A reader recently asked me a question that I thought was worth answering in a full post. His question – how do I keep earning so many bank account bonuses each year?
It’s a question that I hadn’t really thought about, but indeed, over the past five years, I’ve earned more from bank account bonuses each year than I did in the previous year. (For readers that don’t know what I’m talking about, many bank accounts offer new customers a signup bonus after meeting certain requirements. If you’re strategic, you can generate a significant amount of extra money by strategically opening new bank accounts in order to earn bonuses.)
Here’s what my wife and I have been able to earn from bank account bonuses since 2016:
- 2016 – $1,398
- 2017 – $1,800
- 2018 – $4,162
- 2019 – $7,577
- 2020 – $10,138 (as of November 2020)
I was much more careful and deliberate in my first two years, which is why my bank account bonus earnings back then were more reasonable. As you can probably see, I got more comfortable with how to earn bank account bonuses from 2018 onward. It was around then that I was opening 20 or more bank accounts per year. Whether I can keep up this pace is unclear – my guess is that I’m probably close to the maximum that I can realistically handle.
Needless to say, I’ve earned bank account bonuses from a lot of banks to the point where you’d think I’d run out of banks by now. So how do I do it?
There are three main strategies I use which allow me to continue earning significant sums from bank accounts bonuses each year. These three strategies are:
- Churning Bank Account Bonuses
- Opening Out-Of-State Bank Accounts
- Finding New Bank Account Bonus Offers Each Year
Let’s take a look at each of these strategies.
Note: If you are interested in the world of bank account bonuses, be sure to read my post, The Ultimate Guide to Bank Account Bonuses, where I walk you through everything you need to know about bank account bonuses and how to earn them.
Churning Bank Account Bonuses
The first strategy that I use is to churn the same bank accounts over and over. A little-known secret with many large national banks is that their terms often allow you to earn the same bonus every 6-12 months. This is a big deal because most national banks almost always have some sort of bank bonus offer, which means that you can essentially earn a bank account bonus from these banks each year.
In general, the time restrictions are based on one of three factors: (1) when you last earned a bank account bonus; or (2) when you last opened your account; or (3) when you last closed your account.
For example, one bank might say you are eligible for a bonus if you haven’t earned a bonus in the last 12 months. Another bank might say that you are eligible for a bonus if you haven’t had a checking account open with the bank in the past 12 months.
Here’s how often you can repeat the same bank account bonuses for some of the major national and large regional banks (as of November 2020):
- BBVA Compass: 24 months from when account was last closed.
- BMO Harris: 12 months from when account was last closed.
- Chase: 2 years from when account was last opened.
- Citi: 180 days from when account was last closed.
- PNC: 12 months from when last bonus earned.
- US Bank: 12 months from when last bonus earned.
- Wells Fargo: 12 months from when last bonus earned.
There are likely many more regional banks with similar restrictions, so you’ll want to check the terms with the major banks in your area to see if they’re churnable. The important thing is that because of these rules, we can earn the same bank bonus multiple times, which can really help increase our yearly bank bonus earnings.
Another important thing to remember is that checking accounts and savings accounts are almost always considered different products for bank bonus purposes. That means if you earn a bonus for a checking account, it typically won’t preclude you from earning another bonus for opening a savings account. Similarly, business checking accounts are also separate from personal checking and savings accounts, so you can earn bonuses on business checking accounts as well, even if you’ve earned a bonus for the personal checking and/or savings accounts. In other words, you can potentially earn 2 or 3 different bank account bonuses in one year from the same bank.
Opening Out-Of-State Bank Accounts
A second strategy that I’ve used is to open out-of-state bank accounts while I’m traveling. This is a strategy I’ve only recently incorporated in the past two years and it doesn’t account for a huge percentage of my bank account bonus earnings. But the main takeaway here is that it’s another thing you can do to earn new bank account bonuses that you otherwise might not be able to earn.
Here’s how it works. Most regional banks won’t allow you to open a bank account with them online if you don’t live in their geographic area. However, a lot of these banks will let you open accounts in-branch even if you don’t live in the area. So, if you happen to be in the area and know that a bank is offering a bonus to new account holders, you can simply walk into the bank and open the account with a banker.
I did this several times in 2019 and early 2020 (before the pandemic ended my travel plans). For example, last year I spent a few days in Chicago while my wife was attending a conference. While I was exploring the city on my own, I went and opened two bank accounts in person, which earned me $700 after I met the requirements.
On another trip, I went to Indianapolis to watch the Big Ten Championship. The game was in the evening, so I had time in the morning to open a bank account at a bank that was near my hotel. I earned $200 from that bonus.
Opening bank accounts in-person typically takes 20-30 minutes. I don’t know how you value your time, but to me, those earnings make opening accounts in-person well worth my time.
If you plan to go with this route, you’ll have to do research in advance to see which bank account bonuses you can earn. You also have to be comfortable with opening bank accounts in person (it can be nerve-wracking to open a bank account in person knowing full well that you’re only doing it to get the signup bonus).
In my experience, most bankers won’t really question you as to why you want to open an account. That’s because bankers generally have quotas they need to meet, so they’re almost always going to want to open a bank account for you. If I am asked about why I’m opening an account, my typical answer is to say that I’m moving into the area and want to have a local bank account or that my parents live nearby and I want to have a local bank account for when I visit them.
New Bank Account Bonus Offers Come Out Every Year
The final strategy is to simply keep an eye out for new bank account bonuses. I think as people, we tend to have a limited view of the world and think that there can’t be that many new bank account bonuses each year. Remember though that there are currently over 5,000 banks in the United States.
That’s a huge number of banks all competing and looking to acquire new customers. For us, it means that it’s very likely that each year, there will be banks that we’ve never heard of before offering bank account bonuses.
The best source to find new bank account bonuses is Doctor of Credit. This website has the definitive list of bank account bonuses, updated monthly. Bookmark that page and keep an eye out for new bonuses. If you’re diligent about keeping up with new bank bonus offers, you’re going to earn a solid amount from bank bonuses each year.
Final Thoughts
It always surprises me when I see how much I bring in from bank account bonuses – when I’m in the moment, it doesn’t always seem like that much money. But that money adds up.
By utilizing these three primary strategies outlined above, you can keep earning bank account bonuses for years to come. Repeat the same bonuses as often as you can. Keep an eye out for new bank bonuses each month. And, if you’re up for it, add out-of-state bonuses when you travel.
Hope that helps! If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.
More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes/scooters I've had the chance to do a review for:
- GEN3 Outcross Bike – The GEN3 Outcross is a solid, affordable fat tire ebike that does a good job of doing what I need it to do. It works great for city riding, giving me a smooth ride in all conditions. It’s works really well as a winter ebike since the fat tires give it good traction over snow and ice. Check out my GEN3 Outcross Review.
- Himiway Escape Bike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Bike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($10) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $10 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with $100 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Moomoo (5 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 5 free stocks (usually worth around $75-$100) if you open an account using a referral link and deposit $2,000. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Webull (5 free stocks) – Webull also gives you 5 free stock valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free stocks using Webull.
- Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
- Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.
More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- Digital Federal Credit Union ($100) – Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a free, nationwide credit union that I recommend to readers for two reasons. First, DCU has a $100 referral bonus if you open a free DCU checking account with a referral link. Second, DCU has a saving account that gives you 6.17% interest on your first $1,000. Check out my in-depth post on how to set this account up.
- Upgrade ($100) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $100 referral bonus if you open an account and complete three debit card transactions. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Importantly, this bonus says that it’s now scheduled to end on January 31, 2023. As long as you get your account opened before January 31st, you should be eligible. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $100 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- SoFi Money ($275) – SoFi Money is a free checking account from SoFi. They’re currently offering a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi account with a referral link and deposit $10. You can also make an additional $250 as well if you complete a direct deposit. This is a good bank that is also 100% free, so you won’t have to worry about managing this account. Here’s a post I wrote with instructions on how to earn your SoFi Money bonus: SoFi Money Referral Bonus: Step By Step Guide.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link.Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($100) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- OnJuno ($60) – OnJuno is a fintech/neobank that is currently offering a $10 referral bonus if you open an account using a referral link and make a deposit of $50 or more. You will also get 1000 JCOIN. The 1000 of JCOIN is cryptocurrency. At the time I'm writing this, it'll be worth about $50. Check out my OnJuno referral bonus guide here.
- Varo ($30) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $30 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Albert ($150) – If you can manage to do a real direct deposit, Albert is an easy account you can use to earn a referral bonus. Here’s a review about Albert I wrote. And here’s a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Albert referral bonus.
- Netspend ($20 + 5% Interest Savings Account) – Netspend is a company that provides 5% interest savings accounts. If you sign up using my referral link, you’ll get a $20 signup bonus once you make your first deposit into your Netspend account of $40 or more. That means you get a 5% interest savings account and a free $20 to start! Make sure to check out my in-depth guide on how to set up these accounts.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $250 if you complete a direct deposit.
- DCU. Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) is a free, nationwide credit union that I recommend to readers for two reasons. First, DCU has a $100 referral bonus if you open a free DCU checking account with a referral link. Second, DCU has a savings account that gives you 6.17% interest on your first $1,000.
- Novo Bank. Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. It’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $10 for opening an account.
- Personal Capital. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
Really appreciate all of your very informative posts…Thanks to your step by step guide to bank bonuses, I’ve just recently started on the bandwagon.. do you have a set limit number of accounts to open per month or year to avoid triggering the dreaded denial notification?
I open as many bank accounts as I want without thinking about it. Rarely get denied, and even if you do get denied for a bank account, it doesn’t do anything.
The out of state accounts is an interesting approach. What address to you provide when signing up for one of those accounts?
$10k in bonuses YTD is amazing! Obviously you are moving money in and out of bank accounts to get the bonus, but how much cash on average would you say you have working towards these bonuses?
I give my home address and my out-of-state driver’s license. They don’t care.
I usually try to earmark $10k for bank account bonus purposes, although at the moment I actually don’t have any cash sitting in bank bonuses right now.
HI—-I’ve been doing this for a couple of years. One issue is the direct deposit requirement for some of these offers. Some bank’s say that it has to be from a paycheck from your employer. If you want to avoid the paycheck from your employer method – Have you ever tried to do an ACH transfer from one of your other bank accounts and put in ” direct deposit ” in the comment field ? Did it work ? If you have any other info on this issue.
Yes, you have to do research and a bit of trial and error to figure out which ACH pushes trigger the direct deposit requirement. Search on reddit/churning or doctor of credit for what other people have tried. Some banks are easier than others.
hi—–can you give a list of the banks and amounts that make up the 10,000 ?
I’ll try to put together a post at the end of the year listing every bank bonus I got this year. It’s a lot of them.
Great info, and so true about having way too narrow of a view as to what’s out there. $10,000 is pretty impressive.
I second the question about the incentives that require direct deposit. I see that a lot, and that would be way too much of a headache. Also, I’m assuming you keep an elaborate spreadsheet and one “primary” bank account, with the others being like spokes on a wheel? Have you ever had trouble keeping it all straight?
I do have an elaborate spreadsheet to keep track. The spreadsheet tracks when I opened the account, when the bonus was earned, and when I closed it (if I closed it). I also keep checklists for each bank bonus, so that I know when I’ve met each requirement.
I really like this post. I’ve also been doing these for a few years but I’ve hit a limit with employer direct deposits accounts. If you have a working spouse it may or may not help. We tried it and found out that one bank did not allow for multiple bonuses if the household address was the same. Needless to say you should do your due diligence. The one thing I would also say is that we slowed down a bit because we refinanced our home and had to be careful with activity on our accounts. Kevin, great post!
Thanks! I refinanced my mortgage back in April and didn’t have any issues with the bank bonus thing. Maybe I’ll slow down when we get our next mortgage though just in case.
Another very helpful post! $10,000 from bank bonuses is amazing. We average $1,500 a year in bank bonuses and another $3,000 – $5,000 from credit card bonuses. How do you keep track of all these bonuses? I am thinking I need to create a good spreadsheet for this.
Yeah, keep track of it in a spreadsheet. I have a link to the spreadsheet I use in my Ultimate Guide to Bank Account Bonuses post.
Do you pay taxes on these earnings?
Yes, it’s taxed as ordinary interest income same as how you pay taxes on interest earned in a savings account.
I scan the websites for bank promotions and some will say you have to be a resident of that state to be eligible for their bank promotion. How can I find those out-of-state banks that will let me open an account and still qualify for their promotion? I don’t want to drive 30 miles or more to another state to score a bank promotion if I can not open it when I get there. However, I am running out of banks in the area. I am on my 9th Bank Promotion this year, with at least 1 more online bank to open this month.
I do keep track of Date Opened, Date Promotion is paid and date the account is closed to ensure I will be eligible for the next bank promotion-The banks make the rules, we just have to play by their rules to score the free money.
Some of these banks can be closed over the telephone after I transfer out the money.
Your best bet is to check Doctor of Credit for that specific bank bonus. If you search the comments, you’ll usually get data points from other people that were able to open from out of state.