Bonus never arrived? Find the reason before you write the ticket.

Chase pays within 15 days of every requirement being met. Varo takes up to 30 business days. Chime publishes no timing anywhere it controls. Read those three together and the commonest explanation for a missing bonus is already in view: it almost never means a provider decided not to pay you. It usually means one of six things happened, and five of them are visible from your own screen in about ten minutes. Working out which one you hit tells you whether to wait, whether to fix something while a window is still open, or whether to stop spending time on it.

The ten-minute check, in order

1. Has the clock actually run out? Most programs pay after the last requirement, not after the first.
2. Was the action you completed the action being tested? This is the big one.
3. Were you eligible at all? Old accounts and lookback periods disqualify people silently.
4. Does your state take part? Exclusion lists are long and rarely shown at signup.
5. Did the referral link or code ever attach to your account?
6. Was the account open and in good standing on the day of payout?

Which one hit you, and what to do about it

Usually just waiting 1. The clock has not finished

How to confirm. Find the stated payout window for your program and count from the day you met the last requirement, not from account opening.

What to do. Nothing, and specifically do not close the account or move the money out in frustration: several of these programs test good standing on the payout date (cause 6), so an impatient withdrawal turns a waiting problem into a permanent one.

Sometimes fixable 2. The qualifying action was not the qualifying action

How to confirm. Read your own transaction list, not your memory of it. For bank bonuses, the question is whether the money arrived as a genuine direct deposit: an electronic payment sent by an employer, payroll provider or government payer. Money you pushed in from another bank, a Zelle or Venmo transfer, a check you photographed, a cash deposit or a one off refund are excluded almost everywhere, and the full bank by bank list is in what counts as a direct deposit. Varo goes furthest and excludes anything arriving through a Varo routing number at all.

The same failure has other shapes. Chime needs one single deposit of $200 or more, so two deposits of $150 fail even though the total is larger. Current requires the payroll to be recurring, so a one off push does not clear it. Binance.US pays only after the new account trades or purchases at least $100 of crypto in the first 30 days. Nexo excludes stablecoin to stablecoin swaps from its exchange task and counts only the first Credit Line draw, which must be $5,000 or more in one transaction.

• A single deposit of $200 or more, which Chime counts$200
• Two deposits of $150, which it does not$150 + $150

Chime tests a single deposit against its $200 line, not the total of several.

What to do. If the window is still open, redo the action correctly: change payroll at the source instead of transferring money yourself, let one scheduled gig payout run instead of taking instant pay, or route the trade through a pair that counts. If the window has closed, this one is over.

Usually a hard no 3. You were never eligible: old accounts and lookbacks

How to confirm. These rules reach into history that nobody remembers at signup:

• Ally excludes anyone who has held any type of Ally Bank deposit account since January 1, 2024, including as a non primary joint owner.
• Axos requires that you have never been the primary or joint owner or borrower on any Axos deposit, loan or Axos Invest account, and allows one Refer a Friend reward only.
• Chase excludes existing checking customers, anyone whose account closed within 90 days, and anyone whose account was closed with a negative balance in the last three years, plus one opening bonus every two years.
• Varo requires that you have never been a Varo customer, with either entity. Closed accounts do not reset it.
• Marcus counts you as new only if you have not held a Marcus savings account or CD in the last twelve months.
• SoFi limits bonuses to one per member, and its direct deposit bonus is limited to people who have never set up direct deposit with SoFi.

What to do. If one of these describes you, stop here. There is no appeal, and opening a second account to try again invites a clawback. If none of them do, say so explicitly in your ticket, because the provider's records are what triggered the denial and records can be wrong.

Hard no 4. Your state was never in the program

How to confirm. Geographic exclusions are rarely shown during signup. Binance.US lists sixteen unsupported states and territories, including New York, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio, plus two more where USD services are unavailable. Axos excludes Vermont residents from its personal loan and mortgage promotions. Google Fi is open to United States residents only. Our Nexo pages carry a New York warning that Nexo's own referral page does not state, which is us being cautious rather than Nexo being clear.

What to do. Nothing that involves an address you do not live at. Using someone else's location to qualify is the fastest route to a closed account and a reversed bonus.

Rarely fixable 5. The link or code never attached

How to confirm. A referral bonus lives on the account record, not on your intention. Chime states plainly that if you opened without a referral link you cannot add one later. Marcus pays nothing to an account opened cold, without an existing customer's link. Ally fails a referral when the friend enrolls with one email address and opens the account with another. Chase requires the qualifying account to be opened with the corresponding coupon.

What to do. Ask support to check whether a referral is recorded on the account before you argue about the money. If it is not, that is the answer, and the fix belongs to your next account: enroll first, open second, same email throughout, and do not wander off to the provider's home page mid signup.

Fixable if you are quick 6. The account was not in good standing at payout

How to confirm. This condition is tested on the day the money is paid, not on the day you qualified, which is why it catches people who did everything right and then tidied up. Chase requires the enrolled account not be closed or restricted at payout; Ally, Axos and Varo require an open account in good standing on the payout date. Upgrade is broader still: every account you hold with them must be in good standing, so a late payment on an Upgrade card can cost a checking bonus.

What to do. Bring the account back into good standing, then ask for the payout to be reviewed. Providers are more willing here than anywhere else on this list.

One more thing to check: was it ever money?

How to write a ticket that gets resolved

Support can correct data, not rules, so give it data in one message.

1. The account opening date, and the date you enrolled through the referral if those differ.
2. The referral link or code used, and where you entered it.
3. Each qualifying transaction: date, amount, and the reference or transaction ID.
4. Screenshots of how each deposit was labelled in your transaction list. On a direct deposit dispute the label is the entire argument.
5. One sentence naming the requirement you believe you met, and the date you met it. Quote the terms if you have them.
6. What you are asking for. A review of a specific decision beats a general complaint.

Then give it the stated payout window plus a few days before following up, and keep the thread in one place. If the program publishes a dispute deadline, respect it: Ally, for example, requires disputes to be raised within 150 days after the payout date.

Where to go next

For a bank bonus, the definition of a qualifying deposit is where nearly all of them die: see the direct deposit comparison. If your pay cannot move, the routes that need no direct deposit are a better use of the next hour. Nexo has its own five-cause breakdown in Nexo bonus not paid.

The guides behind this checklist

DDWhat counts as a direct depositBank by bank, what qualifies and what silently does notRead the comparison → ChasePayout in 15 days, but only if the account is open and unrestricted$400 ChimeNo published payout timing, and a referral cannot be added later$100 AllyThe email mismatch, the 2024 lookback, and a 150 day dispute window$100 Binance.USSixteen unsupported states, and a $100 trade inside 30 days$10 each side NexoNexoPays about an hour after Day 45, in NEXO Token, not cash$5 to $600

Other things that did not arrive

Every one of these is read from the company’s own document and dated. See all 59 questions we have answered.