All offers / Bank accounts / OnePay
Examined Jul 27, 2026 Paid in points Amount is app-only OnePay's referral pays in points, and only the app knows how many.
Miss the gate and the same balance earns 1.00% APY instead. APY means annual percentage yield, the yearly rate a balance earns once compounding is counted in, and a gap of 2.35 percentage points is worth far more to most people than any referral bonus OnePay has ever run. On $4,000 it is the difference between about $134 a year and about $40.
- A month in which you cleared the Banking+ gate3.35% APY
- A month in which you did not1.00% APY
OnePay Savings, as of 5/13/2026. The gate is tested every month.
What pays what
| The referral bonus, in dollars | Shown in the app only |
|---|---|
| Form of the reward, both sides | OnePay Points |
| When it arrives, once your friend qualifies | Within 5 days |
| How many referral bonuses you can earn | 10 in total |
| Savings, clearing the gate, as of 5/13/2026 | 3.35% APY |
| Savings, not clearing the gate | 1.00% APY |
| Balance the 3.35% is limited to | $250,000 |
| Points sitting in the wallet, unredeemed for 90 days | Expire |
Do this, in this order
- Read the current referral amount in the app, and distrust every figure you find elsewhere. OnePay versions its referral terms as separate documents surfaced inside the app, and they are not linked from its public legal page. The two archived versions we could read cover consecutive windows in 2025 and the referrer's reward changed by a factor of five between them.
- Ignore any 2026 deadline you see quoted on a tracker. The most widely repeated version of this offer carried an open-by date that had already passed before we examined it on July 24, 2026. Whether it lapsed, was extended, or was replaced is not something OnePay tells the open web. The app is the only current source.
- Understand that "unlock Banking+" is the real test. Everything hangs on it, for the referral and for the rate. Pick whichever door you can actually walk through before you invite anyone or expect anything.
- Do it within 45 days of the account opening. The person being referred has to unlock Banking+ inside 45 days of opening their OnePay Cash account. That is the window that decides whether either side gets paid.
- Do not assume your usual deposits count. In the versions of the referral terms we could read, direct deposits explicitly excluded peer-to-peer transfers, cash deposits, and check deposits. The current wording lives in the app, and there is no reason to expect it to be looser. If your income arrives by Venmo or a photographed cheque, plan on the balance route instead.
- Redeem the points, and do not let them sit. You need at least 25 OnePay Points before you can redeem anything, and points held only in the wallet expire 90 days after being earned unless you open another OnePay product.
- Mind the balance ceiling if you are moving real savings. The high rate is limited to a total savings balance of up to $250,000, so this is a home for an emergency fund, not for everything you own.
The fine print, and the gaps we could not close
OnePay publishes its rewards terms and its savings terms openly, and its referral terms not at all.
The rate cliff is the biggest number on this page. Clearing the gate or missing it is a 2.35 percentage point swing, dated 5/13/2026 and variable thereafter. Whatever the referral turns out to be worth, this is the thing to optimise.
There is clawback language, at least historically. The archived referral terms reserved OnePay's right to take remedial action including revoking points and recovering cash back. Assume something similar survives in the current version.
Early pay runs off the same gate. OnePay's advertised early access to your paycheck, up to two days ahead depending on when your employer sends the data, is only available to people who cleared the same $500 deposits or $5,000 balance test. It is one benefit with two names, not two benefits.
What we could not verify. The current offer period, the current dollar figures, any geographic exclusions, and whether there is a must-stay-open period. One 2025 version restricted text-message referrals to Washington State residents; whether that survives is unknown. Each of those is unstated, not ruled out, and each is in the app.
Is it worth your time?
Judge this one on the account, not the bonus. The savings rate is competitive, the qualifying test is the most forgiving on this page because a balance can stand in for a direct deposit, and the money arrives as a rate you keep instead of a one-off you spend. Treat the referral itself as a rebate, not a plan: it is real, it is capped at ten, it lands within five days, and its size is a moving target that only your own screen can tell you. Read the number in the app, and if it is good, invite the friend you were going to tell anyway.
