Charles Schwab $500 Refer-a-Friend Bonus

Charles Schwab is offering a bonus of up to $500 for opening an account when you open an account using a friend’s invitation link.

For more current bank offers, see our bank bonuses page. The most popular offers are from Chase Bank, SoFi, U.S. Bank, and Axos Bank.

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About Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab is the 14th largest banking institution in the United States with over $3.3 trillion in client assets and is the 3rd largest asset manager in the world.

Charles Schwab $500 Bonus Offer

Link

Charles Schwab is offering a referral bonus of up to $500 when you’re referred by a friend with a Charles Schwab account and open a new eligible account.

Eligible accounts include Charles Schwab’s checking account and brokerage account.

The bonus varies from $100 to $500, depending on your net deposit amount:

Ninja Update 4/1/21: Bonus structure has been revised. The requirement for the $100 bonus is now the same as the previous $200 bonus while the $200 bonus has been removed entirely. This deal isn’t quite as great now since anyone depositing less than $25,000 gets nothing:

How To Get $500 Bonus

In order to get a bonus of up to $500, there are 3 basic steps:

1. Use your friend’s referral code when you open a Schwab account
2. Make a qualifying net deposit of cash and/or securities within 45 days
3. Receive a bonus up to $500 a week after the 45-day qualification period

Other Benefits

Outside of the referral opening bonus, both the checking account and brokerage account are useful for unique reasons:

Charles Schwab Checking Account

The checking account is as valuable as the Fidelity Cash Management account.

I love both because they refund all ATM fees. It also doesn’t charge foreign exchange fees when you’re travelling overseas and even reimburses international ATM fees!

Charles Schwab Brokerage Account

Opening up a brokerage account makes you eligible for Charles Schwab American Express Platinum card. This is important because American Express has a “once per lifetime” policy when it comes to credit card sign up bonuses.

This applies to each unique card, meaning you can’t get a second bonus on the same card.

But because Amex considers the Charles Schwab AMEX Platinum card a different product than their standard AMEX Platinum card, you can double-dip on the sign up bonus.

Additionally, a unique feature of the Charles Schwab version is that you can redeem your American Express Membership Rewards points to your checking account at a 25% bonus.

Let’s take the 60,000 Membership Rewards points you get from opening up this charge card.

Normally, you’d get a value of 1 cent per point when you convert to cash; so 60,000 Amex points are worth $600.

With the unique 25% bonus, your 60,000 points converts to $750 instead.

That’s a sweet deal if you want to redeem points to cash!

Terms and Conditions

• Offer valid for referred individuals who do not currently have a Schwab account (other than a Stock Plan Services account) and who open an eligible checking account or retail brokerage account
• Net deposits are assets deposited into the enrolled account minus assets withdrawn from the account and transferred out of Schwab.
• Only outside assets new to Schwab qualify; assets transferred from affiliates other than Schwab Retirement Plan Services are excluded.
• Net deposits will be calculated as of the 45th day after enrollment, and the bonus award will be credited to the enrolled account within approximately one week.
• For taxable accounts, you must maintain the net deposit amount (less any market losses) at Schwab for at least one year or Schwab may charge back the bonus award.
• This offer is limited to one per account, with no more than one account enrolled per client.
• The bonus award, when combined with the value received from all other offers in the last 12 months, may not exceed $5,000 per household, as defined in the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Individual Investors.
• This offer is not transferable, saleable, or valid in conjunction with other offers and is available to U.S. residents only.
• Employees, contractors, or persons similarly associated with Schwab or a Schwab affiliate; their spouses; and employees of any securities regulatory organization or exchange are not eligible. Other restrictions may apply.

Related:

• Chase Private Client Bonus ($3,000 bonus)
• Chase Bank Promotions ($2,300 in bonuses)
• Axos Bank Promotions ($600 in bonuses)

The Bottom Line

This is a really nice bonus and both the Charles Schwab checking account and brokerage account have their own benefits that many find valuable.

Unfortunately, to get this bonus, you need to be referred by someone who already has an account. The person referring doesn’t get anything – this only benefits the new customer.

If you’d like a referral, leave your email address in the comments below.

Good Samaritans who’d like to help out need to send the referral code along with their name and email address. Sometimes, Schwab asks new customers the name of the person who referred them so they need to be prepared.