Get your friends to make you money

There’s no better publicity than word of mouth. Companies know this and so they are willing to stump up a load of cash to give you the incentive to refer their products and services to your friends. You can take advantage of £100s of cash rewards available by getting your friends to sign up for things you think are good – or even things you don’t like so much.

The Moneymagpie team is here to take you through the best ‘refer-a-friend’ deals and we’ve found some extra ones today to make you even more money.

Get great deals at refermehappy.com
Make money from the banks
Make money from broadband

Our top tip is to head to refermehappy.com, an online matching service where ‘referrers’ and ‘friends’ are matched up to get referral bonuses from companies like Sky, Virgin and the AA. There are loads of rewards to be had in all sorts of areas:

Get paid to bank – rewards from First Direct
Breakdown assistance – rewards from the AA
Broadband – rewards from Be, BT Internet, IDNet, Newnet, Nildram and PlusNet.
Food – rewards from Ocado
Health and beauty – rewards from Esporta, Harpers Fitness, Red Door Spas and Yogamatters.com
Insurance – rewards from Halifax, Standard Life, Simply Health, Columbus Direct, Direct Line, and Tesco Insurance.
Holidays – rewards from holidaylettings.co.uk and Expedia
Mobile phones – rewards from 3 Mobile
TV – rewards from Sky and Virgin Media
Cashback sites – rewards from, well, pretty much all of them

Refer me happy!

We’ve tried this out here at Moneymagpie and our verdict is a resounding thumbs up! Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Register

You need to register at refermehappy.com before you can start referring ‘friends’ for deals, or they can start referring you. This only takes a minute and it is free (the cost of the site is covered by advertising). You will be sent an e-mail asking you to confirm you e-mail address. When this is done, you’re ready to go.

Step 2: Get referring

If you click on ‘Deals’ on the homepage you can search for companies you are already signed up to. For example, if you are an AA member, go to ‘Breakdown Assistance’, click on the AA deal (£15 M&S vouchers when you refer a friend) and select ‘I want to refer someone for this offer’. Then submit your confirmation. You are now registered as a ‘referrer’ and refermehappy.com will send you an e-mail when they find a match for you.

With some companies you can refer as many friends as you like – think of all the cash you could make!

If your company offers a ‘refer-a-friend’ deal but it is not listed on refermehappy.com, you can tell them about it by clicking on ‘Submit a company or new offer’ under the appropriate category. As a reward you’ll be the first to be notified about new friends for this deal.

Step 3: Clinch the deal

For security purposes all communication from third parties is sent via a new e-mail address that refermehappy.com sets up for you. Never disclose personal information to individual referrers, especially not your bank details. Generally all you need is the name of the friend or referrer and their e-mail address when applying for these deals; all other information goes through the company itself.

If, having registered as a ‘referrer’, you are matched up with a ‘friend’ then the ball is in your court to secure the deal through the company. For example if you want to refer someone to sign up to the AA, go to the AA ‘refer a friend’ page and fill in the online application form. If the ‘friend’ joins up, £15 in M&S vouchers should be on its way!

Step 4: Be a friend

Most of the companies on the website offer a cash reward for the ‘friend’ as well. If you’re thinking of switching your current account or your broadband providers for example, then it might be worth switching to a company that does referral deals. In some cases (for example with the gym and spa memberships) you can try out the new company before you switch.

If you do decide to join any company after being referred, refermehappy.com will give you priority for your own future referrals for that company.

Moneymagpie’s golden rule

Don’t sign up to anything just so you can get the friend deal and then realise you can’t afford the monthly bills. Playing the ‘refer-a-friend’ game is pointless if you end up with a product that a) you can’t afford, b) you don’t actually want or c) isn’t right for you. But if you’re already thinking of switching, the deals listed on refermehappy.com could be for you.

Deals listed on refermehappy.com

There are currently 32 deals listed on the site, the most popular being SkyTV (£50 M&S vouchers for referrer and friend), Virgin Media (£30 credit for referrer and friend), First Direct (£100 credit for the friend, £50 for the referrer) and 3 Mobile (£30 for referrer and friend).

Most of the deals outlined below are listed on refermehappy.com. However we’ve found some great deals that aren’t on the site.

More ‘tell-a-friend’ deals…

Get your friends jobs with Jobfact!

If loads of your friends are looking for a job you can help them and make £100 per person for yourself by referring them to Jobfact! Just register for free and then any friends you suggest who actually get jobs will earn you £100 as well as earning themselves lots of nice lolly. Job done!

Get £10 for referring your friends to a website

Go to Groupola.com and make yourself £10 for every person you refer to the site!

Every day, Groupola.com features a deal in each of eight cities (London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff and Edinburgh) and if a minimum number of people commit, the relevant company will honour the deal. If not, the deal is called off and no money changes hands.

As well as saving yourself some money, if you refer friends who then go on to take up a deal, you get £10 put into your free Groupola account for each person you’ve referred. Once you’ve created an account, look for the “refer friends” option on the homepage and you’ll be provided with a unique link which you can share via email, Facebook and Twitter.

Supportingfriends.com

With supportingfriends.com, you can raise money for a good cause by searching the internet, and pocket some cash for directing people to the site. To get involved, simply set up an account and each time you use their Yahoo-powered search engine, a portion of the revenue generated is given to a cause of your choosing. The charities are paid every 30 days, and small sums are carried over to the following month until the total exceeds £20. By recommending the service to your friends and family, you can earn £1 every time one of your referrals signs up and uses the service. There is no limit on how many people you can refer, and there is no cap on how much you can earn, so sign up today!

Zopa

Zopa, the innovative social lending site that allows people to avoid banks and borrow money from other site members at self-determined rates of interest, run a tell-a-friend scheme which rewards referrals with cold hard cash! In order to be eligible, you must register with the site within the offer period, which runs until 31 December. Zopa members who introduce a friend will be credited with a generous £50 when that friend either lends at least £2000 or borrows any amount of money at Zopa during the life of the offer. Read more about Zopa here.

Picturenation

Online image library Picturenation will pay you if you successfully refer buyers. Simply register to the site, and you will be provided with banners and links that you can paste onto any outgoing emails, your website or blog, or any forums or messageboards you use. You will make a 5% commission for a whole year for each person that visits the site via one of your links and makes a purchase, so if one of your recommendations buys £500 worth of pictures, you will net a cool £25! You can refer individuals or companies, and you can manage your account and track your referrals on your personal Picturenation page. Payments are made via PayPal so you will need to create an account with them, and the commission is paid every two months after your total commission reaches £50.

Make money from the banks

Remember Moneymagpie’s golden rule: don’t get trapped in the wrong product because of a tempting friend referral deal. Especially with financial products like current accounts, choosing the wrong one will cost you over the long run. Thankfully, the one listed here – the First Direct 1st Account – is one of the best on the market.

First Direct – get £50 by making a phone call!

At first glance First Direct’s Current Account, with 0% AER, doesn’t look great. But you could earn up to £250 within 6 months just by working the promotions, making up for the low rate of interest.

When you open a 1st Account (and you’re new to First Direct) they’ll give you £100 if you put £1,500 or more into the account every month for 3 months.

On top of this, as an existing customer you can refer up to 3 friends, earning you £50 a friend. Just call Customer services on 0845 6100 100 and they’ll send you 3 referral cards. Watch out for the terms and conditions though. The friend must be depositing a minimum of £1500 a month into the account before you can get the money. The new account holder will receive their £100 bonus after 28 days. The referrer will then get his or her £50 referral money within another 28 days. You could earn £150 by referring the maximum of three friends.

On top of this, if you’re not happy with the 1^st Account after 6 months (and within 12 months) First Direct will help to move you to another bank and give you another £100. This is as long as £1,500 per month has been paid in for at least six months and you haven’t previously banked with First Direct.

Breakdown Assistance

AA – £15 M&S Vouchers reward

Are you an AA customer? Recommend a friend here, and get £15 Marks & Spencer vouchers for every friend that joins up.

Broadband

Be – free internet

The broadband provider Be will give you seven month’s free internet if six of your friends sign up. To refer your friends log in to the Be member centre and enter the names and email addresses of up to six people. For the first five friends you refer, and who join Be, you’ll get a month’s free Be broadband (of the service you are on when the friend sign ups). You are then given an additional two months’ free Be broadband if a sixth friend joins up and you are continually subscribing to your contracted Be service. That’s over half a year’s free broadband just for referring six friends!

All ‘refer-a-friend’ credits will appear as a credit on your next invoice, providing Be have received cleared funds from you and the friend.

The friends who you refer don’t have to pay the usual connection charge. If you’re thinking of joining do look at Be’s website first to check the coverage and speed in your area.

BT – £30 reward

Get £30 when you refer a friend to BT Total Broadband (Options 1, 2 and 3). There’s no limit to the number of friends you can recommend and you’ll get a £30 cheque for every one of them who signs up. BT will send your friend an email containing a link to order BT Total Broadband – if they use it to sign up, you’ll get £30. You don’t even need to be a BT customer to refer a friend! (But if you and a friend recommend each other and sign up, you’ll both get £30). Get your 30 quid by filling in the form here.

IDNet – £10 credit

You’ll get £10 credit if you refer a friend to broadband provider IDNet, and so will the friend. Look here for more info. Just make sure your friend mentions your name and e-mail address when placing their order.

Other broadband providers

Other broadband providers currently doing ‘refer-a-friend’ promotions include Newnet, Nildram and PlusNet. Newnet offers one month free for the referrer, Nildram gives the referrer £12 credit and PlusNet offers a monthly discount.

These are all worth doing if you’re already a customer.

Food

Ocado – £20 voucher

A goodie! Invite a friend to Ocado and you’ll receive a £20 voucher by e-mail when your recommended friend joins and receives their third Ocado delivery. You do need to spend £90 or more to use the ‘Invite A Friend’ voucher, so make sure you wait until you need a big shop. Each friend you invite will be sent three £10 vouchers to use on their first three orders of a minimum of £90. You can recommend as many friends as you like.

To get your ‘IAF’ vouchers log in to the Ocado website and click on ‘Invite a Friend’ at the bottom left of the homepage. Then just fill in the form to get your £20 voucher.

Health and Beauty

Local gyms often offer ‘refer-a-friend’ deals so do ask a member of staff or check their website.

Esporta – free gift

If you’re a member of Esporta Health Club and refer a friend you could bag yourself one of the many great gifts on offer at The Collection, (The friend must become a registered Esporta member of your home club). Gifts include a Tranquility Health & Beauty treatment (at selected clubs), a one hour personal training session (selected clubs) and a case of Sunday Times wine. If you refer two friends you’re eligible for a free 4GB Apple iPod shuffle worth £59.

Refer your friends online here or pick up a referral form at your club. When your friends join, you’ll receive a gift voucher at the club. Select the gift you would like from The Collection and complete your delivery details. The gift will be delivered within 7 days.

Harpers Fitness – free gift

Harpers Fitness members can choose from a wide range of great free gifts including MP3 players and online gift vouchers when you refer a friend who joins the gym. Complete this form to refer your friend. If they join you’ll be sent a voucher with a unique code which you can redeem here.

Red Door Spas – 20% off

Red Door Spas members receive a 20% savings reward for each new guest who visits a Red Door Spa on their referral. Just create or log in to a My Red Door account and enter the details of your friends on the refer-a-friend form. Your friends will receive an e-mail inviting them to visit Red Door, along with a ‘Welcome Savings’ coupon for 15% off their first visit.

Yogamatters – £5 online voucher

Yoga bunnies get £5 to spend online at Yogamatters.com when they refer a friend who spends over £20 in one order. You have to log in to your account and fill in the form here. When your friend joins and spends £20 you’ll be e-mailed a thank you voucher containing a special code. You can enter the code at the online checkout and £5 will be deducted from your invoice.

Insurance

Halifax – £15 vouchers for high street stores

Get £15 of shopping vouchers when you recommend a friend to Halifax Home or Car Insurance here. Vouchers are accepted at over 75 of the high street’s top retailers.

Standard Life Healthcare – £50 M&S voucher

If you’re a Standard Life Healthcare holder you can get a £50 M&S gift voucher when you recommend Standard Life to a friend. Complete the online form here – when your friend joins you’ll be sent your ‘thank you’ voucher. There’s no limit to the number of friends you can refer.

HSA or Simply Health – £10 M&S voucher

If you have health insurance with HSA or Simply Health (soon to become one and the same) you could bag a £10 M&S voucher when you refer a friend and they join. Complete this HSA form or this Simply Health form online – if your friend joins you’ll both get £10 in vouchers.

Columbus Direct – £5 refund

Got travel insurance with Columbus Direct? Recommend friends and get £5 back for each friend that buys through Columbus Direct. When you purchase your policy you’ll find a ‘Recommend a Friend’ button on the confirmation page. Just click and enter your friend’s details. Columbus Direct will then refund £5 directly onto your credit card 21 days after your friend has bought the policy.

Direct line – free gifts

Direct Line customers are in line for great freebies from football lessons for kids to beauty packs to M&S vouchers (see the range of gifts here). Just recommend a friend here. If your friend becomes a customer, Direct Line will send both you and your friend links to claim your rewards.

You may claim up to five rewards per household for recommending friends, but you must have been a Direct Line customer for at least 35 days.

Tesco Insurance – free gift cards and clubcard points

Tesco offers ‘refer-a-friend’ deals on Tesco Travel Insurance and Tesco Pet Insurance. Tell a friend about Tesco Travel Insurance and Tesco will say thank you with a £5 Tesco Gift Card or 500 Clubcard Points when your friend takes out an annual Tesco Travel Insurance policy. The friend will also receive their choice of £5 Gift Card or 500 points. To claim the rewards download a PDF copy of the Recommend a Friend form (on this page), print it out, fill in your own details, then give the form to your friend who can fill in their details and send it off. You can recommend as many people as you like, so there’s no limit to how many points or gift cards you can claim!

The Tesco Pet Insurance referral deal is even better – simply get a friend to take out a pet insurance policy with Tesco and they’ll reward you both with a £10 Tesco Gift Card or 1,000 Clubcard Points. Download the PDF application form on this page and fill in as above. Again, you can recommend as many people as you’d like.

Holidays

holidaylettings.co.uk – free gifts

If you advertise on home rental website holidaylettings.co.uk and recommend a friend or family member to put an ad up on the site you’ll get a free gift as a reward. Choose from £70 ‘spotlight credit’, an iPod Shuffle, £35 worth of Amazon vouchers and three free months of advertising. Just click ‘Refer Now’ on this page and enter your friend’s details. You can refer as many friends as you’d like – just make sure they mention your name or Advertiser ID when registering.

Expedia.co.uk – holiday vouchers

Refer a new customer to Expedia before 31 December 2009 and you’ll receive a £40 voucher once your friend makes their first booking through Expedia. The referred friend will receive a £20 voucher to be used on their first booking. To refer go to www.referafriend.expedia.co.uk and click on the ‘refer-a-friend’ button. You can claim a maximum of 10 £40-off vouchers but you may only use one voucher per booking. The £40 discount applies to bookings for Expedia Special Rate hotel only or tailor make and save packages for travel between 28 April 2009 and 31 March 2010.

Mobile phones

3 Mobile – share up to £90 with a friend

Recommend a friend to 3 Mobile and as a thank you they’ll credit each of your accounts. If your friend goes for a phone you both get £30. If they go for Mobile Broadband you both get £15. If they choose both, that’s £45 each.

You can recommend a maximum of 3 friends – if they all go for the combined package, that’s £135 for you.

Just enter your details here and 3 will send you an e-mail. Forward this to your mate and if they sign up you’ll both get credited in 60 days time. The referred friend must quote your mobile number at the time of ordering.

Mobile credits are only available if the new customer signs up to an 18 month minimum term contract. Broadband credits are available with the Pay Monthly Mobile Broadband price plan on an 18 or 24 month minimum term contract.

TV

Sky – free Sky+ box or M&S vouchers

Get a free Sky+ box or £50 M&S vouchers when you introduce a friend to Sky TV. Your friend has to join Sky TV by 25 June 2009 – once they’ve joined and paid their first monthly subscription, Sky will send you a letter explaining how to get your free Sky+ box installed (your friend also gets the freebie). You can refer as many friends as you like to Sky TV, but you can only get one free box per household. Introduce a friend now by following the three easy steps on this page.

Virgin media – £30 credit per friend

Just as with Sky, if you refer a friend to Virgin Media cable services, both you and the friend get a bonus. In Virgin’s case this is £30 off your bill. Just give your friend’s name and e-mail address by clicking on ‘Connect your friends now!’ on this page. Once the friend has paid their first bill Virgin will credit both friend and referrer’s accounts with £30. You can connect as many friends as you like.

Cashback sites

Most cashback sites pay bonuses when you get a friend to sign up. If you’re into cashback sites, this is an easy way to earn some cash while also helping your friends to save on purchases.

Rpoints pays £5 for each friend you refer;

Greasy Palm pays £7 per friend;

Free Fivers pays £5 once the friend has earned £25;

Cashbackkings pays £5 for every two friends you recruit;

Cashbackshopper will give you £5 just for signing up followed by an extra £5 if you refer a friend.

Useful links