- What Are Bank Account Bonuses, How Do They Work, And Why Should You Do Them?
- Initial Steps Before Going For Bank Account Bonuses
- Requirements For Bank Account Bonuses
- Things To Think About Before Going For Any Bank Account Bonus
- Things To Know After Opening The Bank Account
- Addressing Common Concerns
- Tips To Make Bank Bonuses Easier
- Where To Find Bank Bonuses
- Don’t Call The Bank!
- Final Thoughts
- Suggested Bank Account Bonuses To Start With
- Comments
One of the things I’ve gotten pretty good at over the years is figuring out ways to get great, risk-free rates of return on my non-invested cash. For years, I’ve taken advantage of a little financial hack that allows me and my wife to earn a guaranteed 5% interest on up to $10,000 in FDIC insured savings accounts (I detail exactly how I do that in this Netspend 5% interest account post and in this post on where to get 5% interest accounts). I try to keep a decent-sized emergency fund, so being able to earn what essentially amounts to greater than bond level yields on my cash, with no risk of loss, is something I’m pretty happy with.
Another way I’ve been able to earn great rates of return on my non-invested cash is by taking advantage of bank account bonuses. I’ll go into more detail about how these bank account bonuses work as we get further into this post, but in short, many banks will offer you some sort of bonus if you open a bank account with them and meet certain requirements. These requirements can vary, but they typically involve direct depositing a certain sum or maintaining a certain account balance for a specified period.
In practice, what this means is that if you have some cash set aside, you can use that cash to earn bank account bonuses, essentially allowing your idle cash to earn much more than the typical 1 or 2 percent interest that most savings accounts offer. I’ve personally earned thousands of dollars over the years simply by taking advantage of these bank account bonuses.
For reference, here are what my bank account bonus earnings have looked like since I started taking advantage of these back in 2016.
- 2021: $4,946
- 2020: $6,336
- 2019: $4,433
- 2018: $3,262
- 2017: $1,300
- 2016: $935
That’s over $20,000 worth of bank account bonuses I’ve earned over the years – not a life-changing sum, but definitely not pocket change for most people either. And like most things in life, the more I do these bank account bonuses, the better and faster I get at them (this can be seen by the fact that in 2018 and 2019, I more than doubled my bank account bonus earnings compared to 2017 and 2016). These numbers also don’t include my wife’s bank account bonus earnings, which typically range from $1,000 to $3,000 each year.
To understand how much these bank account bonuses are worth, consider this. A high-yield savings account paying 2% interest would require $150,000 to generate $3,000 per year in interest. You can earn that same amount just by having $5,000 to $15,000 that you can dedicate solely to bank account bonuses. This makes bank account bonuses a great way to utilize cash that you don’t need (like your emergency fund), allowing you to earn 5% or more in interest per year with no risk of loss. Sure, it’s not entirely passive. But I think it’s well worth the effort.
Bank account bonuses can be a little bit intimidating, especially if you’ve never done them before. In this post, I’m going to walk you through all of the information you need to know about bank account bonuses so that you can take advantage of them and start making some real money off your idle cash.
What Are Bank Account Bonuses, How Do They Work, And Why Should You Do Them?
The concept behind bank account bonuses is pretty simple. Just like any other business, banks have to spend money to acquire new customers. One obvious way that banks do this is by running advertisements. Another less obvious way is by offering signup bonuses to new customers – basically paying people to open up an account with them.
In general, getting a bank account bonus will require you to do three things:
- Find a bank offering a signup bonus;
- Open the specific bank account that’s eligible for the signup bonus; and
- Meet the requirements to earn the bonus.
Make no mistake – it does take some work to do this. Still, it’s not much work, and most people can do this while sitting around watching TV. Your typical bank bonus should pay you at least $100 after you complete all of the requirements (and more often $200 or more). Most of these requirements can be automated, and even if you took an hour to open up and set up a bank account, that’s still a good return on your time – $100 or more per hour is probably more than you make from your day job.
Perhaps most importantly, bank account bonuses are a great way to use your cash to earn significant risk-free rates of return. There’s a lot of debate about whether keeping an emergency fund is worth it since that money could be kept elsewhere earning much better rates of return over the long term. If you take advantage of bank account bonuses and 5% interest savings accounts the way I do it, it becomes a no-brainer to keep a strong emergency fund in place. Your cash earns 5% or more per year in interest with no risk to the principal, and you get all the benefits of having liquid cash that you can use in the event of an emergency.
The way I see it, keep $5,000 to $10,000 in 5% interest savings accounts. Keep the rest in regular high-yield savings accounts and deploy those funds to earn bank account bonuses.
Initial Steps Before Going For Bank Account Bonuses
There are a few things you’ll need to do before you get into the bank account bonus world. These include the following:
1. Have Money That You Can Dedicate To Bank Bonuses
If you’re going to go for bank account bonuses, I typically recommend having at least $5,000 that you can dedicate solely for bank account bonuses. Most banks will require you to do some amount of direct deposits and/or you’ll need to keep some minimum balance to avoid fees. For the most part, $5,000 should be enough for you to do most bank account bonuses. If you have $10,000 or $15,000 that you can set aside for bank account bonuses, then you should be able to get any bank account bonus you want.
2. Figure Out Ways To Trigger Direct Deposits
I’ll go into this in more detail in the next section, but the gist of this is that most bank account bonuses will require you to meet direct deposit requirements – typically something like direct depositing $500 into your bank account one or two times. Obviously, an actual direct deposit from an employer will work as a direct deposit, but for most of us, changing our direct deposit at work isn’t really realistic.
Luckily, it’s almost always possible to meet direct deposit requirements by doing an ACH transfer between different bank accounts. That’s because most banks can’t distinguish between what’s a real direct deposit from an employer, and what just looks like a direct deposit. Essentially, if you can’t easily change your employer direct deposit, then your goal is to “fake” a direct deposit.
What works as a direct deposit will always be something you have to figure out on a case-by-case basis. Later in this post, I’ll go into all of the strategies I use to meet direct deposit requirements.
3. Create A “Hub” Bank Account
Since getting bank account bonuses often requires transferring money between your bank accounts, it’s helpful to have a bank account that you can link to a lot of external bank accounts and that you can move money in and out of easily. You can call this your “hub” account.
The bank account I’ve primarily used as my “hub” account is Ally, primarily because they let you link up to 20 external banks and don’t have any major limitations on how much money you can move between accounts.
If you’re serious about bank account bonuses, I highly recommend you open up a checking account with Ally. It’s a 100% free bank account and is the primary checking account I use. Indeed, if I had to choose which bank I think is the best bank in the world, it’d probably be Ally – and no, I don’t get paid to say that.
Requirements For Bank Account Bonuses
With those preliminary things out of the way, let’s go into the basic requirements that you’ll have to meet for every bank account bonus. Below are some of the most common requirements, as well as strategies for meeting them.
1. Direct Deposits
The vast majority of bank account bonuses will have some sort of direct deposit requirement. This will typically require you to do a certain number of direct deposits; two direct deposits, for example. These direct deposits also usually have to be for a minimum amount – typically $500 or more.
Direct deposits are usually the hardest requirement to meet and are something that can trip you up if you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s because, for most banks, only certain types of deposits count as a “direct deposit.”
There are basically two ways to do a direct deposit. You can either do a “real” direct deposit. Or you can do a “fake” direct deposit. Let’s look at the differences between the two:
1. Real Direct Deposit. The absolute easiest way to meet a direct deposit requirement is with a real direct deposit from an employer. Most people won’t be able to do this because the vast majority of employers don’t make it easy to switch the direct deposit for your paycheck. If you happen to have an employer that allows you to easily switch your direct deposit, then getting bank account bonuses will be really easy for you.
Gusto is one payroll company that makes it particularly easy to get bank account bonuses, and it’s the payroll company that my wife uses for her dental practice. What makes Gusto really amazing is that you can switch your direct deposit anytime and you can split up your paychecks between different bank accounts.
My wife started using Gusto when she bought her practice and it’s been a game-changer for my bank account bonus system. If you are lucky enough to have an employer that uses Gusto, take advantage of it!
2. Fake Direct Deposit. For most people, getting direct deposits from work won’t be possible, since most of us can’t change our employer direct deposit easily. If you’re in this situation (which is very likely), then you’ll need to figure out ways to simulate a direct deposit. This will involve doing ACH transfers.
You need to know a little vocabulary before we continue. An ACH push involves doing a transfer out of one bank account and into another. An ACH pull is the same thing, but in reverse (pulling money from an outside bank account into your bank account).
To fake a direct deposit, you’ll need to do an ACH push from one bank account to your target bank bonus account. Many banks will automatically code ACH transfers from certain accounts as a direct deposit.
Note that you’ll need to do your own research to figure out which accounts trigger the direct deposit requirements. Doctor of Credit keeps a list of data points for what triggers the direct deposit for different bank accounts, but this can change over time, so it’s not always 100% accurate. Many times, you will have to send multiple ACH transfers in and out of the bank accounts and hope that one triggers the direct deposit requirement.
Below is a list of accounts I typically use to trigger direct deposits. In general, I’ve found that some combination of the below will work. This obviously isn’t an all-inclusive list, but it’s a good starting point that should hopefully help you.
- Ally or Capital One 360 or Discover
- Airbnb
- Robinhood or WeBull
- Fidelity Bank Account
- PayPal
- Astra
Here’s some more detail about each of these direct deposit methods.
- Ally or Capital One 360 or Discover. For Ally, Capital One 360, and Discover, I basically link those accounts with my target bank bonus account, then do ACH pushes into those target accounts. This is pretty straightforward.
- Airbnb. Airbnb is a direct deposit method that is unique to my situation since I also host on Airbnb. The website lets me change the bank account that Airbnb deposits my earnings into, as well as set minimum payout amounts. This almost always triggers the direct deposit requirement for me – perhaps another reason to consider hosting on Airbnb!
- Robinhood. Robinhood is a free stock investing app that can often trigger direct deposits. To do this, you move money into your Robinhood account, then initiate a transfer from Robinhood to your target bank bonus account. You’re basically moving money into a brokerage account but not investing it, then you’re moving it right back to your bank account. Since it’s a brokerage, it’ll often code as a direct deposit, since it doesn’t look like a normal ACH transfer.
- WeBull. WeBull is also a free stock investing app like Robinhood. Follow the same process here as you would for Robinhood.
- Fidelity. Fidelity has a bank account that will sometimes code as a direct deposit. This is from Fidelity’s FDIC-insured bank account. I’ve had some luck using this as a direct deposit method.
- PayPal. PayPal is another method that will sometimes code as a direct deposit. The process is pretty much like any other method – move money into PayPal, then move it into your target bank bonus account.
- Astra. Some people have had some luck triggering direct deposits using an app called Astra. To trigger a direct deposit with it, simply move money between your accounts using Astra. You can label your transfer whatever you want, so try labeling it as “Payroll” or something similar and it could code as a direct deposit.
Again, this is NOT an all-inclusive list and is really just an example of methods I’ve used to trigger direct deposits. Figuring out what works as a direct deposit is really more of a trial and error type thing, so you’ll often have to use multiple methods to see if something codes as a direct deposit. Make sure to do your research in advance if you’re going to “fake” a direct deposit.
2. Debit Card Transactions
This is a fairly self-explanatory requirement. Some banks will require a certain number of debit card transactions to meet the bonus requirements. Typically, it’ll be something like 10 debit card transactions within 30 days.
You can obviously meet this requirement by actually using the debit card, but an easier way to meet the debit card transaction requirement is by buying small denominations of Amazon gift cards (i.e. $0.50 or $1 Amazon gift cards).
Another way to meet debit card transaction requirements is to link the debit card to a payment app like Venmo or Square Cash, then send small amounts to your friend or spouse. They can then send you the money back via some other method.
3. Moving A Certain Amount Of Money Into The Bank
Again, pretty straightforward. If the bank has this requirement, you’ll just need to transfer a designated amount of money into the new bank account.
Most banks will also require you to do a minimum opening deposit when you open the account. It’s usually a pretty small amount, typically $25 or so.
4. Keeping A Certain Minimum Balance For A Period of Time
If a bank has this requirement, you’ll need to move money into the account and then leave it in there for a specified time period. It’ll usually be something like 90 to 120 days. When a bank has this type of requirement, you can sort of think of the bank as serving as a short-term CD.
5. Bill Pays
Again, this is a self-explanatory requirement. If a bank requires bill pays, you’ll need to schedule bill pays using the bank’s bill pay system. Most of the time, the bank will require a certain number of bill pays (e.g. three bill pays within 60 days). This type of requirement is pretty easy for anyone to complete.
Things To Think About Before Going For Any Bank Account Bonus
Before opening any bank account you’ll want to think about the following things:
1. Is Opening The Bank Account A Hard Pull Or A Soft Pull?
The difference between a hard pull and a soft pull is that a hard pull appears as a credit inquiry on your credit report while a soft pull does not appear on your credit report at all. You generally do not want to do a hard pull for a bank account unless the bonus is really big. Soft pulls, on the other hand, are totally fine because they literally do not impact anything and cannot be seen by anyone.
The vast majority of banks will do a soft pull or no pull at all when you open a bank account. You’ll want to do some research before opening any bank account to make sure it’s a soft pull, but in general, most banks will do a soft pull (e.g. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi, Chase, etc all do soft pulls when you open a bank account with them).
2. Bank Account Fees
Some banks that offer bank account bonuses also charge monthly fees that can be waived by meeting certain requirements. You’ll often be able to meet these requirements just by meeting the requirements needed to earn the bonus.
The typical requirements that you’ll need to meet to waive the monthly fees include doing direct deposits, maintaining some minimum balance, or hitting a certain number of debit card transactions each month. For the most part, the only time you’ll really need to worry about monthly fees is if it’s a bank account that requires you to keep it open for a certain period of time or if it’s a bank account that charges an early termination fee, which essentially means you’ll need to keep the bank account open for at least that long.
The requirements to meet these fees are usually not difficult to meet so long as you have a decent amount of cash earmarked for bank account bonuses. For example:
- If the bank requires a certain amount of direct deposit to waive the monthly fee, simply use a bank account that codes as a direct deposit, then move the money back and forth each month. For example, if the bank requires a monthly $500 direct deposit to waive the monthly fee, I simply schedule a $500 ACH push from whatever outside bank I’m using, then schedule a $500 ACH pull back into the same account.
- If the bank requires a minimum balance to waive the monthly fee, I simply move that amount in and leave it there until I can close the account.
- If the bank requires a certain number of debit card transactions, I simply do these debit card transactions by sending money to my spouse via Venmo or Square Cash. Or I buy small denominations of Amazon gift cards.
3. Household Limits
Some banks will have restrictions on how many people at the same address can earn the bank bonus. If there is no restriction, then this is a good opportunity for you and your partner to basically double up on bonuses from the same bank. I’ve done this with my wife for many years, earning the same bonus from the same banks.
If the bank does have a household limit restriction, then only one person in the household will be able to earn the bonus.
4. Location Restrictions
Some bank account bonuses are nationwide in scope, meaning that anyone can open a bank account and earn the bonus, regardless of where you live. Other bank account bonuses have geographic restrictions. You’ll need to look at the bank account bonus and make sure you’re eligible for it depending on where you live. In some instances, even if you’re out of the bank’s footprint, you can still open an account in-branch. This makes it possible for you to earn a bonus if you’re going to be traveling to a city that has that bank.
5. Credit Card Funding
Some banks will allow you to fund a bank account with a credit card. This is a great way to meet minimum spending requirements. You charge the credit card to fund your bank account, then use those funds to pay the credit card. You’re essentially moving money in a circle when you do this.
If the bank lets you fund your account with a credit card, take advantage of it to hit the minimum spend requirements on your credit cards. Most banks will limit how much you can fund a bank account with a credit card.
6. Opportunity Cost
One thing to always consider with any bank account bonus is what the opportunity cost is of using your cash for the bank bonus. In general, you can always assume that any dollar you have locked up for a bank bonus could also be in a high-yield savings account earning 2% interest. As a result, you’ll need to discount whatever you make from the bank account bonus with what that money could have made if it was just sitting in a regular savings account.
A simple illustration will help you understand how opportunity cost works. Let’s say you have a bank that’s offering you a $200 bonus if you keep $5,000 in their checking account for 90 days (about 3 months). In a 2% interest savings account, that $5,000 would earn about $25 in interest over that 3-month period. You’ll make $200 in that same period by going for the bank account bonus, so it’s worthwhile to go for the bonus in this situation. Just make sure to think about what else your idle cash could be doing to understand your true return.
Things To Know After Opening The Bank Account
There are a few things you need to think about after you open a bank account. These include the following:
1. When Does The Bonus Post?
The vast majority of banks will NOT post the bonus immediately after you complete the requirements. Instead, most banks will state that bonuses will post within a certain number of days after meeting the requirements or after opening the account. Most of the time, the bonus will post earlier than their terms state, but this isn’t always true. In practical terms, what this means is that you need to be prepared to wait for your bonus to post – sometimes for months.
2. When Can You Close The Bank Account?
The majority of banks will either require you to keep the account open for a specified period of time or they will charge you an early termination fee if you close the account before a certain number of days. In general, you’ll probably have to keep the account open for 6 months, and in some cases, 12 months. I use a calendar to set reminders for myself on when I can close the bank account.
Even if there is no requirement to keep the bank account open, I’ll usually avoid closing the bank account immediately just to avoid angering the bank or making it look so obvious that all I’m doing is opening the bank account for the bonus. Remember, you want to be a good citizen if you can, so try to do things in as “nice” a way as possible.
3. When Can You Get The Bonus Again?
This is something you can think about as you get farther along in your bank bonus churning career, but once you’ve gone through a couple of bank account bonuses, you’ll want to start thinking about when you can do them again.
Some banks will only allow you to earn the bonus once in your lifetime. Others will allow you to earn them every 6 or 12 months from the date you earned or closed the account. It’s good to have a general idea of when you can do the bank account bonus again. I’ve earned multiple bank bonuses from Wells Fargo, US Bank, Bank of America, Chase, BMO Harris, and others.
Addressing Common Concerns
I sometimes get looks of disbelief when I tell people that I open up a bunch of bank accounts each year to earn sign-up bonuses. Some people think opening up bank accounts must impact your credit somehow. Like with credit cards, most people seem to have ideas about how bank accounts work, but don’t actually have a clue.
Here are a few things to know:
1. Bank Accounts are Not like Credit Cards – They Don’t Appear Anywhere That Matters. A bank account does not appear on your credit report and will not impact your ability to get a loan or open new lines of credit. The only place that a bank account can appear is on something called a ChexSystems Report (commonly called a ChexReport).
Not all banks will pull your ChexReport and not all of them will report a new bank account to your ChexReport. Some banks are what we call “chex sensitive,” which means that, if you open up too many bank accounts in a short period of time, you could be denied a new bank account. This really doesn’t have much practical impact and most banks don’t appear to be chex sensitive. In short, so long as you’re not closing bank accounts with a negative balance, nothing bad will happen to you.
2. No Hard Pulls For The Majority of Bank Account Bonuses. I’ve mentioned this previously, but most bank accounts do not do a hard credit pull, and instead do a soft credit pull that cannot be seen by anyone. In other words, this also has no impact on your credit report.
3. It’s Work – But It’s Not That Much Work. A common criticism of bank account bonuses is that they take too much work. It definitely takes some work – there’s no doubt about that. However, even the most time-consuming bank account bonuses shouldn’t take you very much time. For most people, bank account bonuses generally translate to a wage of $100 to $300 per hour – much more than most people make at work.
4. Yes, You’ll Have To Pay Taxes. Bank bonuses are classified as bank interest, so you’ll have to pay taxes on the money you earn. That’s no different than the taxes you pay on any interest you earn from a bank account.
Tips To Make Bank Bonuses Easier
Getting bank bonuses does take work. But there are ways to make things easier. Here are things you can do to make the whole process easier.
1. Stay Organized
The most important thing you need to do is to stay organized, especially if you’re doing multiple bank account bonuses over the course of a year. I use two things to stay organized here:
- A spreadsheet; and
- A checklist where I can write all of the requirements for the bank bonus and check off when each step has been completed.
I use Google Sheets for my bank bonus spreadsheet. It’s just a simple spreadsheet that lists (1) the bank, (2) when the account was opened, (3) when the account was closed, and (4) when the bonus posted, along with any other notes I might need to know. Use whatever setup works for you, but make sure you keep this information organized in a way that works for you.
Below is a screenshot of the spreadsheet I use. It’s very basic. Any bank accounts highlighted in yellow are ones where the bonus is still pending. The green highlights are reminders for me on when to close the account. If I go for a bonus and fail to get it, I highlight it in red to remind me that I failed it. Here’s a link to a template of this spreadsheet that you can use. You can copy the rows I’ve made and use that for your own spreadsheet.
For my checklist, I use an app called Taskade. It’s a pretty simple task app where I’m able to create a new checklist, then mark when each step has been completed. Below is a screenshot of my Taskade app and a bonus that I was aiming to earn.
2. Automate Everything
It can be difficult to keep track of everything, especially when you have multiple bank bonuses going at once. To make things easier for yourself, it’s best to automate as much as you can as soon as you open up your new bank account. For example, if your bank bonus requires certain direct deposits, set all of that up at the very beginning. It’s very easy to automate money in and out of any account – do it once at the beginning, then you don’t have to think about it again.
Ally is a great bank to automate transfers in and out of bank bonus accounts. Since Ally lets you link as many as 20 bank accounts at once, you can usually link up a lot of external bank accounts and schedule transfers from there as needed.
3. Set Up Calendar Reminders
You’ll need to remember at least a few dates whenever you open a new bank account: (1) when you need to meet the requirements, (2) when the bonus will post, and (3) when you can close the account. Whenever you open a new bank account, set up these reminders in your calendar immediately. That way, you’ll always remember what you need to do and when.
4. Take It Slow To Start
Bank bonuses can be intimidating, so my advice to anyone, especially if you’re new to this, is to take it slow. Read the terms carefully and make sure you understand exactly what you need to do to earn the bonus. It can be tempting to just jump headfirst into bank account bonuses, but I’d recommend against that. Bank bonuses will likely always be around. Take your time so you can get comfortable with how all of this stuff works.
Where To Find Bank Bonuses
Finding bank bonuses is an art in itself, but in general, you will need to do your own research to find bank account bonuses. If you’re paying attention, you should always be able to find dozens of bank account bonuses each year.
Without a doubt, the best place to find bank account bonuses is Doctor of Credit. He keeps the definitive list of the best bank account bonuses, and this is the first place you should always start.
Other ways you can find out about bank account bonuses are from mailers. Every few months, I’ll usually get something in the mail with an offer from some bank (for example, US Bank seems to always send me something every few months). If you pay attention, you’ll see plenty of bank bonus offers out there – probably more than you can even do in a year.
Don’t Call The Bank!
This deserves its own section, as it’s a mistake a lot of new people make when starting with bank account bonuses. The general rule is this: do not call the bank!
Banks are offering these bonuses because they’re trying to get you to be a customer, so if you call them and tell them that you’re just opening the account to earn the bonus, you’ll not only hurt yourself but potentially hurt other people trying to earn the bonus too.
There are only two times you should ever consider calling the bank:
- The account required you to apply a promo code to be eligible for the bonus. You usually can just send the bank a secure message to confirm that the promo code has been applied to your account.
- You legitimately met the bonus requirements within the time limitations and your bonus did not post. When I say legitimately, I mean that if the bank required direct deposits, you used actual direct deposits from an employer and otherwise met all of the requirements exactly as they were written.
So, don’t be that person who calls the bank and says, “I’m just trying to earn the bonus and read on some blog that I can meet the direct deposit requirement by moving money from another bank.” Otherwise, you’ll incur my wrath and the wrath of the rest of us in the bank-churning community!
Final Thoughts
Bank bonuses are a wonderful way to utilize your idle cash in a risk-free way. Since these are all FDIC-insured savings accounts, at worst, you might just mess up with meeting the requirements and not get your bonus. As a benefit, however, you’ll never lose your principal, and your money will always be liquid if you need it.
When done correctly, most people can earn $1,000 or more per year just by going for a few different bank bonuses. And you’ll only need $5,000 to $15,000 set aside to use for bank account bonuses. When you do the math, even $1,000 per year in bank account bonuses is an annual return between 6-20% on your $5,000 to $15,000 of funds. That’s well worth it, and when combined with all of the 5% interest accounts I use, you can have a decent chunk of money set aside earning 5% or more interest per year, risk-free. It’s a perfect way to use your emergency fund and have it actually earn real interest.
Have you taken advantage of bank account bonuses before? Anything I missed that I should include here? My hope with this post was to create a comprehensive guide to help the new bank bonus churner, so I hope I did that here. Let me know your thoughts!
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- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – 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 Ebike – 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.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R 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 ($100) – 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 $100 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 just $10 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Webull (20 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 20 free shares 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 shares using Webull.
- Moomoo (15 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 2 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- 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.
- Upgrade ($200) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $200 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $200 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- Ally Bank ($100) – Of all the banks out there, Ally is, without a doubt, my favorite. At the moment, Ally is offering $100 to customers who open an eligible Ally account and meet the requirements. Here are the step-by-step directions to earn your Ally Bank referral bonus.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – 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.
- 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.
- US Bank Business ($900) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
- 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.
- 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.
- Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 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.
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 $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $900 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- 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 $100 for opening an account.
- Empower. 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.
Is Astra free and how does one sign up?
This was such an awesome post and it was EXACTLY what I needed. Thank you. I’m loving your blog and that whole Panther joke. You’ve got gold here and will help many people. Thanks again Kevin!
You may want to add an advisory into your suggestion for Chime as their account agreement gives them permission to “suspend, freeze, restrict, or close your Account for any reason with or without notice” which has rendered many people unable to access the money they placed into their account. Here’s an article from Ars Technica on the matter: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/07/the-chime-banking-app-has-been-closing-accounts-not-returning-money/
The article is from 2021 but as of October 2022 that line in the agreement is still present.
Yeah, I mean, get your bonus from Chime, then get out is what I say.
Wanted to publicize a very easy bonus I initiated today.
Key Bank
$200 bonus
One direct deposit of at least $500 within 60 days of account opening
Bonus Code ONAS0922
I received an Equifax “soft pull” alert
Bonus appears to be open until 10/7/2022
I cannot speak to what type of direct deposit will work. I am fortunate in that my employer has a portal which allows me to split my direct deposit money up to 20 different accounts. I am unaware if there are geographical restrictions – the closest branch to me is about 20 minutes. I funded the account with my debit card ($10 minimum).
This one has geographic restrictions, so only do this is you live in a state that has Key Bank.
Thanks FP! Key Bank has branches in the following states:
AK
CO
CT
FL
ID
IN
ME
MA
MI
NY
OH
OR
PA
UT
VT
WA
Have you heard of the Charles Schwab Starter Pack offer? Deposit $50 for $101 in stocks. https://www.schwab.com/investing-starter-kit
Nice article. I have been doing many of the items you have listed. Great “spending” money source.
Yeah. The crazy thing is most years, I make enough to easily fully fund a Roth IRA. If you think about it, bank bonuses can literally be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars if invested for the long term.
Just now trying out the bank churning this month and started a few accounts. On my Capital One 360 account, I saw that my ACH push from Ally came across as a “transfer”. Any idea if that counts as a DD? Would hate to wait too long and miss the bonus window. Thanks!
I’d recommend trying some more options for Capital One 360, because I’m not sure if Ally codes as a DD for it.
Could “fake” direct deposits be considered a type of wire fraud? You are using an online ACH transfer to trick a bank into coding the transfer as a real direct deposit that triggers a bank bonus payment to you. Really curious about your thoughts. Thanks.
I’m not a criminal law attorney, but realistically, no, it’s not going to be considered wire fraud. When you look up the federal wire fraud statute, there are terms of art that aren’t clear to me, but I’m guessing the terms mean more than what they say.
So I was working out the math for bank bonuses. For the larger amounts you pretty much need 15,000 or more to get the larger bonuses. But if you just leave the 15,000 with HM Bradley, you have 450 in interest for the year. So it would seem that unless the bonus is substantial you might be further ahead leaving that large deposit amount alone. Even putting it in and out of an HM Bradley account once over the year, you would likely have at least one Quarter at 0% for your entire account, so the bonus amount still has to at least be enough to make up that difference. At least that is what my spread sheet says, but I am no expert.
Seems like the smaller bonuses that require smaller deposit amounts is a better bet for value for effort.
For most bank account bonuses, the effective annualized rate of return will always beat most bank accounts, even the super-high-yield accounts. Obviously, do the math on each bonus to see if it makes sense for you.
Typically, I try to get the best of all worlds. I have money set aside in super high-yield savings accounts earnings 3-6% interest, then I keep a side fund just for bank bonuses.
Have you tried Monifi? $250 bonus with DD.
https://www.monifi.com/250?utm_source=monifi&utm_medium=alert&utm_campaign=250
Yeah, I did MoniFi back when it was only $100 or something bonus. Missed out on the $250 bonus.
Kevin,
Have you tried getting bonuses for different businesses?
I currently have a Santander business checking tied to my S corporation. If I open an account for my LLC with a different EIN number, do you think the account opening bonus will trigger?
Same issue with sofi. and when you check their website it says it needed to be direct deposited into the account. has anyone successfully done the $500 deposit and gotten the $75 instantly?
Turns out it only took a few hours. I was just a bit impatient and expected it to be instant. I funded the account with a debit card, and in a few hours it showed up in my account history. My account actually got credited with the $50 today.
great thanks, ill update when I get it as well. Probably tomorrow then
Yeah you’re right, the $50 is there but I guess it just hasn’t cleared yet so I’ll probably have to wait until next week to withdraw it
Yeah, I guess all I can do is wait. Thanks for the quick reply!
Hey Kevin, somehow just got rejected from Chime, not sure what happened there – they said they couldn’t disclose what happened for confidentiality reasons. Also did the Sofi one using your link and funded it with $500, but my bonus didn’t credit. Looks like it should be instant, so a bit confused on what happened. Anything you recommend trying?
Not sure about Chime either. They’ve been known to shut down accounts, but I’ve actually never heard of anyone getting rejected. Not not telling you why you got rejected is fairly standard for most banks. They typically don’t share to avoid any potential legal issues (sort of how employers will often not give recommendations and will instead only say you worked for them).
I’m not sure about SoFi. I’d give it a day or 2 to see what happens.
Hi, i did the Chime bonus 3 days ago. I used Ally Bank Money market transfer for 250$ and when was credited to Chime I received the bonus at the same time. Thanks for this post.
Many bonuses state I must keep the checking account open for 120 days, or the bonus will be deducted if closed out early. NP. But what about the Direct deposit itself? IE., I opened the CA on 1/1. Completed the DD by 2/1. Received the bonus by 3/1. Can I then move the DD on 3/2? Or do I have to leave it there until I close out the account by the 120 days, which is 7/1?
Check the terms, but generally, you can take out your bonus right away. Just make sure that you are meeting whatever requirements there are to avoid any fees, if any.
Will an Ally Savings acct work for a bank bonus deposit requirement or does it need to come from a checking acct? I only have an Ally Savings currently.
Ally savings and checking would be the same. If Ally works, then it doesn’t matter whether it comes from the checking or savings.
Thank you. One more question, my credit union gives me 1.5% with direct deposit and 10 debit card ACH trans per month. I tried what you suggested and linked my debit card to my Venmo. I just did my first Venmo transaction but when I checked bank online, it coded as a P2P w/d. So that means it won’t work, yeah?
Correction: I’m sorry, I meant to say debit POS transaction not ACH.
It seemed no one answer this question, I want to know the answer too, anyone can help?
Wow, Amazing job I must say.
Really well written. I guess I’ve been hanging around Doctor of credits site for a bit to long that I pretty much knew most of your post.
But you wrote really beautiful, well explained and in detail. Extremely clear and even some stuff I never thought of doing from like using paypal, robinhood and the others to load.
Will definitely use your post as a reference for others to learn.
Haven’t really taken advantage of bank bonus , while I probably should.
To this date I can only remember one bank bonus with santander for $400, once with td I tried, I needed the account for the perks it had so was in a rush to open it and all they were offering at the time was some free phone if you do dot dot dot.. I just left that alone.
While I have a chase private client $2,000 offer if you transfer $250k in new funds to the account and keep for 60 or was it 90 days.
Now the problem was, or rather is, that I had a banker upgrade my account to a CPC and the funds were already in the account and forgot to ask him to apply the code for the upgrade. Was only 6-8 months later did I wake up and call chase to ask them to add the bonus to my account. So they were willing to add the promo to my account but wouldn’t want to give me the bonus unless I transferred 250k in new money. I probably or I can at least try to call my banker and see if he can push through for me the bonus being that I had the funds in there for 6-8 months and he forgot to put the promo code in at the time of upgrading.
Now let’s assume I can’t get the offer that way, would you suggest I write a check for 250k or transfer the money directly to my TD or my santander bank and then back to my chase account to trigger the $250k in new money?
Waiting to hear back, what you would recommend. Thanks again for this beautiful article/post of yours.
Sincerely, Dave
Hey Dave,
As long as there’s no tax issues, then seems like not much harm in trying to move the money out and back. I have no idea if that will work but whats the harm in trying?
That it’ll be sitting and waiting on 90 days to pass while I didn’t effectively accomplish anything.
so I’d like to make sure whatever I do shall trigger the bonus.
But like you said I’ll give it a shot.
Hi, I’m just starting out with bonuses and want to know how many bank bonuses can I apply for before it triggers some red flags? Thanks for your very detailed info. It helped me immensely.
It depends on the bank, but generally, you can do as many bank bonuses as you want with no issues. The worst “red flag” is that a bank denies you when you try to open the account, but that doesn’t do anything to you. I do 20+ bank bonuses per year with no issues.
Can Chime be churned? I’m have not been able to find any DP’s on this.
Thank in advance for the help.
I’m not sure but I doubt it can be churned.
Does Simple code as a direct deposit for MetaBank?
Most likely no.
Great article, I’m interested in getting started with this. Quick question is this something you could do in your minor children’s name or would that be pushing it too far?
I’m not sure. My guess is probably not.
I just used your Chime link and got my bonus. Pushed from Ally, worked instantly. I did have to wait a day after signing up to do the “2 deposits < $1.00" thing to verify, then it took another day for the transfer to be received by Chime. I hope you got your bonus, if you didn't reach your limit yet! I've been looking at these types of bonuses for a couple years, but never had the funds to do it. Now that I do, and I started with this small easy one, I'm already addicted! Thanks!
Sweet! Glad it worked out. Make sure to do SoFi Money as well. That one is a really easy one that posts instantly and will give you a nice feel as to how the bank bonus game works. Finally, you might want to try Service Credit Union for another easy bank bonus that posts instantly. It’s just a bit more of an annoying signup process, but ultimately a very easy beginner bonus.
I detailed the process for Service Credit Union in this post (just check the Table of Contents for Service Credit Union).
I opened up my account on 6/24/2020 and used your $50 referral link. I added Chime as an External Transfer account to my Ally checking and did a $200 ACH push from Ally bank to Chime. The $50 referral bonus posted on the exact same day as the $200 transfer. So, I can verify that this works with Ally!
Yep, easy peasy. If you have a spouse or partner, be sure to refer them as well for a $100 swing in your direction (they get $50, you get $50).
I want to get started on the whole bank account bonus scene, I have been reading a lot of information on your blog and I’m almost ready to pull the trigger on some applications.
My main question is:
Regarding direct deposit, if I try a certain method and it doesn’t work, how long will it take in order to find out that it didn’t work? Will I have a chance to try another method?
e.g. If a certain bonus posts only 8 weeks after the first 3 months, and I have to make direct deposits for the 3 months no knowing if those work, then I’ll be SOL regarding getting the bonus. Does it work that way?
It would be super helpful if you can clarify how much room for trial and error one can typically expect to have in this situation.
Thanks a ton.
Hello Everyone,
I decided to try this Bank account Churning for the first time and so far did the Wells Fargo and Chase Banks.they offered a $200 bonus at Chase and $400 at Wells Fargo. Even though Chase gives you the money right away, I think you need to keep the account open for 12 months unless I didn’t read that correctly. I am going to add TD Bank and PNC for their $300 Bonus. I need a way to keep track of this. Does anyone have an excel spreadsheet they could e-mail me. I dont have much experience with Xcel but could use it if I have it set up. If so please email me at Hauntedhunters@aol.com.
Thanks in Advance for any help
There was a link for a spreadsheet included in Section #1 above under “Staying Organize”
I was looking at the $400 Wells Fargo bonus, too. I feel like I am missing something because it is so much higher and the requirements are comparable to the banks with much lower bonuses.
Wells Fargo bonus is a good one when its available. The things to remember are: (1) you need to figure out what counts as a direct deposit if you can’t do a real one, and (2) you either need to keep a minimum balance in the account or do a DD in and out of the account each month to avoid the monthly fee. I’ve found that for the monthly fee, you can avoid it by automating ACH transfers from banks like Ally or Discover, but watch it like a hawk so you don’t get unwittingly charged a monthly fee.
Also, bonus takes about 2 or 3 month before it posts, so be prepared to wait. It’s not a hard bonus, but it is slightly more work compared to some banks.
With transferring from Ally to emulate a direct deposit, are you pushing funds from their Checking Account, or has this also worked with pushing from their Savings Account? In other words, are you using a checking or savings account as the Hub account?
It doesn’t matter which one you use. Better to use the checking account though because I think the savings accounts limits transfers to 6 times per month.
Is your hub account with Ally a checking or savings account
On second review, I missed that you said checking! Big fan of your posts (I’ve read many of them). I’m a college student graduating this year (sadly), but one of the few in my grade lucky enough to have a job offer that wasn’t rescinded. Looking forward to using some of your strategies out in the real world (and paying off my loans) and you can probably expect some bonuses from me using your links coming your way soon!
Thanks Sage! Glad you got that job. When I was graduating college in 2009, few of us had job offers at all!
I have a U.S Bank account. U.S bank has a $3 outward transfer fee. I also have a Charles Schwab account. I am considering doing Schwab to avoid the $3 fee. Does anyone have experience doing it with the Chime $50 bonus? Does Schwab charge a transfer fee?
Can you say more about how you automate transfers ? It seems that sometimes transfer times can vary by a few days and it would be easy to overdraft because there is no validation of sufficient funds so do you use a safety net of 5 business days or something?
I’d like to automate all the transfers for as many concurrent bonuses as possible but I’m concerned about a snag that leads to an overdraft and fees. Was this an issue for you?
Thanks.
Yeah, I usually give myself a buffer of about a week just to make sure this doesn’t happen.
Great post. Also curious if anyone has ever found a way to automate POS debit card transactions? I have some high yield checking accounts (credit unions tend to have fairly high yield accounts, 3%+) but they always have a POS debit card transaction minimum. Every month, I venmo several $0.01 payments to my sister and then just request it back. Not much work, but if there was a better automated solution, that would be preferable.
One way to automate POS transactions is with buying Amazon gift cards. You can schedule it to reload your Amazon balance on a monthly basis. The only issue there is that automatic reloads for Amazon start have a $5 minimum (compared to the 50 cent minimum if you just buy amazon gift cards normally).
Do you have any experience using Venmo to meet a bank bonuses spending requirement? I’ve signed up for a targeted Citibank offer and need to spend $1,000 on the debit card in the first 60 days and make at least one bill payment in each of the first two months. I just used Venmo to pay rent and because it’s a debit card no 3% fee was charged. Have you ever tried that with Citi, do you know if it will still qualify as a debit card purchase? Or will it count as a bill payment?
Yes, you can use venmo, cash app, paypal, or any of the money transfer type apps to meet any bank transaction requirements. Just send it to your spouse or someone you trust, then have them send it back to you via a check or using a different app. Important thing is don’t send money through venmo and then have the other person send it back to you with the same app, cuz apps don’t like that.
awesome thanks so much
I am needing to spend $1000 on a debit card in order to get a $100 bonus from Aspiration. I am worried, that by sending money to a friend via a peer to peer payment, using the Paypal app, my payment won’t be recognized as a eligible transaction with the bank. I would like to send this money to my friend via Paypal’s free peer to peer money sending service and then have her write me a check to pay me back. Do you have any experience in peer to peer transactions in qualifying for a bank bonus, and if so, does it work?
I just realized that money can only be sent through the bank account to my friend and not with the card. Whoops. I might try using “Plastiq” to make rent payments to achieve the $1000 min. transactions.
Kevin, your content has helped me a ton, I’ve taken action on your NetSpend post (using your referral link) a few months back, and Ive also just gotten into the bank bonuses via DoC.
Having just finished your awesome post on Solo 401Ks, I am planning on getting an EIN for my multiple side gigs – a sundry list of hustles that I’m thinking of categorizing under an umbrella category “Other” (if pressed for a description:. “E-Commerce and Research Services”).
But I’ve also been wondering: Can 1099-INT activity such as bank bonuses be included for the Solo 401K?
Thanks so much for these wonderful posts!!
Hey Jen, 1099-INT income doesn’t count for Solo 401k. It needs to be 1099 income that you pay SE taxes on – which is going to be active employment that goes on Schedule C of your tax return.
Hello,
I am right out of college and would like to earn a couple extra bucks. I’ve thought about getting involved in these bank account bonuses for awhile now and thought you would be the one to go to for questions.
1) Are ACH transfers considered wire transfers?
2) If so, are there any banks that do not have any fees for incoming or outgoing domestic/international wire transfers? (Ally has a fee for outgoing domestic wires)
I’m curious because, for example, let’s say I am using an account with Ally as a HUB account, and just to run a test, I do one of the small bonuses that gives you $20 immediately. However, Ally charges $20 for each domestic wire transfer. So I would end up with a $0 profit from the experience. Obviously that’s not worth the time and effort even if it takes just a few minutes. What are your thoughts? (I’ll confess and let you know I did not read many of the comments, so this may be redundant)
Hey Ryan,
1) ACH Transfers are not wire transfers. A wire transfer is a specific thing that I’ve never done in my life and my guess is that you won’t do either until maybe you buy a house and need to move huge funds to a mortgage company. ACH transfers go through the national ACH system and that’s something that every bank uses when you move funds between them. In short, no, ACH transfers are NOT wire transfers.
2) Every bank should be free to ACH money between different banks. If a bank charges you money, that is a scam bank.
When you link Ally to another bank, that’ll transfer as an ACH transfer. It’s free, so don’t worry about it. You can’t accidentally do a wire transfer also, if that brings you some comfort.
“2) Every bank should be free to ACH money between different banks. If a bank charges you money, that is a scam bank.”
I wouldn’t go so far as to call them scam banks, more like not so user-friendly. Bank of America charges a fee for bank to bank transfers. They are one of the largest banks in the country. Not that this makes them easy to do business with, but I’d hardly call them a scam.
Also M&T only very recently eliminated their $3 transfer fee. Seems like they finally looked around them and noticed that almost no other banks charge for that service, and dropped it.
Of course you’re still free to call them scam banks if you like, but when I think of “scam bank” I think of some place completely not legit, a fake company posing as a bank.
I think my definition of a scam company is a company that makes money by charging unnecessary fees off of people who don’t know any better. Hence, if you asked me anytime, I’d say BOA is a scam company due to the fact that they made millions (and maybe billions) off charging these type of fees to unsuspecting consumers.
anyone had any recent success with Varo? I’ve tried Ally and Etrade, neither triggered the bonus.
Use discover and do an ach transfer of $250 or more. That should work still.
Will the Sofi Referral Bonuses that I earn go into my Sofi Account, or do I need to link my bank account in order to receive them? Do I have to wait for the $100.00 to land in my Sofi Account before referring others?
They go into your SoFi account.
How do you know if an ACH transfer from Capital One 360 or Ally codes as Direct Deposit?
No way to know other than reading datapoint online and seeing if bonus hits. You need to do your own research and testing to see if it works for whatever particular bank you’re trying. Doctor of Credit is a good source for data points.
I would take Varo off this list. I did a $200 transfer from Ally to my Varo savings account. It marked it as P2P and not Direct Deposit so I don’t think I’m getting the bonus. Also Varo took a loooooong time to verify my account to open it. Seems all that waiting and work were for nothing.
Have you tried discover? Multiple Data points show it still works with a $250+ transfer from discover. But weirdly, doesnt work if less than $250. Try that first and I bet it works.
Have you found the bank transfer that works for Varo?
Try Discover bank and ACH $250 or more into it. That one reportedly works.
Varo didn’t work for me but SoFi did.
I opened up an account at Ally and then another one at Chime. After the transfer went through I got the bonus right away.
I then tried opening one at Varo. They even asked me to send them a pic of my DL which I did and they said after a week that they are still “verifying” my information. I also just tried opening a SoFi account and was rejected. Got a vague email saying they can’t verify my info. There is nothing sketchy about my background so I’m wondering if they are noticing that I am opening these accounts and just doing it for the bonus? Anyone else have this issue?
Do you have a credit “alert” set by the credit agencies? (ie: Experian, TransUnion, Equifax)
This will force them to verify your identity directly with you. My husband had some fraudulent stuff show in his credit report so they offered to put a 1 year credit alert which means any time we try to apply for a bank account online, it’s never instant approval, but always want extra proof from him. This could be something like upload pic of DL, fax copy of SS card, copies of paystubs that show our full address, etc. I’ll be glad when the 1 yr alert expires; it’s making my churning life hell. This from a 4 yr veteran of playing the bank bonus game.
Once you get better at it, it’s so worth it.
Anyone know if the $100 referral link for Varo that is in the original post still works?
Yes, it still works. You just might have to try more banks to try to trigger the DD requirement compared to Chime, which seems to work with any transfer.
Thank you, I was looking for information on opening a bank account.
Hi, I just opened chime with your referral. Thank you.
can you tell me more details about discover bonus what you mean by moving money back and forth.
So, what I mean is that to earn the $200, you need to fund your Discover account with $25k. Not a lot of people have 25k just sitting around, but what you can do is move money back and forth until you’ve moved a total of 25k into your Discover account.
So for example, back when I did it, I moved $10k in, then moved $10k out, then moved $10k back in, then moved $10k back out, until I hit $25k aggregate sent to my account. In other words, you don’t have to move in $25k all at once – you can hit 25k by moving money the same money back and forth until you’ve sent $25k to the account.
Thank you, how long does it take for Varo bonus after money transfer from my bank?
Does code p2p count as a direct deposit?
No, anything that says P2P is never a direct deposit.
I’ve got to say thanks so much for all the info! I stumbled across this site two days ago and was not even aware of bank account churning until now! I used your Chime link (which by the way is surprisingly tied to a Caitlin whom I’m hoping you know ??) and am beginning to open accounts for the beginners bonuses that you recommended. I have a couple of questions that I’m sure will turn into a lot more down the road.
1. Have you ever experienced challenges with opening too many accounts at once? I literally just opened Chime, SoFi, Discover and Varo in one day lol and I’m afraid I’m going to be flagged buy The Man….o.O
2. I couldn’t find much info on Astra’s website regarding their terms but I did see an FAQ answer stating there’s a $100 transfer limit for your accounts through their company. It states you’re allowed to request an unlimited amount of increases but you must explain explain why you want the limit increase and what you expect to do with the higher transfer amount. Is this true? If so, what has been your experience with that process? Are the increase limits pretty high enough to allow me to move 10k or is it like in $100 increments? It seems like it could be a pain especially if it’s the latter.
3. Also with Astra and Ally, how has your experience been with the lag time between bank transfers? I couldn’t find this information on their websites. My primary bank is Chase for now and they take like 90 business days (3 or 4 business days) to transfer funds.
Caitlin is my wife, so that’s her Chime account. I’m using her account for my link cuz I maxed out my own referrals.
As to your questions:
1) No issues opening too many accounts at once. There is a thing called ChexSystems and a very small number of banks will deny you if you have too many chex inquiries. But in short, there’s no harm going for a ton of bank bonuses all at once. You won’t get flagged by the man (there’s no man to flag you).
2) Yeah, Astra doesn’t work as well as I had hoped. They increased my transfer amount to $500 when I asked them.
3) Lag time is really high for Astra cuz it has to go through them first. Ally the lag time is normal – like the same as any other bank.
Does Astra often code as a DD?
I don’t think so.
Heads up on the Chime Account Bonus:
I did it (enjoy the bonus), but when I tried to transfer the money back out it said, “Please activate your Chime Visa debit card prior to using this feature.” So now I have to wait up to three weeks for it to come. I’d suggest people opening the account and waiting for the card and then making the “direct deposit.” This way you are able to transfer it back out.
Hi Craig,
Me, too. I did use Kevin’s link to open Chime account as my 1st practice this stuff). When I transfer my fund from Chase bank, it just showed on Chime as ” transfer from Chase”… so Chase did’n work for Fake Direct Deposit anymore. (Please update it, Kevin). Then, when I tried to transfer the money back out it said, “Please activate your Chime Visa debit card prior to using this feature.” But my Visa will take about more than a week to come to my home…. Sound bad!
Did you do a push from your external bank account, not via your Chime account?
In other words, you should be logging into your Chase bank account. Linking Chime to Chase. Then sending the money from Chase to Chime. Then, pull the money back out from the Chase account. You should never be in the Chime account or doing anything on the Chime side.
That’s the same for taking the money back out. You don’t need to activate the Chime card to do an ACH pull.
To repeat. You log into Chase. Find the external accounts link and link Chime to your Chase account. Schedule a push to Chime. Then schedule a pull back from Chime, all from your Chase account. The only time you should be doing anything in Chime is just to look if you got the money.
Can you confirm that’s what you did?
Dear Kevin and Craig,
Thank you so much for your advice, Kevin.
I did log into my Chase bank account. Find the external accounts link and link Chime to my Chase account. Schedule a push to Chime. Then schedule a pull back from Chime, all from my Chase account. You’re right! No need doing anything on my Chime side, just wasted my time! (^_^)
After I received money from Chase, i got referral Bonus right away. Now. I just keep $50 in Chime! And use its link to invite my Mom and Dad. Hope it will work the same way!
Thanks for your post very very much! It give me inspiration to research more things to do to make my life easier and more meaningful, friend! I really appreciate it…
Wonderful experience! Thankssss Kevin!
Minh Nguyen
Glad I could help. You don’t even need to keep the $50 in Chime either. Just pull it back to your Chase account because that’s your money. Maybe leave a dollar in there or something if you want.
Make sure to do the same for Varo and SoFi Money. Those are also very easy bank bonuses to complete.
Pull the money back out from your regular bank account (i.e. go to your regular bank account, and pull the money back). You won’t need to activate your Chime debit card to pull it from an external account.
Good point! Done! I hadn’t thought of that. Scheduled and the money will arrive in my original account on Monday.
Now to talk my wife into it so I can follow the Pro-tip advice in your article.
Varo didn’t post immediately. I wonder if it didn’t trigger the bonus for some reason or if I should wait a week like the fine print says. Can you tell if you got the referral bonus?
What bank did you use to trigger the direct deposit? Also, did you do the transfer from your bank’s website or from Varo? If it doesn’t post in the next two days, I’d try a different bank.
I used the same credit union that worked for chime. From credit union site.
Probably try a different bank then if it doesn’t post after a few days.
Craig, I find that an easy way to remove bonus funds from a bank that just earned a bonus is to pay a credit card with the credit card’s online payment system. We charge everything to our Chase Sapphire Preferred card so we make multiple payments each month, sometimes several per week. So if I earn $100 bonus and want to pull it out but don’t feel like dealing with linking accounts to transfer, and my next paycheck I would be paying $500 toward my CSP bill anyway, I just log into my CSP account and schedule a payment of $100. When I get next paycheck, I only need to pay $400 and keep the $100 bonus to do whatever I want.
I also use this method right before I plan to close a bonus account. Why add to their costs by forcing them to print me a check and snail mail it to me for just $0.40? If I’m keeping $5.29 in that account, just to keep something in there, I pay $5.29 to my CSP bill (from Chase’s website) and usually by the next business day the account is at $0 and I request to close the account.
Some banks now offer instant linking (vs trial deposits) so then it’s faster and easier to just link and transfer.
If I just an employer with my income around $ 2.400 /a month. How can I open an Business account to get their bonus ? Thanks your reply….
Honestly, for a business bank account, the income you make shouldn’t matter. You just need a business account because you want to keep expenses separate.
I have a house for rent, so it can count as a business ? And if it can, in this case, what document I need to show to open a business bank account ?
Yes, that’s absolutely a business. You don’t need to show any documents if you’re a sole proprietor.
Thank you.
It’s good to know that bank accounts off bonuses when you meet certain criteria. My brother has been looking into his options for a business bank account, and I wonder if they offer bonuses for business accounts as well. I’ll pass this information along to my brother so that he can look further into the matter.
Yeah, there are a lot of business bank account bonuses too.
Great post. Instead of trying to “fake” a DD or get your employer to move your “real” DD to another bank for a period of time, has anyone actually tried to open their own Payroll services bank account, put your own money in it and send yourself payroll DDs to whatever bank you’re trying to get a bonus? I’m a sole proprietor, have an EIN but haven’t see any post outlining that particular strategy.
Hmm…I have a business bank account with Azlo, but never tried to “pay” myself using their bank account. Not sure if it would trigger as a DD or not, but maybe I’ll try and see how it works.
Might be worth opening up an account with Azlo to see if you can do it. Azlo is 100% free and it’s the best business checking account I’ve used so far.
Thanks. I just may do that, open a Azlo account and send myself a payment to see if it is coded at my bank as a DD. If so, I can use Azlo as my central “payroll” bank for other bank bonuses. It just needs to come into the bank coded as a DD.
Or I may look into opening a Gusto account like your wife uses. They have low monthly basic fees. Then I can use Gusto as my central “payroll” bank.
ACH Transfer is a simple money transfer with no fees taken out.
A true Payroll run has a boat load of different types of taxes taken out and then the net balance is deposited into an account.
Also keep in mind that the Employer pays a bunch of taxes as well. Rough example, if you wanted to pay yourself a gross of $10,000 you might net around $7500 in addition the “employer – you” would also pay around $2000 (or more) in additional taxes.
Just read somewhere on the internet … Ally started limiting the # of external links?
what is the max now? I believe it has been stated to be around 10 or so.
With 10 just to Netspend type of accounts that wouldn’t leave any available links to other banks (for working bonuses).
So what’s the story?
Last I checked, Ally had a 20 cap limit, which has always been more than enough for my purposes. Also, in theory, you’d have 5 to netspend type accounts, since you’d have 5 for your account, then 5 for a spouse or partner’s account, so you shouldn’t have 10 netspend type accounts on one Ally account.
For my Ally, I have 5 netspend type accounts, then 3 insight type accounts. I currently have 12 external accounts linked to my Ally.
Just confirmed with Ally CSR .. she stated we are allowed to link up to 20 external accounts. This should be plenty to have to implement the Netspend type of accounts as well as a number of bank bonus accounts.
Yep, just as I thought. Thanks for confirming.
So…is it a total of 20 per account, or per person on a joint account? For instance, my husband and I share an account. If I log in, I don’t see his external accounts when I go to manage my external links (total of 8, plan to have more). If I’m on his log in, you can only view his external accounts (total of 8, soon to be 9, plan to have more). That already puts us at 16 if it’s counted in total for both of us. Just trying to figure out if I need to create my own separate account so that we can continue on.
I don’t have a joint account, but my guess is it’s 20 per account. Best bet is to make your own accounts for each spouse.
your Chime ‘Referral URL Link’ — ANTI-Virus (my AVG-free) prevents opening Link … tried 3 diff Browsers; all BLOCKED
thus = not able to use your Link ($50 referral bonus, not able to be earned for you)
maybe, Chime cancelled, ALL such Referral Bonus links
Works fine on my end.
I even created ‘EXCEPTION’ [in my AVG Free anti-virus] for https://member.chimebank.com/enroll/?referral_token=kevinha1 … as well as — https://financialpanther.com/chime
AVG “Threat secured” – we’ve safely aborted connection on member.chimebank.com because it was infected with JS:Iframe-BAE [Trj].
even tried ‘Security / Incognito / Private’ browser mode
Don’t know what to say man. Try entering it into your phone browser?
Thanks for the helpful tips. Used your account referral for Chime!
Make that 6.8%
I’ve been reading about what constitutes Direct Deposit. This is my Wells business checking account which I opened for a $1000 bonus.
You’ll like this:
Expand 04/25/19 Lime PAYMENT 190424 000000109984474 Lee Dyroen $5.00
Details
Category: Direct Deposits
Please know out the details of my Lime payment..
I chewed on this extensive and interesting post. I looked at Doctor of Credit. Last day for this opportunity. I just opened a Platinum Business account with Wells that has a $1000 bonus at 180 days for $25000 minimum balance. Another 30 days to post the bonus. $40 a month fee if you drop below $25k. It requires 10 debit (pin) card transaction in 6 months or some other transactions. The $25k was in a standard 0.001 interest business account. 4.25% is much better. Having a small business is handy in many ways.
I just saw that Wells Fargo bonus and I think we might have to do that one too. My wife’s practice tends to have a lot of cash on hand as well given the nature of her practice. Seems like it wouldn’t be too hard for us to just move 25k over there and leave it. $1k on $25k is 4% return over 210 days, which annualizes to a strong, guaranteed rate of return, 6.8% as you mentioned. That’s entirely risk-free.
Hi – nice details on your post and the instructions are easy to follow. Great job bonus hacking yourself to thousands.
With so many accounts to keep track of in order to maximize bank bonuses, how do you determine which account to withdraw money from when money is needed?
As someone with 25+ accounts open per year, I just keep one main hub account to pay all of my household expenses (US Bank for me). The accounts that I open for bonuses only have the minimum amount kept in them to avoid fees.
Thanks! My wife and I have a pretty big stash of cash that we save for an emergency fund, which we move around between different accounts in order to waive fees and earn bonuses. So basically, if you have something like $10,000 set aside, just move that to different bank bonus accounts as needed. Then move it back to your primary savings account when you’re done earning the bonus and have closed out the accounts.
This post was super insightful. I’ve thought about bank bonuses but have always shied away from them because of the direct deposit and debit card requirements. I like your suggestion on buying gift cards or transferring money to friends/family to get the debit card transaction met. And I had no idea that the ACH transfer transactions could count as direct deposit. When money transfers into an account through ACH, is there a way to see on the account that it has been treated as a direct deposit? Or do you generally rely on your research and what Doctor of Credit says?
So, a lot of the time, when you do an ACH transfer to try to spoof a direct deposit, the bank will code it a certain way. If you go online, you’ll often see the way they code the transaction in a series of letters or numbers that come after each transaction. If it says something like P2P, then you know it didn’t work. If it says something like Direct Deposit or something similar, there’s a good chance it coded as a direct deposit.
Again, it’s trial and error and you have to do some research on Doctor of Credit or Reddit to figure out which ACH transfers have coded as a direct deposit.
I am working on a post about credit card churning that I do, I am so going to link this post for anyone ambitious enough to also start bank account churning, good work!
Thank you sir!
Great article! Thanks for laying this all out in such detail.
In the small print about the direct deposit for the Chime offer is says:
“Bank ACH transfers, Pay Friends transfers, verification or trial deposits from financial institutions, transfers from PayPal or Venmo, mobile check deposits, and cash loads or deposits are not qualifying direct deposits. ”
Were you able to get this offer using an ACH push? Let us know! It will be interesting to know if that works even when language like this is included.
All banks include this type of language, but again, banks use computer algorithms to figure out what is an actual direct deposit, so often, it can’t distinguish it and will credit you anyway. You have to do your own research to figure out which ACH transfers will trigger. A lot of the time, I’ll send multiple ACH transfers from different places in hopes that one will trigger the requirement.
I’ll update this post once I’ve confirmed that my ACH transfer triggers the direct deposit for Chime, but I’m 99% certain it will. Hit me up if you need more explanation.
Cool, thanks!
how do you know which transfer triggered?
Sometimes you can’t tell, but usually just look at the way it codes on your account. Then do some research online to confirm. You’ll usually be able to find out on Doctor of Credit or Reddit as to which transfers trigger the DD requirements.
Chase didn’t work for me, but my Credit Union Account did(and seems to always post as an ACH)
Do you mind to tell us your Credit Union name?
Thanks
Hi Kevin,
Thank you very much for the valuable information. I opened an Aspiration acct, linked my Aspiration debit card to my Venmo acct, and sent $250 with the debit card to a relative. The transaction coded as Venmo 8558124430 Ny. Is this how yours coded or is supposed to code in order to receive the bonus?
Thanks for your insight!
Carlos
Back when I did it, we only had to fund the account, so I’m not 100% sure what it should code as. I’m guessing that Venmo should count and given that people have been signing up and haven’t said anything, I’m guessing Venmo does work. If you aren’t positive, try sending the money with Cash App and see how that codes. You really don’t have anything to lose by sending money with all of the different money transfer apps, just in case.
This may be a silly question. When you are ready to close, do you simple transfer all your money back to your main account and then call the bank to close the account? Do they ask questions when you tell them to close the account? That part scares me
Maria:
I did this quite a few times last year, and I used various different phrases when I closed the accounts, with zero push-back because any of them could be true:
I’m just trying to consolidate accounts and simplify my finances.
I’m making an extra large principal payment on my mortgage with these funds.
This bank isn’t near my new job.
I typically transfer all of the money out and then send a secure message via their website asking them to close the account. Usually you don’t need to talk to anyone on the phone. And when you do, they don’t do any salesperson tactics or anything. You just tell them you’re not really using it and that’s it.
A lot of the time, I also end up with a few cents in my account, in which case they send me a cashiers check for the remaining balance. It’s a little funny because I get random 3 cent and 5 cent checks in the mail everytime I close an account.
Good post, my wife and I made $7,000 last year from bank bonuses. I am trying to match that sum this year.
I would add that Alliant Credit Union seems to be one of the best hub accounts for spoofing direct deposits.
I like when people tell me that it isn’t worth doing because I have to pay taxes on it. Does that same reasoning stop them from going to work every day? I don’t think so. My marginal rate for this income is only 18% anyway, so not bad at all.
Yeah, I see that Alliant Credit Union is another one of the bank accounts that works pretty well to trigger direct deposits (DDs). I’m now in a position where I don’t have to spoof DDs too much since my wife has Gusto, which basically means I can always do a real DD since Gusto lets you switch DDs anytime you want.
Which Discover account did you use or does it matter? I’m getting ready to do the Discover savings account promotion for $200. Please let me know, I’d appreciate it very much and this is some very good information you have here!
It doesn’t matter, you can use any Discover account. I only have the Discover savings account myself – I don’t have their checking account.
I know it’s been a year, so you may not see this, but for Alliance, is it better to use the savings account or checking account to attempt to generate a DD?
If you’re trying to have an account for DD purposes, better to do the checking account because there’s no 6 transactions per month limit.
When you use gusto or payroll do you have to pay taxes on the money you use to hit the bonus. Trying to find an easier way to hit bonuses.
You guys are making an incredible amount of money from bank account bonuses. I do credit card sign up bonuses, but had having the extra tax forms required from bank bonuses. Credit card sign ups are considered non-taxable refunds.
I don’t think it’s too bad to deal with the extra 1099-INTs. I just have a spreadsheet that I keep track of them all, so when I do my taxes, I just put all of that together. I also do credit card bonuses as well – best thing is to do both!