Update October 2021: The Lili referral bonus is now up to $100, although the Drop bonus is back to 70,000 points. Still, the total value is still $30 higher and this account doesn’t require any business docs. I charged $250 onto the debit card and the $100 bonus posted quickly (screenshot below). I am still waiting on the Drop bonus which it says takes up to 45 days to post.
Original full review:
- Banking. No minimum balance and no monthly fees. Access your direct deposit up to 2 days early. No ATM fees within the 38,000+ ATM MoneyPass network. Free debit card.
- Free freelancer features. App helps you easily mark business expenses, find tax deductions, set aside tax withholding. Deposit cash at 90,000 retail locations including Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and 7-11.
- Paid freelancer features with Lily Pro at $5/month. This premium paid tier includes $200 in fee-free overdrafts, 1% APY interest on savings, cashback rewards on the debit card, and the ability to create and send unlimited invoices.
- $90 Drop promo + $100 referral bonus for new users. Details below.
My experience. Thankfully, this account doesn’t hassle you for a bunch of uploaded business verification documents, as it is focused on freelancers. After opening an account, my most important tip is to double-check your SSN on the application before submitting. If you mistype it, they won’t give you a chance to try again and you’ll have to reach them by phone to correct the situation, which wastes a lot of time. Otherwise, it would have been quite fast. This app does offer special appeal to solo-entrepreneurs (I prefer that term to “side-hustlers”) looking for some help marking business expenses and tracking them to minimize taxes.
After you make a purchase on the debit card, the app will almost instantly ask you if it is a work or “life” expense. You can easily attach a photo receipt if it is a work expense for your records. Incoming deposits can be marked so that you put aside some money for taxes.
I was also interested in the 1% APY savings account, but it requires the Lily Pro subscription at $5 a month. If you maintain high cash balances, this still might be a good trade-off since most other online banks are only at 0.50% APY or so currently. In addition, invoice software can cost $5 a month on its own, so if you can use both features, this can be a good combo.
$70 Drop promo + $50 $100 referral bonus details. The Drop app is a rewards app that is mostly a “shop to earn” app but also includes a few good non-shopping promos from time to time. If you open via my
After opening your account, download the app and search for “Lili”. Right now there is a promo for 70,000 Drop points (worth $70) if you open a new account through the Drop app and deposit $200 within 45 days. There is no direct deposit requirement. See screenshot below:
In addition, you should be able to stack this with the referral offer. To accomplish this, do NOT use $50 $100 bonus is triggered when you enter JonathanPing as the referral code and spend $250 on the Lili debit card within 45 days. Excludes P2P payments and ATM withdrawals. See screenshot below:
Altogether, that’s hopefully $170 without requiring moving your direct deposit or much upfront capital. As noted in my
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