Rakuten Ups Its Game
Was $125 now $200 of free money
I love sign up bonuses generally, but focus on 1) stuff that I actually like and use 2) with minimally annoying terms and 3) the best ratio of sign up bonuses relative to the amount of cash they tie up. I shy away from mobile only apps because I’m a dinosaur who prefers to use my desktop computer. I have a finite patience for jumping through hoops. And while I can generally either set up new accounts while doing other things such as listening to conference calls or can ask someone else for help, I still don’t like to get too bogged down with too many steps.
Two platforms that are particularly good at meeting all of my criteria include SoFi and Rakuten. I actually like and use both. They are easy to set up. They pay out well and tie up only a trivial amount of cash. They both have mobile apps but their websites are perfectly adequate too. These aren’t huge money makers but they’re worth hundreds of dollars for only minutes of work. Exploiting this kind of thing is hardly a profession, but it’s a fun hobby with a slightly negative cost.
SoFi: Get $25 when you get a SoFi (SOFI) savings account. Get another $50–300 for direct deposit depending on the amount. Get another $25 of stock when you stick $10 in their brokerage. But there’s another way to do this through Rakuten. Get $30 for spending $30 on their site. And they just boosted their payouts. For example, they pay $200 cash back for SoFi which was previously $125. You just go through their portal to set up $500 in direct deposit.
