If you’re thinking about opening a new Chime® account, you may be able to earn a cash bonus if you use a friend’s referral link. Existing customers can earn a bonus by referring a friend.
Still, a promotion shouldn’t be the only reason you open a bank account, so make sure the account itself meets your financial needs.
Account details and annual percentage yields (APYs) are accurate as of June 7, 2024.
Chime® promotions overview
You can get a bonus from Chime in one of two ways: You can refer a friend to Chime, or you can join Chime via a friend’s referral link.
Chime: Get a $100 bonus
Chime is offering a $100 bonus for those who refer friends to Chime and those who join by referral. In other words, if you refer a friend to Chime, you and your friend can both receive the $100 bonus.
Chime offers two primary banking products: checking and high-yield savings. The fintech company also offers a secured credit card. You need to open a Chime® Checking Account before you can open a Chime® High-Yield Savings Account.
Aside from the $100 bonus, Chime’s checking and savings accounts have plenty of attractive features. Chime’s checking account has no monthly fees, overdraft fees or minimum balance requirements. Customers who qualify can get up to $200 in SpotMe® overdraft protection¹. And you can use your Chime debit card for free at more than 60,000 ATMs².
Chime Savings earns a yield of 2.00%³; not the highest available from the best online banks, but still well above the national average. Like Chime Checking, this account has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. It also comes with automatic savings features you can use to save a percentage of each paycheck⁴.
How to qualify
You can qualify for the $100 Chime bonus in one of two ways. If you’re an existing Chime customer, you can refer a friend to open a new Chime account. If you’re a new customer, you can open an account using someone else’s referral link.
To qualify for the bonus as the referrer, the following needs to happen:
- Someone must join Chime using your referral link.
- They have to receive a single qualifying direct deposit⁵ of at least $200 within 45 days of opening their new account.
As the referrer, you can earn up to a maximum of $1,000 in monetary referral rewards per calendar year.
You can get your personalized referral link in the Chime app. Click on the gear to open the settings and then select “Invite Friends, get paid.” You can share this link via email, text or on social media.
To qualify for the bonus as the person being referred, you must do the following:
- Sign up for a Chime account using a referral link.
- Receive a qualifying direct deposit⁵ of at least $200 within 45 calendar days of opening your new account.
As the referred party, you can’t qualify for the bonus if you’ve previously had a Chime account.
It’s also important to know how Chime defines “qualifying direct deposit⁵.” Qualifying direct deposits include those from your employer, payroll provider, gig economy payer or benefits payer by Automatic Clearing House (ACH) or Original Credit Transaction (OCT).
Account fees
Chime’s checking and savings accounts have minimal fees. Neither account has monthly maintenance fees. The only fees associated with these accounts are out-of-network ATM withdrawal fees, which cost $2.50 per transaction and third-party ATM fees, which vary².
Expiration date
There is no posted expiration date for Chime’s $100 referral bonus.
How Chime promotions compare
Not all banks offer a sign-up or referral bonus, so Chime’s $100 bonus — with the ability to earn up to $1,000 in monetary referral rewards per calendar year — is significant. As the referrer, though, getting your referral bonus isn’t totally within your control. You’ll only get it if someone uses your referral link to open a new Chime account and receives a single qualifying direct deposit⁵ of at least $200 within 45 days from account opening.
Other banks’ bonuses may offer higher cash values or be easier to get — without needing to rely on referrals. For example, Chase Bank offers the following bonus for opening a new Chase Total Checking® account: Earn a . And, SoFi offers the following bonus for opening a new SoFi Checking and Savings Account: Earn a .
Other banks that offer similar referral bonuses include Chase and Axos Bank. But these two banks only offer $50 per referral, compared to Chime’s $100. Note that referred Axos customers must receive $1,000 in direct deposits within 90 days of account opening in order for you to receive your referral bonus — but the amount of referral bonuses you can earn is unlimited. Chase, on the other hand, limits the amount of referral bonus you can earn to up to $500 per calendar year, and the qualifying activities your friend needs to complete depends on which account they open.
Chime review
Chime is a financial technology company based in San Francisco. As such, Chime doesn’t have any branches and limits its products to online-only accounts. Chime offers three major products: A savings account, a checking account and a secured credit card.
Chime’s products charge few fees, are accessible at more than 60,000 fee-free ATMs² and come with several helpful features, such as fee-free overdrafts and automatic savings tools. While it doesn’t offer peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, Chime does have a payment feature called “Pay Anyone” — which allows members to send money instantly to anyone, whether they are a Chime member⁶ or not⁷, without any fees.
Chime Savings only earns 2.00% APY³ — which isn’t bad, but the best high-yield savings accounts and CDs earn much more.
If you want a simple, user-friendly bank account with few fees, Chime delivers. But if you’re looking for in-person banking, the highest savings rates, or additional services like loans or brokerage accounts, you may want to look elsewhere.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
No, Chime isn’t a bank — it’s a financial technology company. It offers bank products by partnering with other banks, like The Bancorp Bank and Stride Bank, which are FDIC-insured.
According to Chime, you’ll typically receive your bonus within two business days after all the qualifying conditions are met.
Currently, Chime is offering $100 to anyone who signs up for a new Chime account with a referral link and receives a single qualifying direct deposit⁵ of at least $200 within 45 calendar days of account opening. The person who makes the qualifying referral receives a $100 bonus, too — but you can only receive up to $1,000 in monetary referral rewards per calendar year.
*Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services and debit card provided by The Bancorp Bank N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A.; Members FDIC. The secured Credit Builder card issued by Stride Bank, N.A.
¹SpotMe® on Debit is an optional, no fee overdraft service attached to your Chime® Checking Account. To qualify for the SpotMe on Debit service, you must receive $200 or more in qualifying direct deposits to your Chime Checking Account each month and have activated your Visa debit card. Qualifying members will be allowed to overdraw their Chime Checking Account for up to $20 on debit card purchases and cash withdrawals initially but may later be eligible for a higher limit of up to $200 or more based on Chime Account history, direct deposit frequency and amount, spending activity and other risk-based factors. The SpotMe on Debit limit will be displayed within the Chime mobile app and is subject to change at any time, at Chime’s sole discretion. Although Chime does not charge any overdraft fees for SpotMe on Debit, there may be out-of-network or third-party fees associated with ATM transactions. SpotMe on Debit will not cover any non-debit card transactions, including ACH transfers, Pay Anyone transfers, or Chime Checkbook transactions. SpotMe on Debit Terms and Conditions.
²Out-of-network ATM withdrawal fees may apply except at MoneyPass ATMs in a 7-Eleven, or any Allpoint or Visa Plus Alliance ATM.
³The Annual Percentage Yield (“APY”) for the Chime Savings Account is variable and may change at any time. The disclosed APY is effective as of September 20, 2023. No minimum balance required. Must have $0.01 in savings to earn interest.
⁴Save When I Get Paid automatically transfers 10% of your direct deposits of $500 or more from your Checking Account into your savings account.
⁵The qualifying direct deposit must be from your employer, payroll provider, gig economy payer, or benefits payer by Automated Clearing House (ACH) deposit OR Original Credit Transaction (OCT). Bank ACH transfers, Pay Anyone transfers, verification or trial deposits from financial institutions, peer to peer transfers from services such as PayPal, Cash App, or Venmo, mobile check deposits, cash loads or deposits, one-time direct deposits, such as tax refunds and other similar transactions, and any deposit to which Chime deems to not be a qualifying direct deposit are not qualifying direct deposits.
⁶Funds are automatically debited from your Checking Account and typically deposited into the recipient’s Checking Account within seconds. Pay Anyone transactions will be monitored and may be held, delayed or blocked if the transfer could result in fraud or another form of financial harm. Sometimes instant transfers can be delayed.
⁷Pay Anyone transactions will be monitored and may be held, delayed or blocked if the transfer could result in fraud or another form of financial harm. Sometimes instant transfers can be delayed. Non-Chime members must use a valid debit card to claim funds.
