ONE Finance Review: Get 5% APY On Up To $250,000 ($125 Signup Bonus)

Update 11/7/24: Now $125.

Update 10/15/24: Now reduced to $75

Update 10/6/24: Now $125/12,500 Membership Rewards points on Rakuten.

Update 9/17/24: Now reduced to $75.

Update 9/16/24: Now $125/12,500 Membership Rewards points on Rakuten. Hat tip to DDG

Update 7/22/24: Rakuten and Swagbucks both offering $75 bonus now; Rakuten requires $200 deposit, Swagbucks requires $30 deposit. There’s also an additional $25 bonus showing in the One app for adding your One debit card to Apple Pay, funding your account, and activating a cash back reward.

Update 6/28/24: Now $75 signup bonus via Swagbucks for depositing $30 (ht Kory)

Update 5/13/24: There is now a sign up bonus of $100. You get $75 by going through Swagbucks and depositing $30 and then can get another $25 in app when you link Google Pay. Hat tip to reader Jimmy

Update 6/27/23: Rate is now 5.00% APY on Savings balances up to $100,000 when you receive $500 a month in eligible direct deposits or have a total daily balance of $5,000 or more.

Update 9/20/22: Apparently new customers do not get the 3% rate; only existing customers get it as a grandfathered benefit.

Update 7/20/22: Some One Finance customers got the following email: starting August 8, 2022, your Save Pocket and the current balance in your Auto-Save Pocket will both earn 3.00% APY. Up to $25,000.

One Finance Review

Direct Link

One Finance is a fintech online bank with no fees and no minimums. They are FDIC-insured through a bank partner, Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC.

Most interestingly, they have two savings account interest rate offers:

  • Get 1% APY on up to $5,000. If you have a qualifying paycheck direct deposit, the limit is $25,000.
  • Get 3% APY on a separate Auto-Save account. The way it works is you designate between 1 – 10% of your paycheck to go to this account and earn the 3% interest rate. Max $1,000 per month can be added to the 3% Auto-Save account. (You can also have any purchases on the One Finance linked debit card get rounded up and deposited to the 3% account. These roundups have no limit.)

They also offer unlimited account creation which they call Pockets that you can create to separate money for various purposes and even share them with other people.

$50 Referral Bonus

Referral Terms | Referrer Terms

One Finance also has a referral program with the following bonuses:

  • Both referrer and referee get a bonus of $50 when the person signing up receives a direct deposit of $250+
  • You can refer a maximum of 10 people per year.

We’ve created a page where readers can share their referrals. Do not put your referral links in the comments below.

Post History

Our Verdict

In the current interest-rate environment, even 1% APY on $25,000 is nice, though it probably wouldn’t get me to change my direct deposit. The more interesting part is the ability to get 3% APY which is terrific. It’s also a soft pull to open the account (no Chex either).

Though limited to 10% of paycheck, there’s no stated limit on how much can earn the 3%; if you have $120,000 in paychecks going to One Finance, you can max this out with $12,000/yr going to the 3% Auto-Save account. According to the current rules, that should be able to continue building year over year as you increase the balance – after 2 years you can have $24,000 earning 3%, after 3 years $36,000, etc. (Of course they can always add a limit or change the rate in the future, but for now it sounds good.)

We’ll add this to our list of Best High Yield Savings Accounts.

Thanks to readers Chris R, AA, and Trey for sending this in.
    Chuck
  • On November 7, 2024, 19:20
Tags: High-Yield AccountsSavings Account

View Comments (1032)

  • Do they have any way of knowing whos apple pay the card gets added to? Thinking of doing this for a family member and adding the card to my apple pay since the family member doesn't have an iphone.

  • Actually, it seems like I had a rakuten account from years back, I have used it in the last 8-10 years

    When I try to reset the password and put in my email, it says "you account is currently not available, contact customer service" Is it safe to just create a new account?

    • Thanks. It is my first time open rakuten account, can I combine this with something else as well?

  • I'm still fighting Rakuten on this one. One is dragging their feet confirming it to them which is lame as hell

      • that's good to hear, ty! did rakuten ask for anything on your end, or did you have to keep following up?

        • Yes I confirmed some information like email used with them but mostly following up. However they also ended updating me every week so I didn't need to keep bugging them

    • I'm still fighting Rakuten too. I sent them lots of screenshots. They said they are waiting on confirmation from One. Rakuten has usually been very good on payouts.

      • I just received an email from Rakuten:

        Hi John,

        As a courtesy, we have updated your account with Cash Back for this signup. Unfortunately, One has been unable to verify this purchase as being eligible for Rakuten credit.

        It looks like Rakuten did the right thing and credit my account with the $125. I have never had problems getting paid from Rakuten. It was probably all the screen shots that I sent them.

        If anyone decides to go for the $125 or $75, then take screenshots of everything that you do so you can get paid properly.

  • DP:
    10/7 Opened accounts using Rakuten link
    10/10 $200 Loaded with cash at Walmart
    10/11 $125 Cash back posted to Rakuten
    10/11 $15 Walmart gift card purchase using One Pay w/ a credit card
    10/11 $15 Cash back posted to savings (One Pay $15 on $15+)
    10/17 $500+ Push from Fidelity
    10/17 One Cash+ benefits activated
    10/17 $200 Walmart gift card purchase using One Pay w/ One Debit
    10/17 $6 Cash back posted to savings (One Pay $6 on $55+)
    10/19 $20 Cash back posted to savings (Walmart 10% bonus up to $20)
    10/19 $5 Cash back posted to savings (set up bonus)

    Tried to load funds from a debit card, but it kept erroring out. Had to link the debit account to Fidelity manually using the One DD form, and the standing instructions were postdated to a week after the link was confirmed, so I wasn't able to transfer until after 10/15. Loaded cash at Walmart instead to trigger the Rakuten deal.

    Figured I would take one for the team and test out purchasing a gift card to trigger the Walmart 10% bonus cash back, and it worked! It doesn't stack with the Walmart 3% cash back though, it just overrides it. The transaction shows a little green 10% icon next to it as soon as the purchase is pending, and the cash back and set up bonus don't post until the purchase fully posts.

    I did also set my Pay Autosave to 100%, so I won't have to maintain the $500+ DD to get 4.35% APY on savings. I probably won't use it as I have higher APY savings accounts, but who knows what will happen in the future?

    • Thanks for DP on buying a physical gift card with the Walmart 10% bonus on the debit card. I also got this bonus to trigger on a $200 gift card, but I did NOT get the additional One Pay $4 on $35+ deal to trigger with this purchase even though I used One Pay. Did you buy the gift card online?

      • Was there a $4 on $35+ deal active? I noticed the One Pay deals have an expiration date, but they end around the middle of the day.

        To your question, I bought the basic blue physical gift card and had it shipped.

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