In May of 2018 SoFi announced they would be launching a new checking/savings product called ‘SoFi Money‘. Users could sign up for the waiting list for this product and were offered a $200 bonus when they were eventually able to set up an account and direct deposit.
Yesterday a number of readers received an e-mail inviting them to join SoFi money, but there was no mention of the $200 sign up bonus. They have bump up the interest rate offered from 1.09% to 2.25% but most people joined the waiting list based on the $200 sign up bonus promise. SoFi even said ‘We know it sounds too good to be true. We promise it isn’t’. Either they forgot to tell people they will actually get a $200 bonus, or it was too good to be true and they misled customers.
Personally I have no times for companies that don’t stand by their word, if they will change their mind about this then what else will change with no notice?
Asked about bonus via contact form. Response:
I’m reaching out to provide further clarification regarding the monetary incentives related to your SoFi Money account. In order to qualify for the Welcome Bonus, your Money account must have been opened prior to 10/1, or you must have signed up on the waitlist prior to 10/1. We appreciate you being a SoFi member and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
I sent them a message expressing how i felt it was a bait and switch, it may not do anything but i felt it was necessary
Interesting. I went through a student loan refinance with them and found the whole experience nice (customer service was crazy attentive), but the rates meh…. except for the whole 50k airline mile bonus. Though the loan went to Mohela with a little SoFi logo on the webpage.
I enrolled in their roboadvisor for a $100 bonus and it’s done worse than others. Since early Sept it’s lost 7.52% on aggressive, whereas Betterment lost 5.8% as their most aggressive, and Wealthfront lost 3.3% on their most aggressive.
Maybe they’re running out of money or pivoting or whatever the valley wants to call it. They were firing 10% of their staff a month ago.
I’m going to empty that roboadvisor account. “When you see a cockroach, as the days go by you meet his relatives.”
Hi all – I reached out to the customer service a few months ago about this and they extended the offer to me. I think they redacted it publicly but will extend if you reach out. Pretty slimy but otherwise I’ve always had positive experiences with Sofi. Below is the email they sent.
“Thanks for reaching out about that welcome bonus that we have going on! I’m excited to see that you’re looking into the different options for your SoFi Money account already!
I took a look at your account as well as the other products you have out with us! After we receive your first direct deposit of at least $500 and as long as your account is currently within 60 days of being opened, we’ll add $100 directly to your SoFi Money account. and $100 into an individual, non-IRA SoFi Wealth account. If you don’t have an individual Wealth account open yet, have no fear! You have 30 days from the bonus to your SoFi Money account to open the Wealth account and cash out on that $100 too!
Please keep in mind your direct deposit needs to be an electronic deposit of your paycheck, pension or government benefits (such as Social Security) from your employer or the government.
Between us, there’s other ways of making money off of SoFi, too! We have a custom referral link for each of our SoFi members! If you send that link or post it anywhere and someone, even anyone, uses it to apply for a loan with us and gets funded, you’ll get $300 to your personal checking account and they’ll get $100!
If you have any further questions on the SoFi Money Product or any suggestions on making the product better, you can email us at [email protected] “
They gave me the $200 bonus during the beta
Bait and switch. You aren’t even guaranteed the 2.25%. There are FDIC insured banks that offer accounts with a higher APY.
“Earn 2.25% APY (2.23% interest rate) and receive third-party ATM fee reimbursements on your first SoFi Money account. After three months, only accounts meeting one of the following monthly activity criteria will continue to receive 2.25% APY and third-party ATM fee reimbursements: 1) direct deposits totaling $3,000 or more; OR, 2) qualifying debit card purchases totaling $500 or more.”
Also, the FDIC insured doesn’t make much sense to me.
“SoFi Money is offered through SoFi Securities, LLC Member FINRA/SIPC. Neither SoFi nor its affiliates is a bank…
The cash balance in SoFi Money Accounts is swept to one or more program banks where it earns a variable rate of interest and is eligible for FDIC insurance. FDIC Insurance is not provided until the funds arrive at partner bank.”
It’s similar to Netspend cards – Netspend itself is not FDIC insured or a bank, but your money is kept in an FDIC insured account at an actual bank that they have a contract with.
6 banks in this case, to add up to a possible $1.5m total FDIC insured.
They actually did offer me the $200 Bonus, targeted email this past Fall. No monthly fees but required a $500 DD to get a $100 bonus and then had to open up their Wealth account to get another $100 bonus. No early term fee.
I opened account on 9/18 (from their invitation email), received bonus right away after my DD on 10/5. I closed the account on 1/2
Right when I opened the account in the Fall and had received the bonus, I had asked if I could “share the promotion with my friends and family” and they said that the promotion was already over…
The 2.25% is not all that great – it requires $3,000 direct deposit for that rate. Else it’s 1.25%.
They’ve been handing out immediate access to SoFi Money like CANDY on Redit for the past few months. I almost completed the sign up once.
Since they never actually informed consumers that they are doing the $200 bonus you could:
Sign up for the account.
Send the company in email after a couple weeks and ask them when you will be receiving your $200 bonus.
Send a complaint to the FCC when they tell you they aren’t offering the bonus.
Probably not worth anyone’s time since a $200 bonus really isn’t all that big to begin with. Disappointing when companies mislead consumers like this. They could have simply made the terms of getting the bonus a little less desirable like $50,000 deposit etc.
FCC has nothing to do with banks. I think you mean FTC.
CFPB is the place to complain when banks don’t live up to their promises.
CFPB is a complete waste of time.
They are just like the BBB.