Insider+ VIP · Earning Guide
Ways to Earn: Honest Guide
Banks, brokerages and apps offer signup bonuses, cashback and free trials to new customers. This guide tracks live offers with the steps to qualify and the catches to watch for. Work the list top to bottom and compare each offer’s requirements before you commit.
Results vary. Nothing here is financial advice or a promise of earnings.
MEMBERS ONLY · UPDATED MONTHLY
Straight talk — not financial advice.
Every offer below was verified on September 24, 2026. Bonuses change, expire, and come with requirements: direct deposits, minimum balances, trial windows that convert to paid plans. Always check the official terms before you sign up. Nothing here is a recommendation to open any account — it's an overview of current offers, so you can decide for yourself.
How this desk stays free for members: some buttons below will become partner links once our program applications are approved. That never changes what you pay or the bonus you receive — the company just pays us a commission for the introduction. Until a link is approved, it goes to the official offer or a verified write-up, plainly labeled.
The signup-bonus playbook
Programs where new customers can receive a bonus, cashback, or a free trial. Each card shows what the program offers, what it takes to qualify, and the catch — in that order.
Tiered cash bonus
SoFi Checking & Savings
- You get
- A tiered cash bonus based on qualifying direct-deposit totals within roughly the first month, plus a savings rate boost for new customers. Check SoFi’s official terms for the current tiers and requirements.
- To qualify
- Open the account, route direct deposit from an employer or other qualifying source, and hit your tier inside the window.
- The catch
- Your bonus tier is driven entirely by your direct-deposit total — no qualifying deposit, no bonus. Confirm the current offer on SoFi’s site before you move money.
Verify current terms
14 days free trial
Aura identity protection
- You get
- A 14-day free trial of any Aura plan — identity theft protection, VPN, antivirus and credit monitoring in one.
- To qualify
- Sign up on the official trial page and pick a plan; the trial starts immediately.
- The catch
- The trial converts to a paid plan automatically. Set a calendar reminder for day 13 if you don't want to keep it.
Official trial page
Low-cost 7-day trial
IdentityIQ credit & identity monitoring
- You get
- Seven days of Identity Essentials or Credit Essentials for a nominal trial fee.
- To qualify
- Sign up for the trial on IdentityIQ’s site — card required, a small trial fee is charged.
- The catch
- Day 8 bills the full monthly rate. This is a cheap test-drive — cancel inside the week if it’s not for you.
Program details
30 days free trial
Greenlight kids' debit
- You get
- A 30-day free trial of Greenlight's debit card + financial-literacy app for kids and teens.
- To qualify
- Sign up for the trial; add your kid as a user.
- The catch
- Converts to a paid plan after 30 days. Note: the cash bonus you may see advertised lives on personal referral links and doesn’t apply here.
Verify current terms
Small sign-on bonus
Swagbucks
- You get
- A small bonus just for registering and verifying your email, then cash for surveys, discovery offers and shopping.
- To qualify
- Register and confirm the verification email — the bonus posts to your account.
- The catch
- Survey payouts are small and slow. Honest math: this is real money at a low hourly rate — best for downtime, not a job replacement.
Program details
Small signup bonus
InboxDollars
- You get
- A small signup bonus, then cash for surveys, videos and everyday tasks.
- To qualify
- Register and confirm your email.
- The catch
- The signup bonus alone doesn’t leave the platform until you reach the cash-out threshold by earning more. Same honest math as Swagbucks: slow, real money.
2026 review & terms
Cashback gas + groceries
Upside
- You get
- Real cash back on gas, groceries and dining — paid out to PayPal, bank or gift cards — plus a new-user welcome bonus.
- To qualify
- Install the app, claim an offer before you buy, pay as usual, check in or upload the receipt.
- The catch
- The exact current welcome-bonus value wasn't verifiable on their affiliate page as of Sept 2026 — check the app's offer screen before counting on a number.
Disclosure: this page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn more.
Program details
Cashback groceries
Ibotta
- You get
- Cash back on grocery and retail purchases, withdrawable to PayPal, Venmo or gift cards — plus a new-user welcome bonus.
- To qualify
- Register, activate offers before shopping, submit the receipt through the app.
- The catch
- Exact welcome-bonus value through new-user flows wasn't verifiable as of Sept 2026 — verify in-app. And never use a referral code alongside other tracking; that's a ban risk on their end.
Program details
Free credit monitoring
Credit Sesame
- You get
- A genuinely free credit-monitoring account — score, report refreshes and alerts, no card required.
- To qualify
- Register a free account.
- The catch
- No cash here — the value is the free monitoring (which you'd otherwise pay for). Program terms are third-party reported and we're re-verifying them.
Program details
Trial re-verifying
Norton LifeLock
- You get
- Identity-theft protection with (historically) a trial or introductory discount for new customers.
- To qualify
- Check the current offer on Norton's site — we're re-verifying the live trial terms as of Sept 2026.
- The catch
- We won't quote a trial we can't confirm. This card stays flagged until the current offer is verified — check before paying anything.
Program details
Start here: your first weekend
- Bank bonus first — it’s the largest category. If you can route direct deposit, SoFi’s tiered bonus is the highest-value offer on this page for the least effort. Set the deposit up on day one so the clock starts.
- Grab the two signup bonuses. Swagbucks and InboxDollars each pay a small bonus for registering and verifying your email — a few minutes total, banked toward their cash-out thresholds.
- Install the cashback pair. Upside (gas, groceries, dining) and Ibotta (groceries) turn spending you're already doing into PayPal payouts. Claim offers before you buy — that's the step everyone forgets.
- Trial the protection stack cheap. Aura’s 14-day trial and IdentityIQ’s low-cost trial week let you test-drive identity monitoring for almost nothing. Calendar reminders on day 13 and day 6 — trials that convert silently are how "free" gets expensive.
Bonus tracker
Every live offer on one board. Updated monthly — bank bonuses change constantly, and expired offers get pruned.
| Offer | Bonus | What it takes | Ends | Status |
|---|
| Loading the tracker… |
This week's first alerts
This week’s sweepstakes alerts — VIP members see them before they hit the public Win & Earn board.
Loading this week's alerts…