Bank Bonus Offers

[njhowie]

Yes, with interest rates way down, the bonus offers are the way to go whenever you can find them.

We received the Marcus email for the offer a few days ago and will do it once some cash frees up. We currently have two $200 for $5000 for 90 days offers going with Citi, a $150 for $10,000 for 90 days with Chase, and a $200 for $15,000 for 90 days also with Chase.

 

[rrppve]

Chase Private Client $2000 / $250k

Chase renewed their $2,000 bonus for $250k in assets, investments and bank deposit, through 4/14/21.
Seems easy to park an index fund etf in a JP Morgan account to make up the bulk of the required assets. Apparently the bonus was $3,000 for a few months in the fall.

 

[Sunset]

Watch your postal mail, we just got an offer of $600 to open 2 fifth-third bank accounts, and deposit ~$15,000 for 3 months.
It's divided into 2 separate bonuses, so a person can go for the smaller one if they don't have $15K laying around.

 

[Dtail]

Watch your postal mail, we just got an offer of $600 to open 2 fifth-third bank accounts, and deposit ~$15,000 for 3 months.
It's divided into 2 separate bonuses, so a person can go for the smaller one if they don't have $15K laying around.

We did some version of this bonus last year. It was simple and no issues when we closed the accounts.

 

[njhowie]

Signed up for the $100 for $10k offer from Marcus today and initiated transfer from Ally.

While going to the Marcus link to sign up for the offer, it also offered me a 0.1% bump in savings rate for entering AARP membership number. It did that automatically - works for me. It indicates that offer is good for coming 2 years - whatever current savings rate is, it gets bumped up by 0.1%. So it's just gone from 0.5% to 0.6%.

 

[stepford]

Sort of annoying. I have a big CD set to mature from Marcus in February that I'm planning to move elsewhere. Since the $10000 requirement refers to all accounts I'd have to leave the whole amount in to get the $100 bonus. $100 for $100K+ isn't nearly as attractive as $100 for $10K.

 

[rpguy4]

Question regarding Fifth-Third Bonus : "Get $250 when you open a new Fifth Third checking account and make a direct deposits totaling $1000". Fine Print: "Direct Deposits are considered to be (ACH) Automated Clearing House credit which may include payroll, pension or government payment such as SS."

DW and I went to 5/3 bank branch today, and the rep wanted me to confirm that the $1000 deposit was not a transfer of funds. I said that I would be depositing money from our (Fidelity) IRA account directly to this new 5/3 checking account. The rep said it would not qualify for the $1000 bonus.


Both DW and I are not working, no pensions, and too early for SS. Has anyone taken advantage of this offer with similar circumstances ?

 

[Dtail]

Question regarding Fifth-Third Bonus : "Get $250 when you open a new Fifth Third checking account and make a direct deposits totaling $1000". Fine Print: "Direct Deposits are considered to be (ACH) Automated Clearing House credit which may include payroll, pension or government payment such as SS."

DW and I went to 5/3 bank branch today, and the rep wanted me to confirm that the $1000 deposit was not a transfer of funds. I said that I would be depositing money from our (Fidelity) IRA account directly to this new 5/3 checking account. The rep said it would not qualify for the $1000 bonus.


Both DW and I are not working, no pensions, and too early for SS. Has anyone taken advantage of this offer with similar circumstances ?

The must have changed the offer, as it used to be just any deposit and was one of the easiest deals out there.

 

[njhowie]

Here is one I just came across through depositaccounts...

1. Become new Alliant Credit Union member (they even cover the membership fee to partner charity)
2. Open new Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account
3. Deposit $100/month
4. At the end of 12 months receive $100 bonus
5. Account also (currently) pays 0.55% interest along the way
6. Account must be opened by March 31

No fees, or any other requirements (must have at least $1200 in the account at end of 12 months). However, based on my reading of the terms, after depositing the first $100, there's nothing preventing depositing the monthly $100, then removing it within the same calendar month, redepositing/withdrawing every month, and then in month 12 depositing enough to get the balance to $1200 when review is done. Account balance must remain at $100 minimum at all times.

It also appears that there's nothing preventing doing it multiple times for multiple individuals in the same household.

Doing my cheater's math calculation, assuming you just left the $100 there each month, that's ~16% yield for the one year.

https://ww2.alliantcreditunion.org/ultimate-opportunity-savings

 

[pb4uski]

Question regarding Fifth-Third Bonus : "Get $250 when you open a new Fifth Third checking account and make a direct deposits totaling $1000". Fine Print: "Direct Deposits are considered to be (ACH) Automated Clearing House credit which may include payroll, pension or government payment such as SS."

DW and I went to 5/3 bank branch today, and the rep wanted me to confirm that the $1000 deposit was not a transfer of funds. I said that I would be depositing money from our (Fidelity) IRA account directly to this new 5/3 checking account. The rep said it would not qualify for the $1000 bonus.


Both DW and I are not working, no pensions, and too early for SS. Has anyone taken advantage of this offer with similar circumstances ?

I would set up an automatic transfer from the Fidelity tIRA and tell them it is a pension. Withdrawals from tIRAs are considered pension income by the IRS so at worst it is only a little white lie. Al they will see is an amount coming in from Fidelity so how would they ever know the difference?

 

[pb4uski]

Here is one I just came across through depositaccounts...

1. Become new Alliant Credit Union member (they even cover the membership fee to partner charity)
2. Open new Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account
3. Deposit $100/month
4. At the end of 12 months receive $100 bonus
5. Account also (currently) pays 0.55% interest along the way
6. Account must be opened by March 31 ...

^^^ With online saving rates where they are, I'd consider doing it solely for the 0.55% and the $100 bonus is gravy.

 

[njhowie]

I would set up an automatic transfer from the Fidelity tIRA and tell them it is a pension. Withdrawals from tIRAs are considered pension income by the IRS so at worst it is only a little white lie.

I don't think this will work.

The rep wasn't really being truthful. The determination of whether something qualifies as direct deposit is built in to their computer systems and when the time comes to decide to pay the bonus the computer decides.

DoctorOfCredit maintains a matrix of which institutions other banks consider as direct deposit. If the transfer triggers the direct deposit flag at the receiving bank, you're golden, if not, no amount of reasoning is going to get it done.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/know...banks-count-direct-deposits/#Fifth_Third_Bank

 

[pb4uski]

I don't think this will work.

The rep wasn't really being truthful. The determination of whether something qualifies as direct deposit is built in to their computer systems and when the time comes to decide to pay the bonus the computer decides.

DoctorOfCredit maintains a matrix of which institutions other banks consider as direct deposit. If the transfer triggers the direct deposit flag at the receiving bank, you're golden, if not, no amount of reasoning is going to get it done.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/know...banks-count-direct-deposits/#Fifth_Third_Bank

I don't understand the numbers after each source... can you explain?

 

[njhowie]

I don't understand the numbers after each source... can you explain?

The numbers are links to comments which reference being able to do the transfer and have it count as direct deposit. If you click on the number, it will take you to the comment which said it. Sometimes it's not always correct (you need to read the referenced comments to be certain), but the majority of the times it is.

 

[rpguy4]

pb4uski, dtail and njhowie - Thanks for the info. Interesting website. Gives me some reassurance that it 'should' work at least from one of our current accounts. Worse case I guess is that I deposit $1k, and get no bonus. And maybe an inquiry on my credit report too.

 

[jazz4cash]

I would set up an automatic transfer from the Fidelity tIRA and tell them it is a pension. Withdrawals from tIRAs are considered pension income by the IRS so at worst it is only a little white lie. Al they will see is an amount coming in from Fidelity so how would they ever know the difference?

This is what I am doing for the TD Bank promo. My xfers from Fido to BofA look just like direct deposits so hopefully that works for TD also. According to the link posted by NJHowie it should. I’m not sure it’s worth the effort but here I am hoop jumping anyway.

 

[teej1985]

Sort of annoying. I have a big CD set to mature from Marcus in February that I'm planning to move elsewhere. Since the $10000 requirement refers to all accounts I'd have to leave the whole amount in to get the $100 bonus. $100 for $100K+ isn't nearly as attractive as $100 for $10K.

Yes, this is why I keep minimal balances at both Ally and Marcus - both have repeatedly offered new deposit bonus offers to existing accountholders.

 

[jazz4cash]

I moved a large chunk out of Marcus to lower the floor amount I had to maintain after making a qualifying deposit.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Not sure why this thread hasn't been merged with the new sticky for 2021. For that reason I just noticed the recent updates to this thread this morning. I'm just posting to subscribe to the thread so that I get emails with updates.

 

[njhowie]

Not sure why this thread hasn't been merged with the new sticky for 2021. For that reason I just noticed the recent updates to this thread this morning. I'm just posting to subscribe to the thread so that I get emails with updates.

It hasn't been merged because from the very beginning the objective was to be only about bonus offers and not be interspersed with everyone looking at rates and CDs. If you're looking for bonus offers, why have to scroll through pages and pages of folks posting about CDs and savings accounts when there may not even be any? Post a bonus offer here and folks know there's a new bonus offer.

The person who recreates the CD thread at the end of each year decided to add "and Bonus Offers" to the title at the end of 2019 and figured that should wipe out this thread. I think the fact that folks continue to primarily post here about specific bonus offers shows that it is better on its own.

 

[BergLust]

Chase renewed their $2,000 bonus for $250k in assets, investments and bank deposit, through 4/14/21.
Seems easy to park an index fund etf in a JP Morgan account to make up the bulk of the required assets. Apparently the bonus was $3,000 for a few months in the fall.

Just completed this bonus offer. Funded account (via ETF in JP Morgan account) on 1 Feb., and received $2K bonus on 4 May! Will keep account open, as I see no value in closing JPM and Chase bank account at this point.

 

[tenant13]

Just completed this bonus offer. Funded account (via ETF in JP Morgan account) on 1 Feb., and received $2K bonus on 4 May! Will keep account open, as I see no value in closing JPM and Chase bank account at this point.

I actually really like Chase self-serving brokerage account (they used to call it YouInvest). I keep my post tax money there and IRA at Schwab and the functionality is comparable.

 

[Golden sunsets]

Just completed this bonus offer. Funded account (via ETF in JP Morgan account) on 1 Feb., and received $2K bonus on 4 May! Will keep account open, as I see no value in closing JPM and Chase bank account at this point.

How long do you have to keep the account open without forfeiting the bonus if you do withdraw the funds. This info is needed to calculate the true yield.

 

[BergLust]

I actually really like Chase self-serving brokerage account (they used to call it YouInvest). I keep my post tax money there and IRA at Schwab and the functionality is comparable.

The YouInvest account doesn’t qualify as a linked account for the bonus offer, for some reason. You need a “full service” brokerage account from JPM Chase, but I’m fully self-directed in that account (so they are not collecting an AUM fee from me).

 

[BergLust]

How long do you have to keep the account open without forfeiting the bonus if you do withdraw the funds. This info is needed to calculate the true yield.

Don’t recall, as that wasn’t important to me. The funds I was using to qualify for the offer were already in an investment account (invested in an ETF). All I did was move the investments from one brokerage house to JPM Chase.

If you’re looking at using cash to qualify I could see why that is important. You can search for the offer and find the answer.