SoFi's signup bonus has increased to $475, probably the highest ever! The bonus is still fairly easy to get, and now it can also be stacked with cashback portal rewards! Opening this bank account does not require a Hard Pull credit inquiry and does not affect your credit score, which is pretty great. You can now stack the signup bonus + referral bonus + cashback portal bonus, and the triple stack is excellent!

SoFi can be opened with SSN/ITIN. If you're not in the U.S., it's recommended to use a U.S. IP address, otherwise you're more likely to be asked to verify your identity. Note: if you want to verify with a Chinese passport, you must switch to a Chinese IP on the page before identity verification; otherwise you won't see the passport dialog box (or verification may fail)

[referral + signup] Requirements for the signup bonus

  • $50 bonus: open an account with a referral link, open checking and savings, and deposit at least $50 within 21 days
  • $25 bonus: join SoFi Plus after opening the account
  • $400 bonus: within 31 days after opening the account, complete $5,000 in total direct deposit. (LemFi note: payroll can easily do it; for other options, see the summary below)

[cashback portal + signup] Right now, all the cashback portals are offering decent SoFi cashback. Note that no matter which cashback portal you use, you can stack it with the signup bonus; see the steps below.

TopCashback has $200, and the requirement is also the same: $500 DD within 45 days

Rakuten now offers up to $125 back, with a requirement of $500 DD within 45 days, so hurry!

[referral + signup + cashback portal stacking] You can also stack SoFi's referral bonus to get an extra $25. The specific steps are below (do not reverse the order; it's best to make sure you get Rakuten's cashback)

  1. First open the referral invite link, click claim your bonus, and leave the page open without closing it
  2. Go to the cashback portal (for example, Rakuten), search for SoFi, then click shop now to open another application page, and start the Rakuten application process and submit it.
  3. Complete the DD (according to the referral $425 bonus tier, meet $5,000 DD)
  4. Then you can receive the referral $25 + $400 signup bonus + $400 Rakuten reward at the same time

This article was contributed by reader focusing~ If you also have something you'd like to write about, feel free to leave a comment~

About SoFi

SoFi Finance, Inc. is an American online personal finance company founded in 2011 by Mike Cagney, Dan Macklin, James Finnigan, and Ian Brady. In just 9 years, revenue exceeded $547 million, and net profit exceeded $126 million. SoFi is currently growing rapidly; this year it announced a partnership with Samsung to jointly launch the Samsung Money debit card, taking on the Apple Card from Apple and Goldman Sachs.

SoFi currently has three main businesses: SoFi money, SoFi Invest, and SoFi Loan. Here we mainly introduce SoFi money and SoFi Invest.

SoFi Money

SoFi Money is basically a fee-free online checking account. Compared with a traditional bank checking account, it eliminates the monthly fee, has no minimum deposit requirement, and deposits also earn interest (currently 3.8%). It also runs some spending cashback promotions from time to time, and overall it is a bit better than traditional banks.

SoFi's funds are not only protected by traditional FDIC insurance; their coverage has even been increased to protect assets of up to $2,000,000.

Signup bonus:

SoFi Money (checking-like) currently offers up to a $425 bonus; see the opening paragraph above for details and the stacking method above.

Direct Deposit

At the moment, there is relatively little information on Direct Deposit. DOC reports that Wealthfront works, and it is assumed that transfers from other investment accounts may count. After testing, transfers from Chase, Venmo, and Cash cannot trigger DD. If none of those work, you'll have to use real payroll DD.

Potentially works:

  • Ally:1,
  • Altra:1,
  • Astra:1,2,3,4 (didn't work)
  • Brex:1,
  • Chase:1,2, Business:1,2,3,
  • eBay managed payments:1,2 (didn't work)
  • PNC:1,
  • Revolut:1,
  • Treasury Direct:1, 2 (didn't work via email 11/14/22)
  • Wealthfront:1,2(didn’t work) ,3,
  • Wells Fargo:1,2(didn’t work)
    • Business Direct:1,
  • Wise:1,2,3,4(didn’t work) 5,6,

According to SoFi's latest terms, Wise deposits may no longer count as DD. If you recently used Wise to activate it and it didn't work, don't contact customer service; just wait a while and try another method. If Wise still works, don't contact customer service either—just leave a comment and let us know.

Account eligibility

Opening an account requires at least a green card or U.S. citizenship. The application interface does include a Resident Alien option, but if you select it, it will immediately say you can't apply. Based on current DPs, identity does not seem to be strictly verified. (However, according to DPs, it seems that now having just an SSN is enough to apply.)

Debit card and checks

[2020.10 update] SoFi's website has updated the explanation. Accounts applied for before June 9, 2020 still enjoy global ATM fee-free withdrawals. Accounts applied for after that only get free withdrawals at ATMs in the allpointnetwork network (partner locations are only in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Australia, the U.K., Canada, and Mexico).

Once you deposit money into SoFi Money, they will mail you a Mastercard debit card. You can request 25 checks for free, and if you need more, you can contact customer service; I think reorders should also be free. Another big feature of the SoFi Money debit card is almost fee-free ATM withdrawals worldwide (daily limit $1,000). Any ATM fee charged will be reimbursed by SoFi. The only downside is that foreign-currency withdrawals incur a 0.2% currency exchange fee (two-tenths of a percent, which is really negligible). In this respect, it is a bit worse than Charles Schwab Checking and Fidelity Cash Management, both of which have no currency exchange fees.

Neither SoFi nor The Bancorp Bank charge any ATM fees. SoFi will reimburse ATM fees charged by other institutions when a SoFi Money® World Debit Mastercard is used at any ATM displaying the Mastercard® or Maestro® acceptance marks. SoFi reserves the right to limit or revoke ATM reimbursements at any time without notice.

SoFi does not charge foreign transaction fees.

However, there is a 0.20% currency exchange fee charged by the card network that is not reimbursed.

Other promotions

SoFi Money is currently running a promotion: spending on DoorDash, Disney+, Hulu, Netflix, Spotify, HBO Now, Amazon Prime Video, CBS All Access, Pandora Music, and Google Music gets 20% cashback, up to $100, and it ends on June 30. That 20% cashback on DoorDash is pretty good for people staying home.

SoFi

SoFi Plus announced a series of updates that will take effect on March 31. The APY for Plus members has been increased to 4.5% APY, limited to the first $20,000. The remainder earns 3.3% APY. For $20,000, the extra 1.2% APY works out to about $20 more per month. The monthly fee is $10, so if you keep the full $20,000 you'll come out ahead; at $10,000, it's basically break-even. Also, it seems this Plus monthly fee cannot be waived through DD. Other changes include a 1% match on investment accounts and 1% cashback on cryptocurrency.

SoFi has launched the Plus feature, which offers quite a few extra benefits. There is currently also a limited-time $50 sign-up bonus, paid out after 90 days of use. This account has a $10 monthly fee, or it can be activated through Direct Deposit.

If you sign up through Rakuten cashback, you can also get an extra 7,500 points / $75 bonus

The main features are shown below. The most useful parts are that SoFi bank savings earns 3.8% APY, and the investment account has a 1% contribution match. The extra credit card cashback and mortgage benefits probably aren't very useful. The monthly fee is $10 and can be waived with Direct Deposit (requires $5,000 every 30 days)

SoFi Invest

After opening a SoFi Invest account, you get a partially featured Margin Account, with the following functions:

  • SoFi Invest supports trading stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrency, but not options trading
  • After you deposit money, if the funds have not yet arrived, you will get a temporary limit that can be used to buy stocks or cryptocurrency
  • As a Margin Account, you can continue buying other stocks after selling stocks before the funds have settled (T+2), but you still need to pay attention to PDT restrictions.
  • As a partially featured Margin Account, it does not support short selling; you can only hold long positions. It also does not support leverage, so you can only buy with the cash balance you have on hand. Pre-market and after-hours trading are also not supported.
  • Supports stock bits, meaning you can buy less than 1 share of a stock. It is mainly useful for higher-priced stocks such as GOOGL, TSLA, and AMZN. The main issue with Stock Bits is that you cannot choose the purchase price at all; SoFi decides it for you. As a result, if the stock price moves a lot on that trading day, the purchase price may not be favorable.
  • The user interface is very simple, but trade data has a delay. The types of trades supported are also very limited: only limit order and market order are supported. Overall, SoFi Invest is more suitable for long-term value investors. If you trade frequently, it is not recommended.

Account Opening and Rewards

Opening SoFi Invest now gives you one sweepstakes entry, with a top prize of up to $1,000. You need to deposit at least $50 within 30 days to activate the sweepstakes.

The top prize can be as high as $1,000, but in most cases it is probably just $5-$10.

To open an account, you need at least a green card or be a U.S. citizen. There is a Resident Alien option in the application, but if you select it, you will immediately be told that you cannot apply. Based on current DPs, identity is not strictly verified.

Samsung Money by SoFi

This card is a debit card jointly launched by Samsung and SoFi, and it is similar to SoFi Money. In addition to free ATM withdrawal fees, no annual fee, and interest on deposits, this card can be added to a Samsung phone so you can pay directly with Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay uses virtual magnetic stripe technology, so you can think of your phone as a virtual card, similar to Apple Card, and swipe it directly at the card reader without needing any changes to the terminal. In this respect, it has broader acceptance than Apple Pay. In addition, spending with this card earns Samsung points, similar to some cash back credit cards.

Samsung Money is now live, and everyone can apply.

card-linked cash back

SoFi Money’s debit card now offers card-linked cash back provided by Empyr, with cashback rates ranging from 3% to 15%. The merchants vary by region.

  • How to add it: go to the main SoFi account page — Money — More — Earn cash back — Link

In KUKU’s area, most offers are Burger King at 3% cash back (which is not competitive compared with other dining credit cards), but there are also some special merchants offering 15% or even better cash back. Some merchants are linked automatically, while others need to be added manually (click Claim).

SoFi Credit Card

SoFi partnered with The Bank of Missouri to launch its own credit card. It has no annual fee, offers unlimited 2% cash back, and comes with a relatively low APR. There are also extra perks with partner merchants such as Lyft, Postmates, ShopRunner, and Boxed, which is pretty good. However, at the moment you can only get an application invitation by email. If you are interested, you can also join the waiting list through the link below.

Summary

These products, which focus on free Checking and investment accounts, are pretty useful. At least they are not like big banks such as BofA and Chase, which charge a $25 monthly fee at the drop of a hat. SoFi Invest’s stock bits is one of the biggest highlights, letting you invest a small amount of money to buy the stocks you like without worrying about high share prices. If you want to open an account and try it out, I suggest opening both SoFi Money and Invest, since getting $75 from each is pretty nice.

The downside is that the application requirements are a bit strict: you must be a U.S. citizen or green card holder. Hopefully they will eventually relax the rules so Resident Aliens can also apply online. If you are interested in other investing platforms, you can check out the following:

Stock Investing Basics

Below are introductions to several commonly used U.S. stock brokerages and their signup bonuses.

Overview Signup Bonus Quick Take
Moomoo Futu Get a $350 stock card + $1,000 NVDA + 8.1% APY Comprehensive features and a strong Chinese-language experience. Quotes, Level 2 data, options, and cash management are all practical, making it suitable for everyone from beginners to active traders.
TradeUp Tiger Brokers Get 50 NVDA shares + draw for 5 shares + 4% for three months Good for active trading. For U.S. tax residents, trading fees and margin are relatively competitive. It supports Web Trading, Level 2 data, and Chinese-language customer service.
Webull 12 fractional shares + 1 month of Premium membership Strong market-watching and active-trading features. Charts, technical indicators, options, and pre-market/after-hours trading are fairly complete, making it suitable for frequent traders.
BBAE Up to $650 in rewards Convenient account opening for users in China, with no SSN/ITIN required to apply. Chinese-language support is strong, but it currently has a Platform Fee, so it is not ideal for small-balance, high-frequency trading.
Robinhood Draw 1 stock The interface is simple and easy to use, making it suitable for beginners buying U.S. stocks for the first time. Gold users also get a high yield on idle cash and a lower Margin Rate.
Interactive Brokers Up to $1,000 Highly professional, with support for global markets and multiple currencies. Margin costs are competitive, and it also supports account opening for China residents, making it suitable for advanced investors and global investors.
TradeStation $250 More geared toward professional and active trading. Advanced charting, strategy backtesting, and automated trading features are relatively strong, but ordinary long-term investors may not need them.
Schwab Get up to $1,000 Good for long-term investing and larger asset balances. Buying ETFs and CDs is convenient. Checking and global ATM access are also advantages, but the default interest rate on idle cash is relatively low.
Fidelity Brokerage Account Signup link A long-established full-service brokerage, suitable for long-term investing, ETFs, and retirement accounts. Cash management is also good, making it a strong choice as a long-term primary brokerage.
BIT (formerly Matrixport) Get $210 for deposits and trading Suitable for users in China and digital-asset users. It can be used to allocate USDT/USDC and other funds into U.S. stocks. It is not a traditional U.S. brokerage, so you should review fees and the asset custody structure separately.
SoFi Invest Get $75 for opening an account Simple to use and supports Stock Bits, making it suitable for small-balance and long-term investing. Professional market data and trading tools are limited, so it is not suitable for frequent trading.
M1 Finance Investing Get $10 for depositing money Focused on Pies and automated investing. It is suitable for long-term dollar-cost averaging after setting your stock and ETF allocations, but not for users mainly focused on active trading.

If you do not have an SSN/ITIN but still want to trade U.S. stocks, you can consider the following brokerages/platforms. They can be opened entirely with China-based documents, and you can register with an ID card or passport. They do not participate in China CRS.

  • BBAE: Chinese-user friendly, and you can open an account without an SSN/ITIN
  • BIT (formerly Matrixport): You can open an account with an ID card, and approval can be completed within a few hours.
  • Bitget platform: Identity verification can be completed with an ID card/Chinese passport

If you are in mainland China and want to invest in U.S. stocks, you can read this overview:

Application Links