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Hi, I'm Kevin and I'm an attorney, sharing economy expert, and the blogger behind Financial Panther. I paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer. I started this blog to share all I know about personal finance, travel hacking, and making more money by side hustling. Click here to learn more about me.
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SoFi Money $50 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Guide

SoFi Money is a free online bank that offers a $50 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account using a referral link. You can earn the $50 referral bonus by doing the following:

    1. Open a free SoFi Money account using a referral link (here’s my SoFi Money referral link). 
    2. Fund your SoFi Money account with $500 or more. 
  1. After you fund your account with $500 or more, the $50 bonus should post in your SoFi Money account right away or within a few days at most.

When it comes to bank account bonuses, SoFi Money is currently one of the easiest bank account bonuses to earn out there. This makes SoFi Money an especially good bank account bonus for beginners looking to get into the world of earning bank account bonuses. Specifically, the following reasons are why SoFi Money is a bank account worth opening in order to earn the referral bonus:

  • No Fees. SoFi Money has no minimum balance requirement, no monthly fees, and no maintenance fees of any kind. Since there are no fees to worry about, this makes SoFi Money an easy bank account to manage. 
  • The Bonus Terms Are Easy To Meet. At the moment, SoFi Money has really easy terms you have to meet in order to earn your referral bonus. All you have to do to earn the $50 referral bonus is open a SoFi Money account using a referral link, then fund your account with $500 or more. There’s no requirement to leave the money in the account, so if you want, you can simply fund your account, earn the bonus, then take the money out. And since SoFi Money has no maintenance fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about, you can keep the account open without having to do anything to keep it fee-free.
  • The Bonus Posts Quickly. Most banks have a waiting period before your bonus posts – some longer than others. The SoFi Money bonus, on the other hand, posts immediately after you fund your account (or within a few days at most).
  • You Can Refer People With Your Own SoFi Money Referral Link. When you open a SoFi Money account, you also get your own referral link that you can then use to refer friends and family to SoFi Money. You’ll earn $50 for every person you refer to SoFi Money and the person you refer will also earn $50 once they open a SoFi Money account with your link and meet the bonus requirements. If you have people that you can refer to SoFi Money, you can dramatically increase your bonus earnings via referrals.

With all that said, In this post, I’ll walk you through the step-by-step directions you need to follow so that you can earn your $50 SoFi Money referral bonus. I’ll also give you some additional strategies you can use to earn even more from opening a SoFi Money account.

But before we get started, a little background about what SoFi Money is and how it works would be helpful.

What Is SoFi Money? 

SoFi Money is an online-only bank account that you can access via the SoFi app or the SoFi website. The account has no monthly fees, no minimum balance requirement, and also provides free ATM transactions at over 55,000 ATMs worldwide. Since SoFi Money has no fees, this makes it a good bank account to use beyond just getting the referral bonus. And of course, all of your funds are FDIC insured.

Beyond being a good bank account, one of the little known benefits of a SoFi Money account is that it makes you a SoFi member. This gives you access to all of the benefits that SoFi provides its members. And one of the best benefits has to be SoFi experiences.

In normal times, SoFi hosts free events for its members throughout the country. Tickets for these events are typically given out on a first-come, first-serve basis and you can sign up for these events via the SoFi app. I’ve gone to fancy dinners, attended fun parties, and have been to multiple sports events where I got to watch games in a suite with other SoFi members – and these events were all completely free because I’m a SoFi member.  

For example, I’ve done the following: 

  • Attended multiple dinners at fancy restaurants in my city (each dinner would easily cost $100 per person)
  • Went to a debt payoff party in New York City which was held in a great venue and included a catered dinner, free drinks, and an ice cream food truck
  • Went to the Big Ten Championship twice in Indianapolis to watch my alma mater, the Wisconsin Badgers. The tickets included access to the game in the SoFi suite and free food and drinks in the VIP pre-game area. 
  • VIP tickets to watch the X-Games, along with free food and drinks in the VIP lounge.
  • Tickets to see West Side Story, along with free drinks and food before the play. 
sofi money referral bonus
View from the field-level suite at the Big Ten Championship. Tickets were free thanks to SoFi.

I’ve written about my experience at these events in previous posts on the blog, which you can check out below: 

  • A Weekend In New York City, Compliments of Hyatt and SoFi
  • How I’ve Received Thousands Of Dollars Worth Of Free Stuff From Refinancing My Student Loans With SoFi 
  • Combining SoFi Experiences And Travel Hacking For Free Flights And Free Events

Of course, things are very different right now given the state of the world and it’s unknown what the future of these in-person events will be like. At the moment, SoFi has shifted to online SoFi events, which are nice, but of course, don’t come with the benefit of going to cool events and getting free food and drinks.

Long story short, even without a referral bonus, I’d recommend signing up for SoFi Money simply to gain access to these free SoFi experiences.

SoFi Money $50 Referral Bonus: Step-By-Step Directions

The thing you want to know is how to earn the SoFi Money $50 referral bonus for new SoFi Money account holders. These steps should only take you a few minutes to complete, so if you follow the steps, you’ll earn the $50 SoFi Money referral bonus with just a few minutes of work.

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

1. Open Your SoFi Money Account Using A Referral Link. First, open a SoFi Money account using a referral link. Here’s my referral link to open your SoFi Money account. You can open your SoFi Money entirely online via the SoFi app or through the SoFi website. It should only take you a few minutes to open your account. 

2. Fund Your SoFi Money Account With $500 Or More Within 14 Days Of Account Opening.  After you open your account, fund your account with $500 or more. This doesn’t have to be a direct deposit. You just put $500 or more into your SoFi Money account and that will meet this requirement.

3. Once The Requirements Are Met, The Bonus Should Post Immediately Or Within A Few Day At Most. Once you fund your account with $500 or more, the bonus should post immediately or within a few days at most. Back when I did this bonus, it posted immediately once I met the requirements.

After you earn your bonus, you can decide what you want to do with your SoFi Money account. It’s a totally free account with useful benefits, so I recommend keeping it, especially since it won’t cost you anything to keep it open.

Also, you’ll want to keep your SoFi Money account because of the possibility of referring your friends and family, which you can do when you have a SoFi Money account. More on that in the next section.

Refer Your Friends And Earn More SoFi Money Referral Bonuses 

One key benefit of having a SoFi Money account is that it allows you to refer other people to SoFi Money as well. You’ll earn $50 for every person you refer to SoFi Money and they’ll earn $50 once they meet the bonus terms. 

To refer someone, simply open your SoFi app and go to your SoFi Money account. From there, you’ll see an option to invite friends to SoFi Money. 

sofi money referral bonus

On the next page, you’ll get an option to share your referral link. Share your referral link with anyone who you think might benefit from this account and signup bonus.

sofi money referral bonus

The big thing you can do is to refer your spouse or partner to SoFi Money. If you do this, they’ll get $50 for using your referral link and you’ll get $50 for referring them. So, if you have a two-person household, you’ll earn $150 for just a few minutes of work. ($50 for opening your account, then $50 for referring your spouse, and $50 for your spouse for using your referral link). This makes SoFi Money a very easy $150 in net profit for a two-person household. 

Special Terms 

Note that SoFi also has a student loan refinancing product and an investing account. You can earn bonuses with these accounts as well, and even if you have a SoFi student loan or a SoFi Invest account, you are still eligible to earn the SoFi Money referral bonus as well.

In other words, as long as you’ve never had a SoFi Money account, you are eligible for the bonus.

Final Thoughts 

SoFi Money is an easy bank account bonus that is worth doing, especially if you are a beginner and new to the world of bank account bonuses. Because SoFi Money is completely free and has no minimum balance requirement, it’s an easy account to open and manage. I typically recommend everyone keep their SoFi Money account open forever so they can refer people and gain access to free SoFi experiences. 

Earning this bonus is really fast and easy, so you should be able to earn your $50 SoFi Money referral bonus with just a little bit of work. You can open your SoFi Money account and earn your referral bonus by using my SoFi Money referral link.

If you have two people, you can have one person refer the other, allowing you to make $150 altogether with just a few minutes of work.

If you’re interested in learning more advanced strategies about bank account bonuses, be sure to check out my post, The Ultimate Guide To Bank Account Bonuses. That is a massive post that goes into a lot of detail about how bank account bonuses work and how you can take advantage of them. Hit me up if you have any questions!

financial panther

Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the sharing economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.

Kevin is passionate about earning money using the sharing economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.

Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:

  • Personal Capital. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps Kevin uses to track his financial accounts.
  • SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $50 welcome bonus if you open an account and fund it with at least $500.
  • M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $10 for opening an account.
  • Dobot. This is a great microsaving app that monitors the cash flow in your bank account and saves away small amounts for you each week. It's free and you'll get $5 when you use it.

Feel free to send Kevin a message here.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Joseph says

    December 11, 2020 at 7:21 pm

    This SoFI offer doesn’t look valid based on the reviews in Consumer Affairs.
    I will not open a SoFi account.

    Did you actually receive the $75 bonus from Chime using Discover Bank ACH Kevin or is this a side hustle to scam your readers?

    Based on your information, I did open a Chime account. You, Financial Panther, stated I would receive the $75 bonus using the ACH from Discover Bank, which I initiated today. Next week I will transfer in the $200. However, it states on their website:

    >>>In order for both the referred individual and the referring Chime member to each qualify for and receive the $75.00 referral reward, the following conditions must be met: the referred individual may not have previously opened a Chime Spending Account (“Account”); they must open a new Account between December 7, 2020 and January 7, 2021; they must open the new account using the referring Chime member’s unique referral link; and they must receive in the new Account a qualifying direct deposit of $200.00 or more within 45 days of opening. The qualifying direct deposit must be made by the referred individual’s employer, payroll provider, or benefits payer by Automated Clearing House (ACH) deposit. Bank ACH transfers, Pay Friends transfers, verification or trial deposits from financial institutions, peer to peer transfers from services such as PayPal, Cash App, or Venmo, mobile check deposits, and cash loads or deposits are not qualifying direct deposits.<<<

    https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/online-banks/sofi-money.html

    You also provided your email address to contact you with questions. I did contact you last week regarding US Bank's Bonus. I have yet to receive an email from you. Don't bother to respond. I took advantage of that offer. However, I hope you will publicly respond to my query on Chime so I do not waste time or money.

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      December 11, 2020 at 7:35 pm

      Hey Joe. I’m not sure why you have so much animosity against me. I provide you free information, which you are of course welcome to use or ignore. I’m not sure why you would call me a scammer. How exactly would I scam you? I don’t receive anything unless you get something too and nothing I write about costs you any money. Heck, I don’t even charge any money for anything on this site – it’s all totally free.

      Regarding SoFi Money, I’ve had no issue with SoFi Money ever in the 3 years I’ve had it. As with any bank, you’re gonna see tons of complaints. But if you’re opening just for the bonus, you’re not even going to be using the account for anything but to get the bonus. But again, it’s totally up to you.

      Regarding Chime, while the terms say that it needs to be an employer direct deposit, in practice, any ACH transfer will trigger the direct deposit requirement. This has been true for several years and remains true as of when I write this. The systems these banks use are all automated, so they can’t always tell what’s a “real” direct deposit. Check my Ultimate Guide to bank Account bonuses for more info about how these direct deposit requirements work. It’s a key component of bank bonuses that you have to understand.

      Regarding your email, I do apologize if I missed it. I get hundreds of emails per week and since this is a one-man operation, I sometimes let emails slip through the cracks. I’ll go through my emails again and see if I can find it.

      Reply
  2. Joe says

    December 11, 2020 at 8:10 pm

    Yes Kevin, you are doing an excellent job providing us with free financial information. I Thank You for all you do helping us average Joe’s make a few bucks.

    The US Bank promotional offer, ends on 12/14, is an easy $400 with 2 direct deposits. I had to first open a brokerage account online with US Bancorp, their brokerage arm. Then 2 days later, Dec 9th, since I established a relationship with US Bank, while living in a state without any US Bank’s in it, I was approved for their checking account. The 2 direct deposits have to be deposited within 60 days. I set up direct deposits so I can score the $400 US Bank bonus.

    Later this December, I will open Capital One 360 Checking account for their bonus for another $400 bonus.

    Reply
  3. David says

    January 13, 2021 at 10:47 am

    Kevin, I just used your link and the bonus posted. Thanks for writing these post! I have gotten the DCU and SCU account for me and my spouse and ordered the first netspend account. After getting those I am going to work more on the bank account bonuses. Any idea on if and when you become bonus eligible again for a sofi account if you keep and close the account? I am working on filling out the bank account bonus template.

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Financial Panther says

      January 13, 2021 at 12:53 pm

      Glad it worked out for you!

      SoFi only lets you earn the bonus once. However, over the last two years, they’ve had bonuses for current users. Last year (and it still might actually be active now), they offered a bonus of $75 to current users after a direct deposit, so my wife and I each earned a $75 bonus in 2020. Keep an eye out for if they do that type of deal again.

      Reply

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