Offer reference

SoFi's $400 direct deposit bonus, read closely

No fees, a fast payout, a savings rate that stays on after the bonus, and a definition written to require real recurring income. This is the lane for the paycheck itself.

LAST VERIFIED 2026-10-13

SoFi Checking and Savings — up to $400

ENDS DEC 31, 2026

The offer

Set up a first Eligible Direct Deposit that SoFi receives by December 31, 2026. From the day it recognizes one of $1 or more, SoFi totals your Eligible Direct Deposits over the next 25 calendar days: $1,000 to $4,999.99 pays $50; $5,000 or more pays $400. Open to new and existing members who have never set up direct deposit with SoFi. One bonus per member. Verify at sofi.com →

Qualifying deposit

Recurring ACH deposits of regular income, such as payroll, pension, or government benefits, from an employer, a payroll or benefits provider, or a government agency. Excluded by name: non-recurring deposits, check deposits, peer-to-peer transfers, merchant payouts, bank ACH funds transfers, wires from external accounts, and IRS tax refunds. SoFi decides eligibility at its discretion and may ask for documentation.

Who is excluded

Anyone who has previously set up direct deposit with SoFi. On a joint account, only the primary holder's deposits count.

Payout

Within 7 business days of meeting the requirements. The checking account must be open and in good standing at payment.

Fees

No account, service, or maintenance fees. Fees apply to outgoing wires and instant transfers.

Tax

Reported as miscellaneous income on a 1099-MISC, not a 1099-INT.

A 25-day clock that starts on its own

Most offers count from account opening. SoFi's window opens the day it recognizes your first eligible deposit, of any size, and closes 25 days later. A small test deposit starts the clock early and can leave the $5,000 total short when the window closes. The calendar's rule is that nothing arrives at SoFi until the full amount is scheduled to land inside one 25-day span, which usually means lining it up with two consecutive pay periods.

Why this is a payroll lane

SoFi's definition requires the deposit to be recurring and to come from an employer, benefits provider, or agency. It excludes bank-to-bank ACH transfers by name and reserves the right to ask for a pay stub. That rules out the route most other lanes in the calendar run on. The honest way through is a payroll split, or a full payroll move for anyone who intends to keep SoFi as a primary account, which the no-fee structure and the savings rate make reasonable. Members who already direct their paycheck to SoFi are the one group this offer excludes, so it is run once, early, before SoFi becomes anyone's hub. How deposit classification works is its own page.

The timeline

Day 0Open Checking and Savings. Send nothing that could be read as a direct deposit yet.
Day 1Submit the payroll split, sized so two pay periods total $5,000 or more.
First depositSoFi's 25-day window opens. Note the date.
+14 daysSecond pay period lands. Confirm the running total.
+25 daysWindow closes.
+7 business daysBonus posts.
AfterKeep or reverse the split. The account costs nothing to hold.

Net

$400 on $5,000 of payroll routed for about a month, with no fee to manage and no balance to park. The yield on the deposits is beside the point here; the trade is one payroll edit for $400 inside six weeks.

SoFi runs once per member, so the calendar places it where a payroll split is already scheduled for another lane.

See the flagship sequence Pricing