Bank Bonus Offers

[Sue J]

I just took care of opening one of these today. I went to a local branch and surprisingly they didn't know about this offer! I had an offer code and explained what it entailed and eventually the banker found it and got it set up. But.......there is an $11/mo fee on the checking account unless you...yada yada....and the simplest option is to have an average daily balance of $1500. So I'll transfer another $1000 over there for 60 days. I'll lose $2.83 on the interest at Discoverbank (1.7%) and save myself $22 in bank fees.

The other options were reducing the fee to $8/mo with a direct deposit over $500/mo or no fee if you open their credit card and spend $500/mo and a few others that didn't apply to us (military/student/mortgage/business acct). All in all, it was easy enough and this is one of the better promos.

The offer is not limited to one per household so DH is going to go and get the same offer in the next few days. I told him if he wants to jump through the hoops he can keep the money for himself and that means he uses it for ebay and thrift stores. OH BOY!

This was the 60 day $250 bonus promotion at Fifth/Third Bank.

I just passed the 60 days and my $250 bonus was posted so I went to the branch today to close the account. The teller says to me, "If you can keep this open another 30 days, that would be great because closing it before 90 days negatively impacts the banker." Now, I don't know if he means the actual person who opened my account is impacted or that the branch is impacted but that is not my problem. I almost said, "Not my circus, not my monkey" which is a phase I learned right here at ER.org, but I didn't want to get snarky so I just said, "I'm closing the account".

So then I had to sit with the banker who opened this 2 months ago and she tried to get me to keep it open, "Our Money Market rate.....don't you need a local bank that you can walk into......keep the relationship for when you need a loan....blah, blah. I have a local bank with NO FEES and I get much better interest on savings at an online bank. I'll just close this.

She didn't talk about how she'd be negatively impacted and she gave it to me in cash and I was out the door. If they need you to keep it open 90 days they should have made it a 90 day promo!

Nice deal, a few hoops to jump through but $250 is a great bonus. DH did the same deal and his bonus should post tomorrow and then he will also go close his account.

 

[Dtail]

This was the 60 day $250 bonus promotion at Fifth/Third Bank.

I just passed the 60 days and my $250 bonus was posted so I went to the branch today to close the account. The teller says to me, "If you can keep this open another 30 days, that would be great because closing it before 90 days negatively impacts the banker." Now, I don't know if he means the actual person who opened my account is impacted or that the branch is impacted but that is not my problem. I almost said, "Not my circus, not my monkey" which is a phase I learned right here at ER.org, but I didn't want to get snarky so I just said, "I'm closing the account".

So then I had to sit with the banker who opened this 2 months ago and she tried to get me to keep it open, "Our Money Market rate.....don't you need a local bank that you can walk into......keep the relationship for when you need a loan....blah, blah. I have a local bank with NO FEES and I get much better interest on savings at an online bank. I'll just close this.

She didn't talk about how she'd be negatively impacted and she gave it to me in cash and I was out the door. If they need you to keep it open 90 days they should have made it a 90 day promo!

Nice deal, a few hoops to jump through but $250 is a great bonus. DH did the same deal and his bonus should post tomorrow and then he will also go close his account.

We have the Fifth Third deal too. Not 60 days for us yet, but were told upfront about the negative impact by closing the account before 90 days.
I just said we will see.

 

[Dtail]

I completely agree with you on this. I can't leave my money there because the interface is so annoying and they have transfer caps. To move the $20k back to Marcus, it had to be set up as two transfers of $10k on two different days.

I also agree with the peek-a-boo feel. I may get slightly less at Marcus or Ally, but when I'm banking, I want it to feel/work like a bank.

I'm convinced they planned to be a kitchy fintech with a unique interface with a "simple" design, but somewhere along the way it just went very wrong with Safe to Spend and Goal Protected. Bad project management decision. Anyhow, I was willing to try it for the free money.

Feel the same way. Too bad as their savings rate is certainly competitive.

 

[MJ]

I completely agree with you on this. I can't leave my money there because the interface is so annoying and they have transfer caps. To move the $20k back to Marcus, it had to be set up as two transfers of $10k on two different days.

You still have time to setup a transfer link with the Marcus. They give you the option to do an instant link and not wait for the two trial deposits. You can do the transfer from Marcus which doesn't have any ACH dollar restriction.

 

[njhowie]

You still have time to setup a transfer link with the Marcus. They give you the option to do an instant link and not wait for the two trial deposits. You can do the transfer from Marcus which doesn't have any ACH dollar restriction.

Different issue. This is not setup issue - this is money going out over the same ACH link it originally came in over two months ago. It would let me ACH out only $10k max per day. I'm good - last week I set up the transfers for Tuesday/Wednesday this week and they've already completed.

 

[dvalley]

I just did the instant link from Marcus to transfer $10k out of my Simple Goals protected account. However, since it's a 'Goals protected' account, I wonder if the transfer will fail?

 

[Lagniappe]

Based on my experience, it should work. I did a similar transfer on Monday.

I just did the instant link from Marcus to transfer $10k out of my Simple Goals protected account. However, since it's a 'Goals protected' account, I wonder if the transfer will fail?

 

[dvalley]

Based on my experience, it should work. I did a similar transfer on Monday.

Good to know! I'll provide an update if it doesn't work.

 

[calmloki]

$500 Simple bonus just posted in both Gal's and my accounts in our "Safe to Spend" accounts. Faster than expected. High rate CDs are teased. Think I'll move the bonus' into the Protected account and hope they get their user interface a bit more usable. Can afford to give them a little time..

 

[Lagniappe]

$500 Simple bonus just posted in both Gal's and my accounts in our "Safe to Spend" accounts. Faster than expected. High rate CDs are teased. Think I'll move the bonus' into the Protected account and hope they get their user interface a bit more usable. Can afford to give them a little time..

Mine just posted as well. I really like the service here, even though I hate the website. Given the rates, I am going to leave the account open and hope they get better.

 

[calmloki]

Just not transparent to me that I have to click the top Goals tab and then transfer to move money between Simple accounts. I don't want a budgeting program, thanks. Quicken does that just fine. Just facilitate moving my money around. And get some bigger limits in place, like Ally's $250k/day. sheesh.

 

[Dtail]

Mine just posted as well. I really like the service here, even though I hate the website. Given the rates, I am going to leave the account open and hope they get better.

Mine posted too.
Just don't like the website, so will close it down.
Besides Ally's no penalty CD is close enough yield for me.

 

[Lagniappe]

Simple's website is clunky and non-intuitive. After all the posts confirming people are closing their accounts as a result, I thought I would try their mobile app, since the account seems to be designed for Millennials. It is much easier to navigate and actually shows transactions in the protected account. Looks like they invested in mobile, not web based access.

 

[dvalley]

My $500 bonus from Simple also posted last night. They say they're working on a great CD offer so I signed up to be notified when it's available. In the meantime I'll transfer some more money into my Goals Protected account since it's paying 1.9% on $10k+- that's better than VMMXX

Coincidentally my $400 from Wells Fargo also posted this morning and last but not least my transfer to Marcus from Simple's GP account also went through. It's a good day so far

 

[njhowie]

My $500 bonus from Simple also posted last night. They say they're working on a great CD offer so I signed up to be notified when it's available. In the meantime I'll transfer some more money into my Goals Protected account since it's paying 1.9% on $10k+- that's better than VMMXX

Coincidentally my $400 from Wells Fargo also posted this morning and last but not least my transfer to Marcus from Simple's GP account also went through. It's a good day so far

Awesome!

My Simple bonuses also credited yesterday and I immediately set up the transfers of remaining balances to Marcus.

 

[fh2000]

Awesome!

My Simple bonuses also credited yesterday and I immediately set up the transfers of remaining balances to Marcus.

I missed Simple last year. Now they offer $300 instead of $500.
https://www.hustlermoneyblog.com/simple-bank-promotions/
Shall I go for it, or wait until they go up again to $500?

 

[calmloki]

Get while the getting is good. IMHO intro programs have the biggest bonus deals, then as the buzz builds the bonus goes down and down. I doubt Simple will raise their bonus and expect their interest rate will drop pretty quickly in the next few months.

 

[njhowie]

Get while the getting is good. IMHO intro programs have the biggest bonus deals, then as the buzz builds the bonus goes down and down. I doubt Simple will raise their bonus and expect their interest rate will drop pretty quickly in the next few months.

Agreed on both points. I expect their interest rate to fall in line with the ~1.7% (and falling) norm across most others. BBVA is a real bank which Simple is owned by. They can't offer substantially higher interest rates compared to the rest of the market for any significant length of time. Even Robinhood, which just/finally started up their cash management scheme about a month ago, was originally quoting 2% or 2.1%, is now at 1.8%.

As the interest rates continue to fall, my belief is that these bonus offers are (should be) more valuable/important to folks. There's more incentive to take advantage of them.

 

[njhowie]

If you live in Fulton Bank's service area (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia) they currently have a $200 offer with their Simply Checking Account.

Either:
1. Set up recurring direct deposit of $250 or more

OR

2. Make at least 15 debit card purchases within 60 days

Since we don't do direct deposit offers, I'm doing #2. Will just make 15 cheap purchases of individual items at the supermarket or Amazon.

Notes:

• There are no requirements on the amount of the debit card transactions
• There are no minimum balance requirements for the checking account
• There are no fees associated with the account unless you trigger one of their bank fees for service(s). Note, there is a $2 fee per outbound "transfer", inbound transfers are free. To get my money out at the end, I'll just go to one of their ATMs to withdraw the cash, or spend it down from the debit card.

We've tried to open an account with Fulton Bank in the past for a different offer and were unsuccessful. They wanted to call and talk with us before opening the account and we weren't in the mood for it. We'll see if we have better luck this time.

Fulton Bank | $200 bonus

 

[njhowie]

Here is another good site for hunting down bonus offers:

https://everybankbonus.com

 

[njhowie]

We've tried to open an account with Fulton Bank in the past for a different offer and were unsuccessful. They wanted to call and talk with us before opening the account and we weren't in the mood for it. We'll see if we have better luck this time.

Yes!!! Went through this time - just received confirmation account has been opened.

 

[njhowie]

The CIT Bank (not Citi) bonus has been renewed and is available for both new and existing accounts. [-]Existing accounts can get another $150/$300 by transferring another $25K/$50K in.[/-]

Also, CIT's 1.75% yield is very competitive at this time.

https://cit.com/cit-bank/savings-builder-account-bonus-spring/

 

[Golden sunsets]

The CIT Bank (not Citi) bonus has been renewed and is available for both new and existing accounts. Existing accounts can get another $150/$300 by transferring another $25K/$50K in.

Also, CIT's 1.75% yield is very competitive at this time.

https://cit.com/cit-bank/savings-builder-account-bonus-spring/

Important to note that if you have done this before (at least recently) one is not eligible to transfer new money to an existing account and receive the bonus.

 

[njhowie]

Important to note that if you have done this before (at least recently) one is not eligible to transfer new money to an existing account and receive the bonus.

Yes, good catch:

Existing CIT Bank Customers: Offer valid for Savings Builder accounts owned or opened by customers with a valid CIT Bank User ID that was created prior to February 19, 2020 (an “Existing Customer”), which Savings Builder accounts are enrolled in the promotion between February 19, 2020 and May 30, 2020. Customers enrolled in a Savings Builder bonus promotion prior to February 19, 2020 are not eligible for this promotion.

 

[MJ]

Anyone know what the Cit Bank promo code is for this one? Bonus20 doesn't work.