That link does require a $,5000 direct deposit Update 8/27/26: There is another link that can be used and this only has no minimum direct deposit requirement. $5,000 required it mentions is for the APY boost.
Update 7/21/26: We haven’t seen the best rates in a few months, but there are a few decent ones now – Rakuten $250, Swagbucks $335, TCB $200
Update 4/13/26: $415 on Swagbucks + $400 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, 2022September 30, 2022January 31, 2023
The Offer
- 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 25 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 3/26/26: SoFi is now offering $400 and Rakuten will be offering $400 starting March 27th.
- Update 3/3/26: Swagbucks back up to $415 for some.
- Update 1/5/26: Swagbucks back up to $415 for some.
- Update 12/8/25: Rakuten $400/40,000 is slated to come soon for December 10th only. I’m also seeing it at $505 on Swagbucks.
- Update 11/28/25: $375/37,500 in Rakuten app and website
- Update 11/24/25: $375/37,500 in Rakuten app
- Update 11/6/25: People are seeing on Swagbucks/Inbox $505. Also $250/25,000 on Rakuten.
- Update 11/2/25: Rakuten app is up to $375/37,500 for some. Also, someone recently mentioned seeing $505 on Swagbucks app and on Inbox Dollars.
- Update 10/13/25: Swagbucks back up to $415 for some.
- Update 9/8/25: Rakuten back at $375/37,500
- Inboxdollars is $415 for some
- Update 9/1/25: $375/37,500 from Rakuten + $300 from SoFi. Not as good as the recent $400 deal but close. (Try stacking with this deal for an additional $75 with SoFi Plus.)
- Update 7/30/25: $400/40,000 from Rakuten + $300 from SoFi. Highest ever. Today only. (Try stacking with this deal for an additional $75 with SoFi Plus.)
- Update 7/23/25: Many people got an email from Rakuten that next week the offer will be $400/40,000. Highest ever.
- Update 7/19/25: $375 in Rakuten app available again (ht ShawntheShawn)
- Update 7/2/25:
$375/37,500 Rakuten now available online or the Rakuten app. This matches the highest offer ever.Update: TCB is now at $350. - Update 6/2/25: $350/35,000 via Rakuten website or $375/37,500 via the Rakuten app. This matches the highest offer ever.
- (Expired) Update 6/12/25: $300/30,000 on Rakuten is back (ht Not Sam)
- (Expired) Update 6/4/25:
The $300/30,000 version is back - Update 5/25/25: [Expired] A lot of people are seeing
$375/37,500on Rakuten. - Older update history, see this comment
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
Yea, if she doesn’t care about the $10 initial SB bonus, she can earn her Swagbucks from the Sofi offer. Your 10% bonus is from whatever she earns for life. The steps for stacking have been detailed numerous times in the comments below. Here’s one example: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sofi-checking-5000-direct-deposit-required/#comment-2385350
Just got my $400 bonus yesterday. DP: 9/12 – Opened account via Swagbucks 9/12 – Awarded 1,200 SB for “Sofi Checking and Savings Bank Account Created” 9/14 – Pulled $5K to Savings from AmEx Savings (did not track as DD) 9/15 – Pushed $5K to Savings from AmEx Savings (did not track as DD) 9/24 – $2.5K real payroll DD (appeared under recent DD activity) 9/24 – Awarded 32,500 SB for “Sofi Checking and Savings Money Direct Deposit” 10/8 – $2.5K real payroll DD (appeared under recent DD activity) 10/8 – $400 Money Promo Bonus added Still have 5 days and 17 days, respectively, left before the two SB rewards are credited. Also, I just noticed that the SB terms state: “To receive the direct deposit award, you must open a new SoFi account and make a qualifying direct deposit of $400 or more as your very first deposit within 45 days.” As you can see, I made other deposits into my account before my actual payroll DD hit on 9/24, so my DD was technically not my “ very first deposit “. Seems like SB doesn’t count non-DDs(?) against me (or because my first deposit was over $400–though SB didn’t activate that offer until after my real DD hit), but I’ll ask my wife not to make any deposits before her first actual DD hits, just in case…
Thanks for the detailed response. Not sure if she’ll spend $25 at a store, but seems like I should be able to get the 10% SB referral bonus as long as she completes the Sofi offer and earns 300 SB (through surveys or whatever?), at least based on the verbiage above. How can she stack a Sofi referral with the Sofi welcome bonus and SB offer? I thought you’d have to sign up for the account through the Swagbucks website to get both the Swagbucks offer and the Sofi welcome bonus, so she wouldn’t be able to follow my referral link, right?
Sounds like a technical error, and you should try again later or on another browser. As an existing customer, I clicked through CashInStyle and logged in to sign up for Sofi Plus. Finalized the payment, and the earnings are showing in CIS.
Sofi keeps one profile on record associated with your email . Log in and try. Search the comments for “email” and you’ll see other reports.
Sofi is a bit tougher for fake DDs but there are a few viable options, with Current being the easiest. Relay biz works for me. Rakuten, et.al. – think of them as affiliates. Sofi pays them, and they pass on some of that to you when you open the account through them. Fast payouts – I feel like the trend has been fast payouts lately. Not surprising with fintechs (Sofi, Chime, Current) but other banks have been jumping on (Wells Fargo, BoA, M&T).
SoFi seems a little confusing based on reading the comments. A push or pull from any other bank doesn’t work, correct? So is the “current” method the only way I’ll be able to do the $5000 deposit. I’ve had the account for years just never used it. Not quite sure I understand the following in the bio > Rakuten $250, Swagbucks $335, TCB $200 is this Me based on opening the SoFi account through those websites? And I saw a few that said they got bonus same day I never seen saw a fast turn around.
I don’t know. I haven’t tried. Had the bizz account for a long time. I come on this website and it appears to be the gold standard for Fake DD. It appears quite easy to get a bizz account. It’s easy to get an LLC, how hard can it be to get a bizz account.
No
Can I use chase checking?? I dont have any biz accts or investment accounts
Hey does push from any bank with that memo count? Even ftom chase checking?
Sorry, I meant DD here as in Direct Deposit. It’s weird because my 5/3 bonus was successful with my last Direct Deposit (bonus $). This is my first time ever having a SOFI account. I checked the progress bar and it only counted a $200 deposit from one of my online selling platforms. The only thing that tracked from Swagbucks was the opening of my account; not the deposits either. I’ll check out Current and go that method. Thank you.
My bonus money from DD’s didn’t work for my SOFI and SB offer… I have about 23 days left. Anyone have ideas for a push? Current I suppose but I’ve never used them before.
on desktop it’s there, click banking, then your checking account, then Settings within that checking account window box, then close on the bottom left…
You should be eligible then. Give it a go. Just make sure that once you start a DD, you have a short window to complete the DD requirements.
How do you close sofi account? It’s not available under settings menu.
This is Sofi
Good Question. I’m not sure. But the CIS bonuses appear way more valuable at the moment. I caught the Rakuten bonuses when they were supercharged in May. They have stayed cooled off since then, I think. If you can’t re-open the SOFI account for AT LEAST 6 months, feel like you don’t NEED to worry about Rakuten any time soon? I would just look at the CIS bonuses when the time comes. But when the time comes……there could be a portal that is more valuable than both.
To clarify, I signed up for SoFi through Rakuten but missed the deadline for the Rakuten part of the bonus. It now just shows in Rakuten as ineligible. Don’t know if that affects the possibility of trying it again from Rakuten.
Missed deadline for Rakuten bonus, but got the SoFi bonus. Can I redo the Rakuten bonus down the line or is that portal burned?
Does anyone know if Kraken is still working? I did my first one with Current but my account got shot down.
Pure luck, I guess. I figured I’d give it a try and it worked. However, P2 was just denied yesterday via chat with previous account cited as the reason.
How did you get the direct deposit bonus from sofi a second time?
Did you find out? I would also like to know please… It’s been four days for me and I don’t want to send the direct deposit until it updates
Use the same email
Thanks.
Last week got a “Existing Member Boost Promo” 4% APY for 6 months by completing a single transaction of $6000 or more. Immediately got activated after the transaction, account opened back in 2023 and not a plus member
In the app > Banking tab > Up Next section > either under Setup or In progress there’s options for Set up eligible direct deposit or You’ve unlocked $XX bonus > in there is a progress bar with money remaining and days remaining.
Are the portal cashback once per life time? Can you do mypoints if you have done swagbucks? Thanks.
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