Get up to a $200 bonus when you open a new Upgrade Rewards Checking Plus account and direct deposit at least $1,000 within 45 days of account opening. You can also earn up to $200 when you open an Upgrade Premier Savings account and make the required deposits.
You can participate in both offers, provided that you were not previously an account owner of each bank product. That’s exactly what I did, opening the checking account in 2003 and then the savings account in 2024 to make a total of $700 bonuses (the savings account had a higher offer of $500 during that time period).
Full details of these bonus offers and other Upgrade promotions below.
For more current bank offers, see our bank bonuses page. The most popular offers are from Chase Bank, SoFi, KeyBank, and Axos Bank.
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About Upgrade
Upgrade is a fintech company that provides mobile banking products that are FDIC insured through its partner, Cross River Bank. Based in San Francisco, Upgrade products include personal loans, credit cards, a savings account, and a checking account.
Upgrade Banking Promotions
Offer #1: Upgrade Premier Savings – Up to $200 Bonus
Earn up to a $200 bonus when you refer a friend who opens a Premier Savings account, makes qualified deposits in the first 30 days, and maintains that balance for another 60 days. The Premier Savings account earns a nice 4.41% APY as well.
| TOTAL DEPOSITS | REFEREE BONUS | REFERRER BONUS |
| $15,000 – $24,999 | $25 | $25 |
| $25,000 – $49,999 | $50 | $50 |
| $50,000 – $99,999 | $100 | $100 |
| $100,000+ | $200 | $200 |
How To Get Premier Savings Bonus:
- Open an Upgrade Premier Savings account via this link.
- Share your personal invite link with a friend.
- Friend opens a Premier Savings account and deposits at least $15,000 in the first 30 days and maintains that balance for 60 days.
- Both of you get a bonus delivered to your account.
Offer Details
Availability: Nationwide
Expiration: 12/02/2024
Household Limit: None
Direct Deposit Required: No
Hard/Soft Pull: Soft
Early Account Termination Fee: None
This offer is a big winner because the Premier Savings account bonus can be earned even if you have collected the Upgrade Rewards Checking or Upgrade Card bonuses. Upgrade also doesn’t pull a ChexSystems report or EWS inquiry. There’s no hard credit pull on your credit report either because it’s a bank account and not a credit card.
The account bonus tracker is shown immediately after sign-up, so there’s guessing if you’re enrolled. While the bonus terms state that the payout occurs 30 days after completing the deposit requirements, in reality it pays out only a couple of days afterward.
Most importantly, when factoring in both the 5.69% APY + bonus reward, this account’s overall APY is likely higher than any other of your high-yield savings accounts.
Now here are some things to keep in mind based on my knowledge:
- If you have your Transunion credit report frozen, you must lift the freeze so they can perform a soft pull (soft inquiries have no affect on your credit score).
- Do not use Google Voice with Upgrade. If you do, they’ll ask you for tax returns, W2’s, and other personal information to verify who you are.
Offer #2: Upgrade Rewards Checking Plus $200 Referral Bonus
Get a $200 bonus if you use an existing customer’s referral link to open a new Upgrade Rewards Checking account and make direct deposits totaling $1,000 or more within 45 days of account opening.
Rewards Checking Bonus Step-by-Step Directions:
- Sign up for an Upgrade Rewards Checking Plus account using this link.
- Make direct deposits totaling at least $1,000 within 45 days of account opening.
- Receive a $200 bonus within three days of completing offer requirements.
Offer Details
Availability: Nationwide
Expiration: 12/02/2024
Household Limit: None
Direct Deposit Required: No
Hard/Soft Pull: Soft
Early Account Termination Fee: None
Avoiding Fees
Good news – there are no monthly account fees or early termination fees to worry about.
Referral Bonus Terms & Conditions
- This is for new customers only which means for the purposes of this referral bonus that If you do not currently have or have not previously had a checking account through Upgrade (a “New Customer”).
- You can receive a Welcome Bonus if you use an existing customer’s unique referral link to (1) open a new checking account, subject to account approval, by the Offer Period, and (2) set up direct deposit and make $1,000.00 in eligible direct deposits within forty-five (45) days from account opening (a “Qualified Registration”).
- If you complete a Qualified Registration, you will receive a welcome bonus in the amount presented to you when you open your checking account if your account is opened by the Offer Period (the “Welcome Bonus”).
The Bottom Line
Fantastic deals, especially the Premier Savings account because not only does it provide a new user incentive of up to $200, the account also offers one of the highest APY rates per our best high-yield savings accounts list.
I got approved instantly when I applied for the checking account, but had to wait a day for them to formally give me access to the account since I was a new Upgrade customer. Reports indicate that some users were asked to provide verification of their identity to make sure they were the ones opening the account.
Once I got the Upgrade debit card, I reloaded my Amazon account three times for $1 each to complete the bonus requirements. The $200 bonus got deposited into my Upgrade checking account four days later.
I’ll keep this account as the unlimited 2% cashback on debit card purchases at places like gas stations, utilities, and monthly subscriptions is a pretty good perk.
After you open an Upgrade Rewards Checking Plus account, you can invite others to join with your referral link. You will receive a $50 referral bonus after the person you refer successfully opens an account and completes $1,000 in direct deposits while they will receive a $200 sign-up bonus.
Note that while you can refer as many people as you want, you can only earn a maximum of $1,000 in referral bonuses in one calendar year. Now go find a few friends and hustle for the $1,000!
Run, don’t walk from Upgrade. I have spent hours on the phone with them resolving various issues. You are required to open multiple accounts to earn the bonuses. Each account has their own customer service desk and can only deal with that account. You will spend lots of your valuable time trying to get transferred to someone that can help.
I have had a bas experience with Upgrade. I opened my checking account, funded it with $500, received my debit card and used the card for multiple POS transactions.
THEN Upgrade suspended my account. When I called I was told I hade to forward pictures of the front and back of my drivers license as well as a picture of me holding up a piece of paper that had a number they gave me.
Way too much effort for $150. I would not recommend these guys.
John
For Bonus #3 your update seems to indicate that $1000 in direct deposits are now required and the bonus for the three debit transactions is $150.
The Upgrade site does not mention the $1000 requirement but only that the Rewards checking account be funded to cover the three debit transactions. Also the bonus promised is $200 within 3 days of the third debit transaction.
Thanks Larry for pointing that out! That update blurb was for a previous Upgrade revision to that product that has since been removed. I have taken out that portion to alleviate any confusion.
Whats that OneCard 3% ” on everyday purchases and 2% on everything else” ? What do they consider whats everyday purchase and what doesn’t count?
Since offer here says $400 and on the Upgrade site says $200 for the OneCard I’m going to assume its $200 for the Checkings account and $200 for the OneCard.
“Everyday” purchases for this card means transactions made at convenience stores, drugstores, restaurants and bars (including deliveries), and gas stations. It also includes recurring payments on utilities and monthly subscriptions including phone, cable, TV, and other streaming services.
The bonus was just adjusted tonight and I have revised the post to reflect this.
I thought this didn’t end until this month. I have 3 that are pending….
It doesn’t, but new users aren’t able to generate a referral link. The current end date for the $100 referral bonus is 1/31/23.
Upgrade end the referral program? No link available to share 😌
It looks like they removed the referral link from the website and app. I’ll reach out and see what they say. Existing links are still working so people who have it can still share it to others.
Opened account. Referred a friend. Got the card and loaded amazon 3 times. $100 added two days later. Then my referral link. I called and they said that the promo ended 11/11.
This seems much less complex than other bank Bonuses; you can open an account with no DD requirements, make essentially 3 $1 purchases, receive the bonus in a matter of days, and then close the account in a matter of days with no penalty?? Seems like a losing strategy on their part, no ?
Yes, that’s it! The offer is very straightforward, but not unheard of – like Fidelity and Novo.
Banks will adjust their promotions if customer acquisition costs outweigh the benefits. Just keep in mind sign-up offers are significantly less expensive than running television ads. Plus, it gets a ton of people in the door and a good number of them stay as customers.
There were a few accounts I opened earlier this year and I ended up keeping them because the features/benefits were interesting (e.g. Juno, Amex Business, SoFi).
I hadn’t heard of Juno, now that this has come to an end I need a new one preferably just like this!
We keep a list of all bank bonuses on this page (there are MANY of them). Enjoy!
I attempted to open an account and they are asking for 2 years of tax returns? I have never heard of this requirement to open a checking account
It’s not common, but banks may request this if their systems are unable to verify who you are. It happened to me for the first time with a bank bonus I did a few years back.
I believe they asked for tax info. because they couldn’t verify your annual earnings and much of their business model is geared toward making personal loans. They are not an actual bank. That service is contracted through Cross River Bank.