Update December 2025: SoFi announced some changes to their available features and what is only available with their SoFi Plus “Premium” membership program. I feel that they are trying to build something like “Robinhood Gold”, but hopefully better promos are coming because I don’t feel the perks are worth the cost right now. First, there are now three different ways to earn their higher APY tier (any single ONE of these is enough):
- Eligible Direct Deposit of any amount (even $1). Many people can split their paycheck multiple ways.
- $5,000+ in combined balances across SoFi Checking and Savings accounts
- SoFi Plus members that pay $10/month fee.
You can see this on their rate sheet (as of 11/12/25):
Second, SoFi Plus is now paid-only at $10/month. You no longer get it for free with a direct deposit, although they are extending complimentary access to all SoFi Plus benefits through March 30, 2026 with eligible deposits. You can see a list of SoFi Plus benefits here.
For the most part, the SoFi Plus benefits are the same as before. A notable new addition is the SoFi Smart Card which is a charge card linked to your SoFI Bank accounts that offers unlimited 5% cash back at grocery stores.
Otherwise, I would say the most valuable SoFi Plus perks that existing Direct Deposit folks lost with this change are:
- 10% rewards boost on the SoFi Unlimited 2% Credit Card, which turns the 2% cash back into 2.2% cash back.
- 2% match on recurring IRA contributions, plus a 1% match on recurring deposits made through SoFi Invest taxable brokerage accounts.
- Possibly the ability to “schedule an unlimited number of appointments with a financial planner”, although I’m not sure of the quality of this advice. There is no indication you’re guaranteed at least a CFP. I’ve never used this feature, but it might be nice if you wanted to get some general advice.
Update April 2024: SoFi made a few notable changes recently, both positive and negative:
- The SoFi Unlimited 2% Credit Card added 10% boost on their rewards with direct deposit into SoFi Checking or Savings. This would work out to 2.2% cash back rewards points on everyday purchases. (As of December 2025, this is now restricted to SoFi Plus members paying $10 a month.)
- There is a new inactivity fee of $25 per account for every 6 months of login inactivity.
- The outgoing ACAT transfer fee was increased to $100. Previously $75.
Original post:
SoFi (“Social Finance”) is an all-in-one finance app that expanded from students loans into banking, stocks, crypto, credit cards, and more. Here are their current promotional offers; New users can receive a separate opening bonus for each separate part of SoFi (Money, Invest, Loans, etc).
- SoFi Checking Referral Offer: Up to $325 new user bonus. Open a new SoFi Money account and add at least $10 to your account within 5 days, and get $25. Then get up to $300 additional bonus with qualifying direct deposit. Plus up to 4.30% APY.
- SoFi Credit Score Tracking Offer: $10 in rewards bonus points. You’ll earn $10 in rewards points when you activate free credit score monitoring
- SoFi Invest Referral Offer: $25 new user bonus. Taxable brokerage account. Open an Active Investing account with $10 or more, and you’ll get $25 in stock.
- SoFi 401(k) Rollover Offer: Up to $10,000 Bonus. Get a 1% match when you roll over your 401(k) into a SoFi IRA. Partnered with Capitalize to make the transition easier.
- SoFi Student Loan Refi: $300 bonus. Warning: Do your research before refinancing your Federal student loans to a private lender.
- SoFi Doctors and Dentists Student Loan Refi: $1,000 bonus. Special low rates just for doctors and dentists.
- SoFi Private Student Loan: $300 bonus.
- SoFi Personal Loans Referral Offer: Fixed $300 bonus. Fixed $300 bonus, 90 days after successful funding. The loan has no fees and you can pay it back in full after 90 days (you can pay it down to $50 before then to accrue minimal interest, thus making a new profit after the bonus).
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I used your referrals.
Thanks!
The fine print says:
” Only one referral reward and one welcome bonus per new customer: you will not receive multiple referral bonuses for the same friend taking out multiple loans or products, nor will your friend receive multiple welcome bonuses for taking out multiple loans or products.”
Sounds like that may not be correct if you received both Jonathan? I guess best to do the Cash account first just in case since that’s the larger bonus
You may be correct, I read that as you won’t 5 bonuses if the same friend opens say 5 SoFi Money accounts (and neither will the friend). I read it as if they opened one of each it would be okay, but it is possible that they interpret it differently.
I’ve used Sofi account for about 6 months so far and a fan so far. I found it gave me the best exchange rates (slightly) at overseas ATMs in my limited experimenting. It is now my goto for access cash while traveling.
That’s an impressive deal. I’ve looked through the SoFi web site. What’s the catch?
No catch, the customer acquisition cost for a banking or brokerage product is often in the $100 to $300 range. SoFi is choosing to give it to people directly, as opposed to TV ads or a billboard. There are competitors with similar high interest rates and free trades now, so they have to try harder to get you to try them instead of someone else.
Do we need to provide SSN to open accounts?
Yes, same as with all bank and brokerage accounts.
Happy to use your referrals. Thanks for all the great advice over the years! 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Hi Jonathan,
I used your link and appropriated the info. Have been following your website side for a while and keep the good work!
Thanks
Thanks for the using my link, and thanks for reading! Look for your bonus to show up by tomorrow.
Thanks! used both of your referral links.
Thanks!
Seems like I only got 1 bonus for opening both accounts. Funny I opened the Invest account first, but they are giving the bonus for the Money account.
I haven’t gotten the SoFi Invest bonus yet either. Perhaps it just works on a different time schedule.
I have a question. Is this investment for Banks or Stock Market?
Jonathan, I used your link and opened a Money account. I have not funded it yet. When I go to Membership dashboard and click Refer a friend, I only see my personal referral link for SoFi personal load or student loan. What am I doing wrong?
Perhaps you can’t refer others until you fund your account?
I contacted customer support and found out that the referral links for Money and Invest are only visible inside the Android/iOS apps for SoFi. Problem solved.
Thanks, I had to find them in the app as well, but I figured I just didn’t look hard enough on the browser version. Strange design choice.
is this a soft or hard pull?
Soft for both SoFi Money and Invest for me.
thanks… opened using your link.
Thanks, I appreciate it!
Has anyone received their bonus money? My deposit has come through and shows in my “money” but my bonus amounts show up as transactions, but aren’t present in my “money”.
They started putting a hold on it for a week or so, so you can’t withdraw it until they make sure your referral is legit.
SoFi Invest bonus ended yesterday (Oct 31)
Has anyone tried the SoFi Money account today? Do the bonus and referrals still work?
As of 11/1, the SoFi Invest link works but still shows the 10/31 expiration date.
The SoFi Money $50 bonus for $100 deposit is still live and working. There is no expiration date given.
Thanks! I used your referral link. It says my $100 funding transfer will be available on 11/7. No message or email mentioning the $50 bonus coming. Hopefully I’ll see it this week.
Is this a pull ACH transfer when they use your logon credentials to transfer the money from the funding bank? There would be no fee for that. I’m wondering if I’ll get a transfer fee from the funding bank for this method.
Shouldn’t be a fee, as SoFi is initiating the pull and they would be the one to charge any fee (and they don’t).
Thanks. Used your referral link and got my welcome bonus and the bonus for referring the wife already.
Note for others that the app and website can be a bit wonky on older phones. I couldn’t download the app on my old phone (Samsung S5) and when I used the web browser, I could log in, but it kept throwing up error messages when trying to navigate through the site. My workaround was to just download and log in using the app on my wife’s phone. No problem using website on my laptop, but as others mentioned, you do need to use the app to send the referral.
Used your links! Been a long time reader (2007 i think?). Enjoy the $150!
Thanks for reading, and sorry for all the typos over the years! 😉
Looks like they reduced the SoFi Money referral bonus down from $100 to $50.
Thanks for the heads up. They also removed the 10/31 expiration date for the SoFi Invest bonus and kept it at $50, so at least that’s clarified as well.
My deposit finally showed up in My “Money” today but still no sign of the referral bonus. Does that usually come later? I used your referral link on 11/1.
Great experience with Sofi support. I didn’t receive my referral bonus so I contacted support through email. They responded quickly and let me know the information that they needed to submit the referral manually. I provided that information and the bonus was deposited on the next business day. Now that is service!
Have you received your investment bonus? It said that it would be deposited within 10 days. I still don’t see mine. Thanks!
Sorry to hear that. It’s kind of hard to tell for me because they don’t tell me what the referral bonus is from, someone else, or from me opening the account. And if someone else I don’t know for who it is. I haven’t gotten my free stock either though, I just thought they might have just given me the cash instead. I would contact SoFi and ask for help if needed. If you need something from me, please email at jonathan at this domain or use my contact form.
Signed up using your link, for both the Money and the Invest accounts on Oct 29. The Money bonus showed up right away, but I never got the Invest bonus (should show up within 10 days). I contacted them via chat today, and they said they needed verification from you to add the bonus (i.e. they asked that I have you contact them to verify my referral). Just a heads up for others that may be missing the Invest bonus. Same thing happened when I subsequently referred my wife, so I’m guessing you’re missing the bonus from my sign up also.
Sorry to hear that. I don’t see any of your personal details (name, email, etc) when you use the referral link, so if you something on my end like that, please send me your first/last name and the e-mail address you used with SoFi and what you would like me to do to my email at jonathan at this domain or use my contact form. Please don’t leave personal details in a comment. Thanks!
Thank you! I just chatted an agent at So Fi and they said the investment bonus would be credited in 7-10 business days. Hoping you get the bonus. Thank you again for all your help through the years. Hope you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving!
The SoFi invest bonus does pay out, but it seems much slower
As of now, the SoFi money bonus seems to be down to $25
Based on my personal experience with SoFi, don’t trust them to pay the bonus they advertise. I signed up and was really liking the interface and what they had to offer, until they wouldn’t pay the bonus I signed up under. I can’t give them my money if I can’t trust them. My recommendation is that you explore some of the other options out there–there are a lot of other online banking and investing options available now. SoFi was not a good experience.
***Have come across numerous other people who haven’t gotten the bonus either–beware!!!
Is this just updated content? I got an email about it yesterday, but the comments seem to be quite old. Also, can you refer your children? Happy to use your referral link. Thanks!
Yes, this is updated content (with old comments, sorry).
Here is my referral link. It definitely works!
https://www.sofi.com/share/invest/2857597
how could i direct deposit if i don’t have a job? is there any other way to meet that criteria? Regards PK
Jonathan, the money links have expired. Any chance you can share a refreshed link?
Thanks for the heads up. It appears that SoFi has expired the old links because they changed up the terms. The bonus is now $25 if you fund with $500. Lower bonus but easier qualifications. This $50 Chime bonus looks to be possibly better now:
https://motion-structure.live/chime-banking-review-referral-bonus.html%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Do you know their definition of what a direct deposit is? I am currently not working so have no income coming in but can set up a monthly direct deposit from another bank. Would that count?
Just opened account using your referral. Routing # shows THE BANCORP BANK.
Is it right?
Yes, 031101334.
I didn’t get an email. Does that mean if I go to that link (https://www.sofi.com/banking/balance-offer) and use the “Add money” button to transfer funds, I won’t get the rewards? There is this fine print down at the bottom — “This offer is limited to one per account. You must receive this offer directly from SoFi to be eligible — so I’m guessing I’m out of luck.
I recommend doing a live chat with SoFi or otherwise contacting them to see if you are eligible. Worst thing they can say is no.
They said No
Good to know, thanks for the update. May I ask if you already had direct deposit set up with SoFi?
I didn’t receive an e-mail for the SoFi bonus, but it’s appearing within the app on the ‘Banking’ tab as of today. So maybe it’s available to all customers now?
Thanks for the tip, I see it in my banking section of the app as well (but I also got the email). Worth a look.
Jonathan, thanks for the info on this promotion. I have been using SoFi for a while now and had a good chunk in the checking and savings. But once I realized they don’t allow beneficiaries for the accounts, I transferred out. Without beneficiaries on those accounts, they go through probate if I happen to die. Just an fyi in case you were not aware. I use ally bank now since they have the same rate. Have a good one.
To Qualify for the Deposits, Does the deposit have to be initiated from external bank?
Willthe external transfer initiated withinb SoFi counts as deposits?
Those definitely apply as well, just not the only way. You can use SoFi’s transfer system or initiate from your own external bank.
So would this beat buying US treasuries even if you account for the zero state tax on the treasuries?
Is the bonus calculated based on the newly transferred money to an existing account or is the bonus calculated based on existing money+the new money transferred?
Is anyone using the overdraft feature that automatically pulls from savings into checking? SoFi claims this is completely free, but I’ve never used this feature elsewhere as I’ve always been uncomfortable with it. Having all my money earn 3% instead of 2.5% would be nice, though.
(fwiw I learned today they offer free paper checks!)
Thanks!
Warning: the credit card points are reported as capital gains income. So they’re with far less when compared to other credit card points. Went back to my Citi double for 2% back on everything after finding this out the hard way.
Someone else discovered this as well: https://www.reddit.com/r/sofi/comments/12fbw3m/are_rewards_taxable/
I don’t know the full details of this, but after reading that thread it doesn’t seem like that person really knew where all his numbers came from. There is not full accounting of how the numbers match up.
According to SoFi themselves, rewards points earned through spending are not taxable. Points not earned via spending are taxable. SoFi has given a bunch of random bonuses recently, for referrals, recurring brokerage contributions, activating a debit card, and so on. This matches the standard industry practice. I don’t know what happened in the past, and I don’t know what they actually reported on 1099s. I don’t have the credit card myself.
https://support.sofi.com/hc/en-us/articles/360050905612-Are-reward-points-taxable
Ha, that was me, and I actually did figure it out. It was the points that were *EARNED*, not just redeemed.
Ha, that makes sense, the points themselves have a “fair market value” of 1 cent each. But are you certain they 1099’ed you for points earned via spending on the credit card? I have not seen any other reports of this. It can definitely see it getting messy due to the 86 different ways you can earn a SoFi point.
Yep, the bulk of the points I earned were coming from the card.
I did not get taxed SoFi credit card reward points in 2023. No surprises in my 1099-INT nor 1099-DIV.
That Claw game is awful odds. You have an 85% chance of getting only $5 and have only a 1.69% chance of getting over $25. Your expected payout is $8. The sure $25 is a much better bet.
Value Odds
$1,000.00 0.028%
$100.00 1.662%
$25.00 3.324%
$10.00 9.498%
$5.00 85.488%
If they sold 3,673 raffle tickets with those odds at $25 each, they’d collect $91,825 and pay out only $29,340.
Agreed.
I have used the “appointment with a financial planner”. I did get a CFP, but I was not impressed with her knowledge. Additionally, she refused to answer several questiosn saying that they had tax consequences and that she could not provide me tax advise.
That’s good to know – $10/month not as worth it as I thought it’d be.
Was waiting on your thoughts for this, and it clarified that you don’t need any extra hoops to keep the 3.6% (SoFi is my main banking so direct deposits meet the requirement). I thought I had to pay an additional $10/month to keep that APY and calculations showed me that in order to offset that monthly, you’d have to keep over $100k, that is, if you don’t meet any of the three minimum requirements to keep it.
Thanks for the thorough article!