Examined Sep 18, 2026 Paid in cash $25,000 minimum Below a $25,000 net deposit, Schwab's referral bonus is exactly zero, no matter how many steps you get right.
Reach $500,000 and it climbs to $1,000, the top of the ladder. It is paid to you, the person opening the new account.
- Entry tier, on a $25,000 net deposit$100
- Top tier, on a $500,000 net deposit$1,000
Both figures go to the person opening the new account, once their net deposit clears inside 45 days.
What pays what
| Qualifying net deposit of $25,000 to $49,999 | $100 |
|---|---|
| $50,000 to $99,999 | $300 |
| $100,000 to $499,999 | $500 |
| $500,000 or more | $1,000 |
| Any net deposit under $25,000 | $0 |
Net deposits are assets deposited into the enrolled account minus assets withdrawn from the account and transferred out of Schwab. Only outside assets new to Schwab qualify; assets transferred from affiliates other than Schwab Retirement Plan Services are excluded.
Two words in the first column of the table carry the whole offer. Net deposit means what you move in minus what you take back out, so pulling money out during the window shrinks the number Schwab measures. Qualifying means the money has to be genuinely new to Schwab: shuffling assets you already hold there into a fresh account does not build a tier. Cash counts, and so do securities, meaning shares and funds transferred in from another broker at their value.
Do this, in this order
- Find a Schwab client and ask for their link first. Only an existing client can generate one, and you want it in hand before you start the application rather than halfway through it.
- Decide your tier before you decide anything else. The jump from $49,999 to $50,000 is worth $200, and the jump from $99,999 to $100,000 is worth another $200. If your number is under $25,000, stop here and read the alternatives at the bottom of this page instead.
- Bring money that is new to Schwab, and only that. The tier is built from outside assets arriving for the first time. Anything already sitting at Schwab does not count toward it no matter which account you park it in.
- Land the whole deposit inside 45 days, and start early. Cash or securities, but all of it inside the window. Moving an account from one broker to another is not instant and can eat a couple of weeks on its own, so begin on day one rather than day thirty.
- Do not take money back out during the window. It is a net deposit. A withdrawal mid-window is subtracted from the total Schwab measures, which can quietly drop you a tier or out of the offer entirely.
- Plan to leave the money for a year. For taxable accounts, Schwab may charge back the bonus if the net deposit, less any market losses, does not stay at Schwab for at least one year. The exact wording is quoted below.
The fine print that decides whether this is for you
The rate gets worse the more you bring. $100 on a $25,000 deposit is four tenths of one percent. $1,000 on $500,000 is two tenths. This is a nice thank-you attached to a move you were making anyway, not a reason to move half a million dollars.
The deposit has to stay for a year. In July this page declined to guess whether the money had to stay put. Schwab’s referral page answers it, read September 18, 2026: “For taxable accounts, you must maintain the net deposit amount (less any market losses) at Schwab for at least one year or Schwab may charge back the bonus award.” So the $100 on $25,000 is a one-year commitment of $25,000, with the bonus clawed back if you move it sooner. Market losses do not count against you; withdrawals do. The same page says the award “will be reported on your Form 1099-INT”, so it is taxed as interest. We still found no end date for the offer.
Terms move. Referral tiers and windows are set by the provider and can be modified or withdrawn. Treat the figures above as what the live offer said on the day we read it, and confirm them yourself before you transfer anything.
Is it worth your time?
If $25,000 or more was heading to a brokerage regardless, then yes. Ask a Schwab client for a link, open the account, move the money in one go, and $100 to $1,000 arrives for work you were doing anyway. If you were hoping to squeeze a bonus out of a few hundred dollars, this is the wrong page and no amount of persistence will change that. We have read plenty of brokerage offers that hide their real requirement in paragraph nine. Schwab's is right at the front.
