There is money to be made in sign-up bonuses!
I love free money, and I love trying new services! So today’s Tightwad Tuesday is all about bonuses for trying out new programs! I’ve personally signed up and earned bonuses from each of the following programs. Read through them and see if any appeal to you. It could be a quick way to earn a few dollars!
Revolution Money Exchange
Yesterday I learned about Revolution Money Exchange from Patrick at Cash Money Life and Pinyo at Blogthority. Revolution Money Exchange is a way to transfer money to other people, much like Paypal. The big difference is that with Revolution Money Exchange is that there are no fees, unless you request a paper statement or overdraw your account.
It’s not accepted by as many merchants as Paypal…yet. I’m sure Revolution Money Exchange will be in the running soon though. To gain new customers, they’re offering $25 signup bonuses. For $25 I was willing to give them a shot. If Revolution Money Exchange ever overtakes Paypal, I’ll already have my account ready to go…and I have $25 on top of that. :)
Signing up for Money Exchange is completely safe. I won’t go into all the details, because Patrick has thoroughly covered the safety aspect in his article.
And if you find that you like Revolution Money Exchange, you can refer other people, and get a $10 bonus! This deal is only good through April 15th, so if you want in on it, you need to act quickly!
Ebates
Ebates also offers signup bonuses. If you shop online, I highly encourage you to check out ebates. When you visit your favorite retailers through the ebates links, you’re eligible to receive cash-back from the purchases you make.
Recently I needed printer ink. Usually I buy through Mypoints, but I needed to make a purchase, so I could get my $5 signup bonus for ebates. I purchased some ink for a total of $8.25 after shipping (through 123 Inkjets), and I received $1.32 back from ebates. Not bad, right? Plus I earned my $5 signup bonus!
Signing up for ebates is free, and if you sign up through this link, you’ll earn $5, and I’ll get a $5 bonus. And if you like ebates, you can refer your friends for bonuses, too!
Lending Club
It seems that the late-breaking news today is that the Lending Club is undergoing a change, and the referral program has been terminated. Thanks, Scott, for the head’s up!
Peer to Peer Lending is all the rage these days. Blog posts about Prosper and Lending Club are all over the place. If you’ve ever wanted to try to earn interest through peer to peer lending, but weren’t sure if you wanted to put up your own money, Lending Club is offering a $25 bonus for signing up.
The minimum loan for Lending Club is $25, so basically you get free money to make your first loan. On the other hand, you don’t need to make a loan if you don’t want to. All you have to do to earn the $25 is sign up for an account and verify your bank information.
I signed up a couple of months ago, and I earned my $25 without a hitch. I always love free money!
ING Direct
If you’ve been thinking about opening an account with ING Direct, you can also earn a $25 savings bonus. You need to deposit $250 in an ING savings or checking account through someone’s referral link, and you earn $25. The person who refers you gets $10. And like all the other programs, if you like the program, you can refer all your friends.
If you’ve been wanting to open an ING account, feel free to use one of my referral links. I’m almost out of savings referrals, but I still have plenty of checking referrals.
And if you’re wondering how you could possibly use an online savings or checking account to your advantage, there are great posts on the subject here at Being Frugal, at Gather Little by Little, and at I’ve Paid for This Twice Already.
I understand that some people are wary of signup bonuses, but I have personally applied for and received the bonuses from all of the sites I’ve mentioned. I would never recommend something that I haven’t tried myself first, and I can assure you that earning the bonuses through these programs is a painless process.
If you don’t mind signing up for multiple programs, using signup bonuses can be an easy way to make $25 or more.
Photo by AMagill.
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The last time I placed an order with Amazon.com, I got a flier for ING in my package that allowed me to sign up and get the $25 bonus without an initial $250 deposit… very exciting. I was able to deposit $10, and get $25 free.
Lending Club’s Referral Program is terminated. They, in my opinion, are no longer a Peer to Peer lending group, unless they clarify what they are doing and it was a terrible misunderstanding on my part.
See my blog for more info.
Yea, I’m not sure exactly what is going on with Lending Club… anyone out there have a solid article?
Not sure what you mean by “solid article” but the lending club blog pretty much contains the email they sent out.
@No Debt Plan – The Lending Club blog did have an announcement up on their blog, though to my recollection, it didn’t include anything on the referral bonuses. However, after seeing Scott’s comment this morning, I checked with other bloggers I know that are more in the loop with lending club than I am, and what Scott said is true. At this point the referral program is terminated.
Here’s the lending club announcement:
http://blog.lendingclub.com/2008/04/07/lending-club-goes-quiet/
And here’s the Dough Roller’s take:
http://www.doughroller.net/2008/04/08/lending-club-halts-new-lender-registrations-and-referral-program-pending-filing-with-sec/
I also did a piece about Lending Club Lynnae and quite frankly I think we all know the truth: this is probably the end of Lending Club
I just signed up to Revolution Money Exchange using your referral link. I hope the $10 gets to ya soon!
I’ve seen this around the internet for awhile, but sometimes I’m dumb and don’t think to actually sign up for free money. Lol.
@ Jesse – I would contend the exact opposite. Lending Club setting up a secondary market (which is what sounds like is happening) is a good thing for the peer lending space. I read prosper’s SEC filing awhile back (yes, I’m a nerd), and if Lending Club is establishing a secondary marketplace that would definitly not mean the end of them.
It is too bad that the referral program is ending, but makes sense if they are not taking new lenders for the time being.
Hmm….something just doesnt jive for Revolution Money Exchange with me. If they’re doing it for no fees, how will they plan on making money? We’re talking an institution that will have to somehow pay for fraud investigations, prevent hackers, and protect our financial data…Are they backed by a major bank, or what is their plan to fund this service long term?
Tim
TheMoneyKings.com
I signed up under your referral link, thanks for the tips!
@debtkid – Thanks for weighing in. I know you know a lot more about Lending Club than I do!
@Tim – I really encourage you to read this article at Cash Money Life. Patrick looked into the safety issues and also mentions who’s backing RME.
http://cashmoneylife.com/2008/04/07/revolution-money-exchange-25-referral-bonus/
@Kacie & Natalie – Thank you!
Great tips for adding to the old debt snowball – thanks for sharing!
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