All offers / Bank accounts / Marcus
Examined Jul 27, 2026 Paid as interest Changed Jul 1, 2026 Marcus stopped paying cash on July 1, 2026. The referral is now a rate boost.
Marcus published 3.40% APY as its standard Online Savings rate on July 24, 2026. The boost lifts that to 4.40% APY for three months, after which it drops back. Because this is a rate and not a payment, the balance you keep there is the whole story: about $25 on $10,000, about $2.50 on $1,000, and precisely nothing on an account you open and forget to fund.
- The standard Online Savings rate, as published on July 24, 20263.40% APY
- The same account with the referral boost attached4.40% APY
One percentage point, for three months, and then the rate reverts to whatever the standard one is.
What pays what
| You, as a new savings customer arriving through a friend's link | +1.00% APY, 3 months |
|---|---|
| The existing customer who referred you | +1.00% APY, 3 months |
| What the boost is worth on a $10,000 balance | About $25 |
| What it is worth on a $1,000 balance | About $2.50 |
| Opening an account cold, without anyone's referral link | No boost |
| Anyone who held a Marcus savings account or CD in the last 12 months | Not eligible |
| A CD, at any balance | Not eligible |
| The second owner on a joint account | Nothing |
Do this, in this order
- Find someone who already banks with Marcus. This reward only exists if you arrive through an existing customer's referral link. Open an account straight off the Marcus website and you get the ordinary rate and no boost at all. We hold no Marcus link, so if you do not know a Marcus customer, the plain 3.40% is what you are deciding on.
- Check the twelve month rule before anything else. Marcus counts you as a new customer only if you have not had a Marcus savings account or a Marcus CD at any point in the last twelve months. A closed account from last spring is enough to disqualify you.
- Open savings, not a CD. CDs are excluded from the boost. A CD, or certificate of deposit, locks your money up for a fixed term in exchange for a fixed rate, and it earns you nothing here no matter how it is funded.
- Decide whose name goes first on a joint account. Only the Primary Owner earns the boost, and it cannot be fixed afterwards.
- Do the arithmetic on your own balance before you move anything. One percentage point for three months is a quarter of a percent of whatever you actually hold. Multiply your realistic balance by 0.0025 and you have your answer in dollars. If that number does not justify the afternoon, this is not your offer.
- If you refer friends, expect a queue rather than a pile. You can refer up to five, and the boosts run one after another instead of stacking: one is active while up to four wait their turn.
The fine print that decides whether it is worth anything
A rate boost fails differently from a cash bonus. Nobody withholds it; it just turns out to be worth less than you assumed, or to land on the wrong person.
The reward scales with your balance, so a small saver gets a small reward. At $2,000 the boost is worth about five dollars across the whole three months. It only starts to matter in the tens of thousands, and even at $50,000 it is roughly $125.
The clock is three months, and it does not warn you. The boosted rate applies for three months and then reverts to whatever the standard rate is at that moment. There is no cliff edge to notice on a statement, so put the end date in your calendar on day one.
Boosts queue, they do not stack. Refer five friends and you get five three month stretches running one after another, with one active and up to four waiting. Nobody gets to 8.40% by referring their whole family, and if you close the account the queue goes with it.
Only the Primary Owner of a joint account collects. Two people, one boost.
The base rate underneath is variable. The boost is expressed as one point on top of the standard rate, not as a guaranteed 4.40%. Savings rates are variable by design, and Marcus can move the base whenever it likes, during your boost as well as after it.
It arrives as interest, so it is taxed as interest. This reward shows up in the interest your account earns, and interest is taxable income that banks report.
Is it worth your time?
Marcus did not hide the change, it simply stopped writing cheques, and what is left is fine on its own terms. If you already keep an emergency fund in a savings account, a friend's link gets you 4.40% instead of 3.40% for a quarter of a year, which on $10,000 is about $25 for perhaps twenty minutes of work. What it is not is a bonus worth chasing. If you were hoping to open an account, collect a payment, and move on, that door closed on July 1, 2026, and the offers below still pay in actual money.
