Finance

(Updated: SoFi has a new $300 transfer bonus on the crypto account. Per the terms, you should be able to get the $50 new account bonus and then the $300 deposit bonus. I have updated the other offers as well.)

SoFi (“Social Finance”) is an all-in-one finance app that expanded from students loans into banking, stocks, crypto, credit cards, and more. They often run a bunch of different promotional offers; New users can receive a separate opening bonus for each separate part of SoFi (Money, Invest, Loans, etc).

• SoFi $300 Transfer Bonus (New & Existing customers): $300 SOFID bonus. Transfer $1,000 or more in eligible crypto to SoFi Crypto by 10/14/26 and earn a $300 bonus in SOFID.* SOFID is their new stablecoin. Transferred crypto assets must be held on platform through 10/14/27 (one year). $300 bonus on $1,000 is a 30% return in one year, not bad at all.
• Personal notes: I’ve opened some crypto accounts recently for bonuses like Kraken ($25 bonus), Gemini ($50 bonus), and Robinhood Crypto. I decided to use Kraken for this SoFi promo since I still had some crypto held there, but there was a 7-day hold on the portion of USDC bought with bank transfer funds, so I will be cutting it close with the deadline. Using Robinhood Crypto and buying using existing funds from my brokerage account would have been faster in retrospect.
• SoFi Checking Referral Offer: Up to $425 new account bonus. Open a new SoFi Checking account and add at least $50 to your account within 21 days, and get $25. Then get up to $400 additional bonus with qualifying direct deposit.
• SoFi Credit Score Monitoring Offer: $10 bonus. Earn $10 in rewards points when you activate free credit score monitoring.
• SoFi Invest Referral Offer: $25 new account bonus. Taxable brokerage account. Open an Active Investing account with $25 or more, and you’ll get $25 in stock.
• SoFi Crypto Referral Offer: $25 new account bonus. Open a new SoFi Crypto account, buy $25 of crypto within 30 days, and get a $25 bonus in SOFID stablecoin.
• SoFi ACAT Transfer Offer: 1% Match Bonus. Get a 1% match on ACAT transfers to IRA or taxable brokerage accounts (max $100,000 on $5,000,000 transferred). Minimum hold period for five (5) years from the settlement date.
• SoFi 401(k) Rollover Offer: 1% Match Bonus. Get a 1% match when you roll over your 401(k) into a SoFi IRA. Minimum hold period for five (5) years from the settlement date.
• SoFi Student Loan Refi: $300 bonus. Warning: Do your research before refinancing your Federal student loans to a private lender. You may lose some consumer protections.
• SoFi Doctors and Dentists Student Loan Refi: $1,000 bonus. Special low rates just for doctors and dentists.
• SoFi Private Student Loan: $300 bonus. For those looking for a new student loan (not a refinance).
• SoFi Personal Loans Referral Offer: Fixed $300 bonus. Fixed $300 bonus, 90 days after successful funding. The loan has no fees and you can pay it back in full after 90 days (you can pay it down to $50 before then to accrue minimal interest, thus making it an opportunity to make a net profit on this offer).

CIT Bank has a limited-time Platinum Savings APY Boost Promotion, offering a boosted interest rate of 4.25% APY for 6 months on their Platinum Saving account that is 0.50% APY above the standard APY (currently 3.75% APY) for balances of $5,000 and above. Thankfully, this offer is available to both new and selected existing customers that activate the promotion.

New customers will need to sign up for a new CIT Bank Platinum Savings account using the promo code BOOST50 to qualify. There is a $100 minimum balance required to open, and you will need a $5,000 minimum balance to get the higher interest rate on this tiered account. There are no monthly service fees.

Existing customers with a Platinum Savings account opened prior to the promotion must enroll via the enrollment web page using promo code CITBoost. You will not get the 6-month boost automatically. From the fine print:

CIT Bank Customers with an account prior to the promotion: This Platinum Savings APY Boost promotion is valid for a Primary account owner with an existing account with a CIT Bank User ID before the start of the promotion, provided that the following requirements are met:

– Customers without a Platinum Savings account open prior to the Promotion must open a new Platinum Savings account via the enrollment web page using Promo Code BOOST50.
– Customers with a Platinum Savings account opened prior to the promotion may enroll their current Platinum Savings account into the Platinum Savings Boost promotion via the enrollment web page using Promo Code BOOST50.
– Customers who are not the Primary account owner on a Platinum Savings account may open a new Platinum Savings account as the primary account owner via the enrollment web page using Promo Code BOOST50.
– Accounts opened or enrolled during the program period without the Promo Code are ineligible to receive the APY boost.

Note that the terms also add the following:

Customers are ineligible to participate in the Platinum Savings APY Boost promotion if:

They are earning an APY over the standard rate.
They participated in a previous APY Boost promotion.
They participated in a cash bonus promotion in the past 6 months.

Still, I am appreciative that some existing customers are again eligible for this promotion, as most other banks will only allow new customers to participate.

Note that if the base rate on the Platinum Savings account changes, during the promo you will maintain a 0.50% APY interest rate boost above the standard interest rate.

1APY disclosure for Platinum Savings:

Platinum Savings is a tiered interest rate account. Interest is paid on the entire account balance based on the interest rate and APY in effect that day for the balance tier associated with the end-of-day account balance. APYs — Annual Percentage Yields are accurate as of July 1, 2026: 0.25% APY on balances of $0.01 to $4,999.99; 3.75% APY on balances of $5,000.00 or more. Interest Rates for the Platinum Savings account are variable and may change at any time without notice. The minimum to open a Platinum Savings account is $100.

2 Discloser on multipliers:

Based on comparison to the national average Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on savings accounts as published in the FDIC National Rates and Rate Caps, accurate as of September 21, 2026.

* Platinum Savings APY Boost Promotion Terms and Conditions

This is a limited time offer available to New and Existing customers who meet the Platinum Savings APY Boost promotion criteria.

Accounts enrolled in the Platinum Savings Annual Percentage Yield (APY) Boost promotion will receive a 0.50% APY boost on the Platinum Savings current standard APY tiers for 6 months following the opening of a new account or when an existing Platinum Savings account is enrolled in the promotion. The Platinum Savings APY boost will be applied on account balances up to $9,999,999.00. Account balances above $9,999,999.00 will earn the standard APY. If the standard-published APY should change during the promotion period, the APY boost will move with it, offering an account APY above the standard rate.

The Promotion begins on September 29, 2026, and ends December 15, 2026. Customers enrolled in the promotion prior to the end date will receive the APY boost for the 6-month period outlined in the terms and conditions.

The promotion can end at any time without notice.

For complete list of account details and fees, see the CIT Bank Personal Account disclosures.

Whole Foods has a new app where you can now order your groceries directly inside (instead of having to go through the Amazon app, which still works too). To get you to try it, they have a $10 off $50 offer with promo code APP10. Works on both pick-up and delivery.

In this current low-regulatory environment, I was surprised to see that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the State of Washington, and Amway just announced a $225 million settlement over “Unfair and Deceptive Business Practices”.

Multilevel Marketing (MLM) firms, sometimes called “pyramid schemes”, have a common set of criticisms and the settlement details offered some detailed examples of those criticisms. If you have thought about joining an MLM, you should definitely read the entire thing.

Most Amway “Independent Business Owners” (IBOs) lost money. Amway promises you an easy, ready-to-go business opportunity. $40,000+ a year on the side sounds great, right? In fact, the majority of IBOs spent more money purchasing Amway products and paid training materials than they ever made back from Amway. Not really a great side hustle when most people joining ended up losing more money than if they did nothing at all. At least if you deliver for DoorDash, you’ll get paid for your time.

The primary goal is to recruit more IBOs (build the pyramid). You end up getting the most commission when you recruit another person as an Amway IBO (who then buys the products), not actually selling products to customers. The products are nothing special. The “business owners” themselves are the source of profit.

Amway pressured IBOs to buy product themselves and then pretend those were real sales. The settlement states Amway and its affiliates deceptively instructed IBOs to falsely report product sales that never happened. This was designed to create the illusion that Amway’s revenue came from legitimate retail sales rather than internal recruitment purchases. This in turn makes the next recruit think it’s a great business.

Expensive paid training materials and seminars. Another significant source of revenue for people who actually made money at Amway was by selling proprietary training materials and seminars to new IBOs. Many are pitched as “required” for success.

Beyond the $225 million judgement amount, which mostly goes to past Amway IBOs, the settlement will enforce the following new rules to try and counter the above dangers for future Amway IBOs:

• Actually sell 70% of your product: IBOs will be required to sell to others at least 70% of the products they purchase from Amway each month.
• Reduced Recruitment Compensation: Recruiters will receive substantially reduced compensation if the IBOs they recruit buy products but do not resell them.
• Sales Tracking & Receipts: IBOs will need to report all of their customer sales promptly, including the actual sales price, and Amway will send receipts to all of an IBO’s customers.
• No paid training during first year. Amway can’t charge new IBOs for any training or “mentorship” during their first year.

I hope that news of this settlement travels so that people can be informed of the potential dangers of most MLM programs. I’m sure some members make a little bit of side income selling the turnkey MLM product, but the facts are the most just get eaten up in the machine and end up with a bunch of unsold product in their garage.

MLMs are definitely on my “Simply Avoid” list. Beyond having to bother my friends and family, most MLMs don’t have much upside potential because the product is a commodity. I would tell my kids that even the more successful Amway folks would have been better off creating their own business based on their own set of unique products, knowledge, and/or skills. It’s very cheap to start a business now – keep your downside low, and your upside high.

Image source: Amway