Getting Even More Free Money From Fintechs
Fintechs want to grow quickly and sometimes that means giving money away. Many offer referral bonuses that provide cash to both the user who opens the new account and the current account holder who made the referral. These offers are similar to the Uber reward program that offered a $20 ride credit to both parties. Offers like that might seem very generous. But there are ways to get an even larger reward by opening up an account with many fintech companies.
The discount stock brokerage Robinhood has one of the most lucrative rewards programs. Its referral program gives both the new user and the referrer a share of stock from a random company. The stock that the new user receives might be worth a few dollars but it could also be worth much more. And other stock brokerage apps have launched to compete with Robinhood. Many of them have copied its growth hacking techniques, including the stock bonus for signing up. The referral bonus for these brokerages can be a stock worth over $100.
These brokerages are looking for younger investors who often have little money to invest. So they often require very low minimum deposits and may even have no minimum deposit requirement. Making the rewards easy to access sets the stage for new investors to receive an even greater reward than what they would normally get.
On the Signups for Pay section of Reddit, account holders at discount brokerages are offering their own bonuses in addition to the bonuses that the fintechs pay out. For example, if you use their referral links to sign up for Robinhood or another brokerage, you get a free stock from the brokerage. But the account holder might send you another $10 through PayPal on top of that. The payment is worth it for the account holder because the brokerage also sends them a free share of stock for making the referral.
Roboadvisors like Stash and Acorns also operate referral programs that are valuable enough for existing account holders to pay out bonuses on top of the rewards paid by the companies themselves.
Even paying out a large percentage of the referral bonus could be worth it. Consider a rewards program that pays $20 to the existing account holder and $20 to the new user. If the account holder pays another $15 to the new user, that user actually gets $35 in free money. And the account holder still receives $5 and comes out ahead because posting the offer on Reddit was free.
Another way to find fintech rewards programs is through get-paid-to (GPT) platforms like Swagbucks. These websites also offer rewards from many other apps and marketing companies, as well as paid tasks such as filling out marketing surveys and watching video ads. Many of these offers do not pay as well as fintech rewards programs, though. Again, using a platform like Swagbucks to sign up for the fintech offers can provide additional bonuses on top of the rewards from the fintech company itself.
Cryptocurrency brokerages also offer rewards programs. Coinbase offers several courses that teach you how various altcoins work. But unlike other professional development courses, these courses actually pay you money for completing them. The altcoin rewards available include Orchid, Tezos, Dai, Eos, Stellar Lumens, and others.
Neobanks, roboadvisors, and brokerage apps may also offer cryptocurrency as a reward for referrals. And brokerage apps may also allow new users to fund their initial balances with cryptocurrency instead of cash. One example is Passfolio, a commission-free stock brokerage designed to give foreign investors access to the US market. This company appears in the Signups for Pay subreddit as well.
These rewards are also available for international money transfer apps. In some cases, the new user has to send money overseas before qualifying for the payments from the fintech company and the referrer. But these offers could still be worth it if you plan to use services like Transferwise to send money to relatives or contractors outside of the US.
Extra bonuses are available for a wide variety of fintech apps, including neobanks, brokerages, advisors, and money transfer apps. If you’re planning on opening up an account with any fintech platform, you should check out the Signups for Pay subreddit first. You might receive even more free money than you expected.
