Chase Bank Bonus Incentive

[Kayzmum]

I was checking out bank bonus incentives today since I have a Treasury Bill that matures today. When I compare that to current CD & treasury bill interest rates, it seems paltry.


Chase is offering:
$1,000 Bonus -- At least $150,000 in new money or securities

$2,000 Bonus -- At least $250,000

$3,000 Bonus -- At least $500,000


The funds need to be kept in the account for 90 days.



If my math is correct, that's 0.72% for a $250,000 deposit held 90 days:
$2000 divided by 250,000 x 90 days. Is this correct?

 

[SecondCor521]

I think your math is wrong.

$2,000 / $250,000 x 4 = 0.032, which is 3.2% (https://www.google.com/search?q=$2,000+/+$250,000+x+4+in+percent)

I multiplied by 4 because there are about 4 90 day periods in a year. Using proper math it would be a smidgen higher due to the extra 5 days and the compounding, but I'm too lazy.

Still seems low, but not unreasonably so. They probably figure people don't do the math.

ETA: Or it's like Plantman says below, that the bonus is in addition to the regular interest. Given a 3.2% implied rate on the bonus itself, either they aren't paying much regular interest (my guess) or they're really desperate for deposits (which would be really surprising to me that Chase would pay that much on deposits).

 

[Plantman]

That's a bonus on top of whatever interest rate they're paying. How much do you think it should be?

 

[njhowie]

That's a bonus on top of whatever interest rate they're paying. How much do you think it should be?

From what I see for this offer, it's Chase Private Client Checking - no interest. Even if there were interest, Chase only pays 0.01% to 0.02% on savings accounts.

 

[Kayzmum]

That's a bonus on top of whatever interest rate they're paying. How much do you think it should be?

It's a checking account. No interest. I was just comparing it to CDs or treasury bonds. I bought a treasury bond. 6.086% that matures in 3 weeks.

 

[xlf11]

Or you could transfer brokerage account to qualify for the bonus.

 

[njhowie]

It's a checking account. No interest. I was just comparing it to CDs or treasury bonds. I bought a treasury bond. 6.086% that matures in 3 weeks.

You need to be careful with Chase. Although you get the bonus for 90 days, generally, they have something that says the account needs to remain open for 6 months. So, if your objective was solely to get the bonus and then get the money out, you need to check, and potentially leave some minimum required balance (which will not earn anything) to avoid fees for the remainder of the 6 months before closing.

 

[calmloki]

Guys - come on. We did a similar Chase offer several years ago. You move securities to their bank, not cash. Doing a less lucrative deal with Wells Fargo right now and pumping up what our VTI makes by a point or so. Not much, but it all spends, so why not.

 

[PatrickA5]

I would probably do this if I could just transfer cash to my JP Morgan self-directed account and grab a high Money Market rate (on top of the bonus), BUT the self-directed account is excluded. Plus, you have to set this up with a JP Morgan private client salesperson, so they're going to want to set up some kind of advisor-led account.

I've done other Chase bank offers that were easy. This one doesn't appear to be easy or cheap.