Selfbank's 60€ referral plan devolves into an incentive auction

Selfbank offered 60€ per friend, turning into an incentive auction

An online bank from La Caixa offered 60 euros to referrers and another 60 to invitees. The only condition: maintaining 1,000 euros in the account before January 31, 2011. The forum thread was filled with messages displaying emails visible to everyone.

The promotion started on March 11, 2010, and Selfbank closed it, theoretically, on December 31 of that year. In practice, it was extended until February 28, 2011. The bank called it a "referral plan," similar to ING's referral plan, paying both sides of the recommendation. The initial message highlighted that it was an online bank with no fees.

The mechanism worked by having the invitee fill in the promotion code field with the referrer's email address when applying for the account. An email and a photocopy of the ID were required. The promotion was notarized — by José Usera Cano, from Madrid — and limited to EU residents. Bank employees did not receive the referrer incentive, but their invitees did.

How much could be earned from referrals

The calculation was straightforward. Once the invitee became a customer, they could invite three people. Each referral brought 60 euros to the new referrer and 60 to the new invitee. The sum of the received referral and the three that could be made totaled 240 euros. The initial message author broke down the calculation, though the full payment details require reading the terms.

The condition was to have a balance of 1,000 euros "at some point" before January 31, 2011. There was no minimum holding period. The balance was deposited, detected, the 60 euros paid, and the money could be withdrawn. At least, that was the most optimistic interpretation, which circulated most strongly. "You put in your 1,000 euros, collect your incentives when your invitee also has 1,000€ balance, and goodbye," summarized the initial message author.

The fine print of the terms

The terms included a clause limiting the promotion to "one account per client and household." That is, if the bank detected multiple accounts linked to the same owner, it only paid the first one. It also reserved the right to cancel the promotion for anyone acting "in bad faith."

Some saw it clearly from the start. "In those two sentences lies the trap. You won't scam a bank so easily," wrote a participant. The bank also reserved the right to modify the terms or change gifts for ones of equivalent value.

The incentive auction: 25€ extra for your signature

As months passed, the problem shifted from the fine print to competition. The result was a race to the bottom. One participant offered 20€ extra. Another, 25€ net "apart from the 30 gross you get from Selfbank." A third added 5€ and promised to explain everything step by step.

Meanwhile, the promotion had changed. From the initial 60 euros, it dropped to 30, according to thread messages. The incentive was cut in half, and the 1,000€ threshold remained. The most repeated messages at the end of the thread were not analyses, but emails pasted over and over. One user summarized the situation with a single word: "Scam."

The thread repeated emails and offers for extra incentives. Those who arrived late to the promotion tried to compensate with their own incentives for what the bank no longer paid.

What remained of the promotion

Selfbank belongs to La Caixa and operates with no fees. The promotion was real and payments occurred, at least in some cases. The thread also reflected doubts and repeated messages.

The extension until February 2011 was the last data collected in the thread.