Membership & Rewards

Membership & Rewards

Athena membership begins with your mortgage. Members earn two separate cash programs: a flat monthly member payment, paid to every qualifying member whoever holds their mortgage, and monthly cash back, paid on top when that mortgage is an Athena loan. A one-time Referral Bonus is also available to every member who holds a mortgage, whoever the lender (together, the “Programs”). These are the same terms shown in the app when you set each Program up. All are promotional payments — not interest, and not part of any loan. Qualifying, pausing, or leaving a Program never changes your interest rate, principal & interest, APR, or loan term.

The member payment and cash back are separate Programs with separate amounts. Athena states each one on its own and never combines them into a single blended figure.

“Athena Cash” is the official product name of the Athena consumer deposit account (the core checking account). Any prior reference to “Cash Account,” “Athena Account,” “Athena Checking,” or similar variants means the same product.

Membership — how to qualify

You are an Athena member, and earn the member payment, while all three of these are true:

• A mortgage with any lender — an open home loan, in good standing. It does not have to be an Athena loan.
• Your recurring income deposited into Athena Cash — a recurring deposit of your income into your Athena Cash each month.
• That mortgage paid from your Athena Cash account — your monthly mortgage payment made from your Athena Cash, however you arrange it with your servicer.

If any requirement lapses, the payment pauses — no penalty. Reconnect it and the payment resumes the next payment cycle.

The member payment

The member payment is $10 each month. It is a flat amount — the same for every qualifying member, with no tiers and no dependence on the size of your mortgage or who holds it. It is paid to your Athena Cash, in cash, within 16 days of the following month, based on the day your mortgage payment posts from your Athena Cash, and is in addition to the interest paid on your cash balance.

Cash back

If your mortgage is an Athena loan, you also earn monthly cash back on top of the member payment. Cash back is a separate Program: it is never called the member payment, and the two are paid and disclosed separately. Members whose mortgage is with another lender earn the member payment but do not earn cash back.

Your monthly cash back is set by the original loan amount of your Athena mortgage — the amount you borrowed at closing, not your current balance. The larger your original loan amount, the higher your tier.

Tiers are set by the original loan amount of your Athena mortgage, so your tier does not fall as you pay the loan down. Future Athena products — a home equity, auto, or personal loan — will add their original loan amounts to your total and can move you up a tier. Cash back is paid to your Athena Cash, in cash, on the same monthly schedule as the member payment, at the tier in effect on the payment date.

Founding members

Athena’s first 1,000 members are founding members. A founding seat is claimed on your first qualifying month of the member payment, and founding status is yours to keep — it does not end if the member payment later pauses. The founding group may be extended.

Monthly qualification

Each Program is decided independently, each calendar month. Members who satisfy the requirements for a given month receive that month’s payment. Miss a requirement in any month and you forfeit only that month’s payment — you can re-qualify the next month. Missed payments are not paid retroactively.

How long each Program lasts

Member payment — available for as long as you hold a mortgage with any lender and meet all three membership requirements. It ends if you no longer have an open mortgage, or you close your Athena Cash. Refinancing with a different lender does not end the member payment: it follows the mortgage you hold, not who originated it.

Cash back — available for the life of your Athena mortgage. It ends if that loan is paid off, refinanced with another lender, goes into default, or you close your Athena Cash. If another lender’s mortgage replaces your Athena loan, cash back ends and the member payment continues.

Referral Bonus — available while you hold a mortgage with any lender, in good standing, with your most recent mortgage statement on file and your Athena Cash open. It does not have to be an Athena loan. Bonuses already earned are still paid; new referrals stop qualifying only if you no longer hold an open mortgage or you close your Athena Cash.

Refer a member

Any Athena member who holds a mortgage can earn the Referral Bonus — the mortgage does not have to be an Athena loan. Invite others through the app and get one month of your own mortgage payment (principal & interest) back in cash when a friend establishes a recurring deposit of income into Athena and pays their mortgage from their Athena Cash for 3 months in a row. You must also upload your most recent mortgage statement through the Athena mobile app — it verifies that the mortgage is yours and in good standing and sets the principal & interest the bonus is based on. Upload it any time before the third qualifying month. We must verify your mortgage statement before paying a Referral Bonus. If your statement is missing, illegible, more than 90 days old, or does not match the mortgage on your account, we will ask you for a replacement before paying. Your mortgage must be open and in good standing when you qualify and when you are paid. The months must be consecutive — if they miss one the count restarts, with no penalty, and the bonus can still be earned on their next 3-month streak. The bonus is paid to your Athena Cash, in cash, within 30 days of the third qualifying month — one time per referred member, not recurring. Each person counts once, and self-referrals and existing Athena customers don’t qualify. The Referral Bonus is capped at $4,000 per referral. Athena may also set annual or lifetime limits on how many referrals are paid and on total referral payments; any limits in effect apply when your reward is paid.

Good standing & fair use

All accounts and loans — including, for referrals, the referred member’s — must be open, active, and in good standing when you qualify and when you’re paid. Athena may withhold or reclaim payments in cases of delinquency, fraud, abuse, misrepresentation, or gaming of the Programs.

Eligibility & general terms

You must be at least 18 and a U.S. resident, with a personal account. For co-borrowers on the same mortgage, one payment is made per qualifying event. For a Joint Account, membership is determined for the Account rather than for each owner: the Account qualifies when either owner holds the mortgage, either owner’s recurring income is deposited into the Account, and that mortgage is paid from the Account. One member payment and one cash back payment are paid per qualifying event, to the Joint Account. A Referral Bonus is earned by the individual member credited with the qualifying referral, whether that member holds an individual Account or a Joint Account. Joint ownership alone does not earn the other owner a Referral Bonus for that referral. We pay the Referral Bonus into an eligible Athena Account held by the referring member, which may be an individual Account or a Joint Account. An owner cannot earn a Referral Bonus for referring the other owner of the same Joint Account. Nothing here is a commitment to lend — mortgages are subject to Athena’s credit approval. Athena offers mortgage loans only in the states where it is licensed, and nothing here is an offer or solicitation of a mortgage loan in any other state. Athena may change or end any Program with advance notice as required by law; amounts already earned will still be paid. Benefits aren’t transferable, have no cash value except as stated, and the Programs are void where prohibited and may not be available in every state.

Taxes

Program payments may be reportable as income; Athena may issue an IRS Form 1099 where required and may ask for a valid taxpayer identification number as a condition of payment. For a Joint Account, a Form 1099 for the member payment or cash back is issued to the owner listed first in our records; a Form 1099 for a Referral Bonus is issued to the owner who made the referral. Athena does not provide tax advice — consult your tax advisor.

Your information

Athena uses your Athena Cash deposit activity, original Athena loan amount, and mortgage payment status to confirm qualification each month, set your cash back tier, and pay you. The Programs are financial-incentive programs under applicable state privacy law: participation is optional and opt-in, and you can withdraw anytime without penalty — by secure message, at 877-687-0111, or at privacy@athenamoney.co. Your loan terms never change. For mortgage products, we may share certain information with advertising partners for targeted advertising.

Athena and Grasshopper Bank

The Programs are offered and paid by Athena AI Holdings Inc., not by Grasshopper Bank, N.A. Athena is a financial technology company, not a bank or FDIC-insured depository institution; banking services for your Athena Cash are provided by Grasshopper Bank, N.A., Member FDIC. Grasshopper Bank, N.A. does not originate Athena mortgage products and does not administer, sponsor, or guarantee the member payment, cash back, or Referral Bonus. Your deposit relationship — including the interest paid on your Athena Cash — is governed by the Consumer Account Agreement, not by these terms.

Related documents

How the Programs relate to your personal information — what’s used, how you opt in, your right to withdraw, and the value of your information — is covered in the Notice of Financial Incentive and isn’t repeated here. Interest on your Athena Cash is set by the Rate Sheet; your account terms are in the Consumer Account Agreement. The member payment, cash back, and the Referral Bonus are promotional payments, not deposit products or interest. Equal Housing Lender. Mortgage products subject to credit approval.