Highest-ever $200 bonus is here! Based on testing by several community members, SSN approvals are instant, and ITIN accounts are also easy to open. The bonus requires a total of $500+ Direct Deposit within 45 days, which you can handle with LemFi Us to US transfer. The offer expires on August 31, so hurry!

A community member used LemFi to transfer to this checking account, entered the routing number and checking account number, added the memo payroll, and triggered the sign-up bonus!

About Varo Money

Varo Bank, N.A. is a licensed national bank in the United States. It started as a fintech company and later successfully obtained a banking charter, becoming one of the first fully digital consumer chartered banks in the US. This means your deposits are directly insured by the FDIC, with security on par with traditional big banks. Varo is a fully online mobile bank designed to provide a simple, transparent, low-fee banking experience. It has no physical branches, and all operations are completed through its mobile app, offering users a high-yield savings account and a convenient checking account.

Account opening and bonus

Now you can receive a bonus by registering for Varo through an invite link; see the beginning of the article for details

Opening an account requires SSN/ITIN. Since it is only a checking account, it will not affect your credit report or score. Note that when opening the account, do not sign up for anything other than Varo Money, such as Varo Believe or a loan.

About DD

If you have payroll that you can move to another account, you can directly switch it to this checking account and just meet one DD within 45 days. If that is not convenient, you can consider using the transfers below to make them look like Direct Deposit (DD), commonly called fake DD

Options that meet the requirement (from the DOC article)

  • Alliant: 1, 2, 3, 4,
  • Ally: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5(didn't work) , 6  (didn't work)
  • Bank of America: 1, 2  (didn't work)
  • Capital One: 1, 2  (didn't work)
  • Charles Schwab: 1,
  • Chase: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11(didn't work) , 12, 13(business) , 14  (personal, didn't work)
  • Current: 1,
  • Discover: 1, 2(savings) , 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,
  • M&T: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
  • Santander: 1, 2  (didn’t work)
  • Square cash: 1, 2  (didn’t work)
  • Unify: 1,
  • USAA: 1, 2,
  • Wealthfront: 1, 2, 3,
  • Wise: 1,

Pick one account you already have; for an investment account, withdraw directly to Varo, and for a bank account, use an ACH transfer with payroll in the memo to Varo, and there is a strong chance of triggering the $150 account-opening bonus.

Fees

There is no monthly fee for this product, and there is no early account-closing fee.

Other products

They also have a few other products, so let’s go over them.

Credit card Varo Believe

Not very useful, but it can help build credit history. You need a Varo account to apply.

Varo advance

It seems to be a loan. Although it is advertised as interest-free, there is a fee.

Varo Saving

This one is somewhat interesting: it starts at 2.5% APY, and next month, if you meet two conditions, you can get 5% APY directly. However, the 5% rate only applies to the first $5,000; anything above that earns 2.5% APY again.

  • A total of $1,000 DD each month
  • The Varo account has a positive balance

Summary

There are no hidden fees here, and getting a free $150 is pretty nice. You could also open a savings account just for the 5% APY, but unfortunately the cap is too low.

Application link

If you sign up for Varo through the referral link and make a Direct Deposit of $500 within 45 days, you can get the $150 bonus.