This post may contain affiliate links; as always, thanks for your support if you choose to use any!
SoFi Money is an excellent cash management account for travelers. With no monthly fees, varying interest rate on your funds (currently 1.6% APY), and refunded ATM fees worldwide (as long as the terminal bears the Visa®, Plus®, or NYCE® logo, which is most), it is all upside and no downside when it comes to using SoFi for international travel. I’ve been happy with my credit union checking account and debit card, which doesn’t charge excessive fees, but SoFi Money easily bests them.
I applied for a SoFi Money account a couple weeks ago to make a quick $50 with their new account offer. However, they are now offering an additional $100 if you set up direct deposit to your account. This is targeted at existing customers, too, so don’t feel left out if you already applied. If you haven’t opened a SoFi account, I suggest you do that first and then you should be targeted for the direct deposit offer by email.
SoFi Money Direct Deposit Offer
SoFi is offering $100 for setting up direct deposit to your SoFi Money account and making two direct deposits of $500 or more. Anyone with direct deposit from an employer should be able to earn the bonus easily. You do need to be targeted by email, based on the terms, but hopefully that will happen shortly after you sign up.
Here are the details of the SoFi direct deposit offer:
- Only SoFi Money members without any history of direct deposit transactions as of 11/07/2019 are eligible.
- To receive the bonus offer, a payroll direct deposit of at least $500 must be made by the SoFi Money member’s employer, or payroll provider by ACH deposit before 12/31. A second deposit from the same employer must then be made to the member’s SoFi Money account within 31 days of the initial direct deposit.
- Direct 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 bank ACH transfers not from employers) do not qualify for this promotion.
- Within two weeks of the second direct deposit clearing, qualifying participants will receive a $100 deposit into their SoFi Money account. This offer is limited to one per person and is limited to recipients of this email.
SoFi tends to post their referral and sign-up offers quickly, so I would expect the money to hit your account within a couple days after your second direct deposit and not after two weeks. But maybe they are changing things.
Here are the quick details of the $50 new account bonus offer:
- Free to sign up, no minimum balance, and no account fees
- Deposit $100 to earn a $50 sign up bonus
- Primary perks:
- ATM fees instantly refunded worldwide at ATMs bearing the Visa®, Plus®, or NYCE® logo (which is most)
- Easy ACH money transfer between your SoFi account and other bank accounts
- Interest of 1.6% APY on your SoFi Money
- Link to Bonus Offer
I’ve written up a longer rundown on SoFi Money, so check that out if you haven’t already. I will also shortly be putting my SoFi debit card to the test internationally to see how they manage instant refunding of ATM fees.
Conclusion
I don’t know what SoFi’s budget is for new account acquisitions, but it has to be large. I thought it was crazy they were offering $100 per referral (this has been reduced to $50). Now they are offering $100 to everyone who sets up direct deposit, even existing customers! If you haven’t signed up for SoFi, I highly suggest that you do. It’s an excellent product. More to come in a few days on my own test of their instantly-refunded ATM fees.
