[Expired] MoneyLion – Up To $599 Checking Bonus (17% Of Your Direct Deposit)

According to this comment the bonus has now officially ended. View more bank account bonuses by clicking here.

[Update 3/24/19: If you opened an account with MoneyLion, keep an eye out in the app for other small bonus offers, like $5 for activating your card and more (images here). Hat tip to reader John Doe]

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: Up to $599
  • Availability: Nationwide
  • Direct deposit required: Yes, bonus scales on your direct deposit
  • Additional requirements: Opt in
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
  • ChexSystems: Unknown
  • Credit card funding: Unknown
  • Monthly fees: None
  • Early account termination fee: Unknown
  • Household limit: None listed
  • Expiration date: None listed, but bonus will end after $3,000,000 has been distributed

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • MoneyLion is offering a bonus of up to $599 as part of their ‘pave the wage’ campaign to highlight pay inequality between genders. To receive the bonus you need to:
    • Join MoneyLion
    • Set up a direct deposit of $500+
    • Opt in to bonus
    • Maintain direct deposit for 90 days to get bonus (this needs to be 90% of your initial direct deposit)
    • Bonus you receive will be 17% of your first direct deposit

The Fine Print

  • This promotion is open to all genders.
  • Matching contributions are limited to $3,000,000 in aggregate.
  • Individual matching contributions are limited to $599 per person.
  • Promotional period ends when maximum matching contributions are reached.
  • Must maintain direct deposit into MoneyLion Checking Account for at least 90 days to receive matching contributions.
  • Eligible matching contributions will be deposited into MoneyLion Investment Account.
  • Must be a MoneyLion member in good standing at all times until payment of matching contributions.
  • See the Official Rules for additional terms, conditions and eligibility requirements.
  • Individuals who opt into the promotion between March 1, 2019, and the time at which the Maximum Commitment is reached (the “Promotional Period”), and who do not already have active preexisting direct deposits into a MoneyLion Checking Account will be eligible for one-time matching contributions of 17% of their initial direct deposits of funds into their MoneyLion Checking Accounts, subject to the Maximum Match. Generally, the matching contributions will be made available 90 days after the initial qualifying direct deposit, and will be deposited into a participant’s MoneyLion Investment Account. Once the Maximum Commitment is reached, MoneyLion will have no obligation to make matching contributions for any direct deposit made, regardless of individual applicant eligibility or time of opt-in for the promotion.
  • MoneyLion may provide matching contributions to the first 100 eligible direct deposits within 10 business days of confirmation that eligible funds have been appropriately directly deposited. For all other participants, MoneyLion will provide matching contributions after the participant has maintained MoneyLion Checking Account direct deposits of at least 90% of the value of their initial direct deposits for 90 days after their initial direct deposit. MoneyLion reserves the right to provide matching contributions at earlier times to select participants in its sole discretion.
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

This account has no monthly fees to worry about if you opt for the basic version. If you go for the Plus membership there is a $29 monthly fee, but you get $1 every day you log into the app.

Early Account Termination Fee

I wasn’t able to find a full fee schedule so I’m unsure if there is any early account termination fee or not.

Our Verdict

I’m not interested in hosting a debate on gender inequality when it comes to wages, readers have previously proved that they are unable to stay calm and reasonable while having these types of discussions. Because of that any comment not regarding the deal itself will simply be removed. Please be kind to each other and remember this promotion is open to all genders. 

In terms of the deal itself this is obviously a good one with a $599 maximum. My main concern is that the total payout is limited to $3,000,000 and it’s not clear when they will pull the promotion, especially considering there is a 90 day lead time for the bonus to actually post. If you’re going to do this deal my suggestion would be to do it as soon as humanly possible and to set up the direct deposit as soon as possible as well. If everything goes well and it’s a soft pull to open then this could be a great bonus, but I suspect in reality it might actually be difficult to get the full bonus or that the promotion will end before most people can take advantage of it. To get the full bonus you need a direct deposit of at least $3,525.53, keep in mind that the recurring direct deposits need to be at least 90% of this amount as well ($3,172.98).

If anybody has any experience with MoneyLion, please share that experience in the comments below. They have raised $67.5 million in venture capital, so they should have no problems actually paying out the promotion itself. It also looks like MoneyLion plans to launch a rewards program with up to 12% cash back but it’s unclear how that will work.

Hat tip to reader Groat100

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
    William Charles
  • On March 24, 2019, 15:06

View Comments (377)

  • TL;DR - File a CFPB complaint.

    What a wild ride. Most of my data point is in the CFPB exchange, so I'll just post that:

    YOUR COMPLAINT

    I opened a MoneyLion checking account in March, 2019 in response to their Pave the Wage advertisement. I installed their mobile app and clicked "opt in" on the in-app advertisement for the Pave the Wage promotion. I direct-deposited over $3000 per month in July, August, and September. I subsequently emailed their customer support twice, once in March and once in April, to confirm that I had successfully opted in to the promotion. Nia and then Nonu responded, but the answers were robotic and unhelpful - same form response when I replied to confirm. I later opened another support request in July. Their support ticket system had changed. Kayla confirmed that I had opted into the Pave the Wage promotion but that I was "not on the list." She said "I am escalating this to have them add you to the list." I wrote in a week or two later, and Low T explained that there is "nothing needed on [my] end" and that the "issue has been escalated for review and to be added on the list once confirmed." He or she said "there is still some processing for review on this feature." I opened more tickets over the following weeks and months, but customer support reps Jessica and Sakira were unable to locate my account. I used the same email every time. Aaliyah did not answer, but explained that they had "higher volume than normal" and told me to call. After half an hour on hold, I gave up. I am owed $599 per the terms of the Pave the Wage promotion but have received nothing.

    Submitted to the CFPB on 1/13/2020
    Sent to company on 1/13/2020
    Company response is in progress as of 1/29/2020
    Company responded on 2/20/2020

    February 20, 2020 Re: X X Complaint #xxx-xxx MoneyLion has received and reviewed this complaint and provides the following response. MoneyLion provides financial services which includes a variety of products and services such as an FDIC Insured Bank Account with Debit Card, low-cost credit, and an Investment Account with an SEC-registered investment adviser, ML Wealth, which custodies client funds and securities with an independent broker-dealer, personal financial management tools and mobile application, low-cost cash advances, credit monitoring, financial literacy cards, discounts and rewards program. Some of these products and services are bundled and provided through the MoneyLion Plus membership program. There is a monthly fee to cover costs while a member is utilizing any of these services. On January 14, 2020, X X submitted a complaint related to not receiving the Pave the Wage promotion after qualifying to receive the bonus. MoneyLion investigated this complaint and our research has found the following: Our records show on March 17, 2019, the customer opened a MoneyLion Checking Account and made the first direct deposit on March 29, 2019 in the amount of $3,500.00. The customer met all requirements to be eligible for the promotion and bonus. On January 17, 2020, a senior agent reviewed the customer’s complaint. The senior agent was able to verify the customer qualified and submitted a request to have the funds deposited into the customer’s Investment Account. On January 24, 2020, the bonus in the amount of $595.00 was deposited into the customer’s Investment Account. As the result of this investigation and the response provided, MoneyLion has concluded that this complaint is closed, and MoneyLion has appropriately addressed this customer’s concerns. Sincerely, Customer Complaints Department MoneyLion

    Notes:
    - I see it in the app, but haven't been able to withdraw the money yet. The withdraw feature has a cat gif and is broken...
    - Obviously, this wouldn't have been worth it for triple the bonus... I'd chip in for a class action for all the folks who didn't put this much effort in.

    • I was able to download my DriveWealth (the broker they use under the hood) statement. I asked my broker to do an account transfer using the account number from there. Maybe that will be easier than dealing with MoneyLion's customer support again. Who knows what the account transfer fee is.... or how I'll pay it.... or how I'll close the MoneyLion accounts.... what a mess.

        • I called them and they reactivated my login. But drive wealth says no 1099b available. Anyone got their 1099b? Or 1099 misc?
          @guest_742471 @guest_783259 @guest_799722

    • They did not count the money from this specific bonus as interest for me. My statement from July (when I received my $599 bonus) has $0.00 as interest. My December statement has $0.00 interest YTD, and the spot where I can view my tax documents says "No available tax documents."

    • No 1099-INT, no 1099B. Instructions says to use the app to get to "DriveWealth", following the instructions lead to a drivewealth webpage with "You have been logged out." and a username/password prompt.

      For tax purposes, I'm going to assume:
      $0 for 1099B (since it is likely below $10; I kept the money in their investment account for a few days only).
      And $599 for 1099-INT.

  • How do we close the account? Do I have to empty the account first or do send a check for free?

  • In response to my inquiry as to where the payout is:"The requirements also stated that you must keep direct deposit in the account for 90 days after your first direct deposit.
    After reviewing your account you has gotten your 1st direct deposit on 03/xx/19, the promotion started on 03/xx/19 and that deposit was taken back on 03/xx.
    Your next deposit was on 04/xxthen one on 05/xx.
    You are not eligible for the pay out on the Pave The Wage promotion we had.

    Thank you,
    MoneyLion Support"

    • I didn’t know it started on 3/27. Didn’t see anywhere mentioning that. I thought it started before that.

  • Well the plot thickens. New York State Dept. of Financial Services says they can only regulate a bank that they issued a license for. They did not issue the license for MoneyLion, that was the Utah Dept. of Financial Institutions. Utah DFI wrote back to me and said that they can only assist if the complainant resides in the state of Utah, and referred me BACK to NYS DFS, so basically unless you live in the State of Utah, there's nothing anyone can do for you. CFPB is basically like a federal BBB with no power to enforce, do anything. The State agencies apparently can't do anything either, unless you live in the state of the agency that granted the license. Sigh.

    • Have you tried to call Moneylion? If they said they’d pay in the cfpb reply they probably will honor it...

      • Well, the saga has finally ended. Only took 2 CFPB, NYS DFS, Utah DFI, and Iowa Division of Banking complaints to finally get this resolved. I got a phone call on Friday from Moneylion, they didn't leave a call-back #, of course, and said they'd send me an email, and they didn't.
        Fortunately they called again 2 hours later and were depositing the money directly into the checking account because apparently their end never "setup" the investment account (wasn't aware one had to 'set that up' as it showed up on my app every day). Of course, the transfer function still doesn't work, so pulling the money out via ACH on Ally's end.

      • Several times, but all I ever get is the "we're too busy, leave your number" and they never call back.

  • I received a $10 Gyft Card from MoneyLion today. Message: Sorry for the inconvenience. Enjoy your gift card!

  • I had to call to sign up back in April since I never got a pop up or email with the offer. First DD was 4/29 with semimonthly (real) DDs since. Bonus posted automatically on 8/14 to the Investment MoneyLion account. I initiated a transfer to MoneyLion Checking yesterday which shockingly takes 5-7 business days (?!)

  • Anyone who did not get paid, this is one of those rare times that I would say "Do Call The Bank", even if you had simulated DD's. They are disqualifying my payout because my ACH In was considered a DD, and my Real DD's were not 90% of the 1st ACH In. It's BS.

    But, you do you. Hindsight being 20/20, I would have never mixed and matched real and simulated.

  • Finally got the $599 bonus! I spent 5+ hours on my phone calls with them fighting this. I just transferred it to the checking and it didn’t show up instantly. I’m prepared for another battle after reading comments about the transfer issue.

    • Transferred money on Sunday from investment to checking account. Still not showing up. Getting nervous, don’t wanna spend another hour on the phone with them.

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