. To earn your Radius Bank referral bonus, first open a Radius Bank Rewards Checking Account using a referral link. Here is my referral link that you can use to earn your Radius Bank referral bonus. You can complete the entire signup process in a few minutes. There’s no hard pull and it doesn’t impact your credit in any way. When you apply using my link, it should automatically include the referral code, but if it doesn’t, make sure to enter the referral code kx682c during the signup process.
When you click the referral link, you won’t see anything mentioning the $50 bonus (at least not in large print). However, at the bottom of the page in the terms and conditions, you’ll see all of the information on the $50 referral bonus. So long as you see this language, the referral link should be valid. I’d recommend saving a screenshot of the page just in case you have any issues.
2. Fund Your Radius Bank Checking Account With At Least $500. When you open your account, you’ll be prompted to fund your account with at least $100. Since you’re opening this account to get the bonus, I recommend simply funding it with at least $500 right off the bat.
Here’s another pro-tip for you. Radius Bank allows you to fund your bank account with up to $1,000 via a credit card. They accept either Visa or Mastercard. This makes Radius Bank a great option to help you meet minimum spend requirements if you’re earning credit card signup bonuses. You’ll essentially get $1,000 of free spend that you can use to hit any minimum spend requirements that you have.
For example, I funded my Radius Bank Checking Account using my Barclays JetBlue Business Card, which was a card I was looking to hit the minimum spend requirement on at the time I opened my Radius Bank Checking Account. To do this, I funded my Radius Bank Checking Account with $1,000. I then used the $1,000 from my Radius Bank Account to pay off the $1,000 balance on my credit card. As you can see, my money essentially moved around in a circle, moving from my credit card to Radius Bank and then back to my credit card.
3. Leave $500 In Your Account For 60 Days. Once you’ve funded your Radius Bank Checking Account, your next step is to leave $500 in your account for 60 days. The terms say the following: “Your referred friend(s) must have an open, active account in good standing with at least $500.00 in deposit balance on the 60th day after opening the account.”
By its terms, it would seem that you could, in theory, leave the account empty and then just move $500 into the account before the 60th day that your account is open. Personally, I recommend playing it safe and just leaving the $500 in there for the full 60 days.
4. Your Radius Bank Referral Bonus Will Post Within 30 Days After Meeting The Above Requirements. After you’ve met the above requirements, Radius Bank states that “[t]he $50.00 reward will be deposited into both you and your friend’s Radius account within 30 days of completion of the requirements.” Thus, you should expect to receive your $50 bonus within 30 days after meeting the requirements.
By its terms, you shouldn’t need to maintain a $500 balance after the 60 days have passed, so if you want, you could withdraw the $500 you’ve had in there. I personally would probably just leave it in to be safe, but I prefer being as cautious as possible when doing these bonuses just to avoid any potential hiccups along the way.
Make More Money With Radius Bank Referrals
One of the smartest strategies you can use with a bank account like this is to refer your friends and family to get more signup bonuses. Radius Bank allows you to earn up to $600 in referral bonuses per calendar year. That makes this a great option to earn more money by referring your spouse or partner, or by referring close friends and family. You can simply walk them through the steps I’ve laid out in this post.
If you do this with members of your own household, you can dramatically increase your earnings without much work. For example, if you sign up first, you’ll earn $50. You then refer your spouse or partner and have them follow the same steps. You’ll earn $50 for referring them and they’ll earn $50 for using your referral. All told, that’s $150 of referrals you’ll get simply by opening your first account with a referral, then referring your spouse.
To find your referral link, open your Radius Bank app. Once you’re on the main screen, scroll down until you see the section to refer a friend. It’ll look like the screenshot below. You’ll be able to get your link there and send people your referral.
One thing to note is that the terms state that you have to have your account open for 30 days to qualify to refer people. I have no idea if they actually enforce this rule or not. You can see your referral link as soon as you open your Radius Bank Checking Account, but I’d probably recommend waiting 30 days before you start referring your friends and family, just in case.
Final Thoughts
Radius Bank is one of the easier banks out there to earn a signup bonus and a perfect one for beginners looking to start earning signup bonuses. That’s because it has no fees, no minimum balance requirement, and doesn’t require a direct deposit to earn the bonus. There are definitely more lucrative bonuses out there, but they can be intimidating if you’re just starting out in the world of bank account bonuses.
Overall, if you’re in a position where you can leave $500 in a bank account for 60 days, then Radius Bank is a great option. A 10% return on your money in just two or three months is excellent and there aren’t many ways to get such a good return on your cash without any risk. And if you can refer people to Radius Bank, you’ll earn even more.
I’ve written what I call the Ultimate Guide To Bank Account Bonuses, which you should check out if you are interested in bank account bonuses. That post goes into a lot of detail about how bank account bonuses work and how you can take advantage of them. When you’re ready to get into the more advanced bank bonuses, definitely check out that post.
I hope you find this guide helpful. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below!
Kevin says
Hello Kevin, Thank you for your detailed instructions and I enjoy reading your other posts too. FYI: Credit card funding is no longer possible. I tried and it didn’t go through. And here’s their words “Fund with a debit card, an existing bank account, or a prepaid card.
Financial Panther says
Thanks for the update.
Anonymous says
I followed through anyway even though I couldn’t fund with a credit card (which was my original incentive, to meet credit card spending requirement) because $50 bonus for $500 deposit is pretty good return still. So I funded with a bank account. Then I found out after clicking on “Refer a friend” link in the email sent to me after account opening that “As of 9/30/2021, this program is no longer available.”
https://bank.lendingclub.com/personal/refer-a-friend/?utm_source=lendingclubbank&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rewards&utm_term=mantl&utm_content=newaccountopen
Please know that I am by no mean trying to discredit your wonderful posts and your so informative and good reading website. I just want to share the current update so other people know.
Best wishes
Matt says
Hi Kevin,
I clicked on your link but the bank is “LendingClub” and it doesn’t say anything about a $50 bonus. Is this the same bank that you were talking about?
Financial Panther says
Hey Matt,
Radius Bank recently rebranded to LendingClub Bank. The interface and app still looks the same, just a new name and new logo.
It looks like the referral is still active. When you click the referral link, check the terms and conditions at the bottom of the page. You’ll see the referral terms there.
I’ve updated the post to reflect this new info. Thanks for pointing it out.
gz says
would any visa/mastercard branded card work?
Anonymous says
I got denied from the bank. I typed everything right but they said they couldn’t verify and don’t reconsider. Never had this issue before.
Financial Panther says
Sorry about that. No clue why that happened.
Adam@RealWorldPersonalFinance says
At an advanced stage of bank bonus churning, you always come through with the new bonuses you can’t find on other sites. On year 3 myself of bank bonus churning.
Financial Panther says
Glad I could help!
David @ Filled With Money says
A 10% return in 60 days doesn’t sound like a bad investment…
Financial Panther says
Yep. Not a bad way to put $500 to work for a few months.
billy says
Cool, can we close the account without them taking back bonus after receiving the $50, or de we have to keep open for 12 months?