Banks make money in all sorts of ways, but one of the main things they want to do is have a lot of cash on hand — so they can loan it out to others, or meet their own legal liquidity requirements. That's why they offer you amazing bank bonus offers!
Because banks need giant piles of cash on hand, they need to offer the rest of us incentives to choose their FDIC-insured bank over someone else's.
Banks compete on their ability to offer personal service to local residents, on the number of their national locations, and on fee levels for basic services like checking and savings. But they also offer cash incentives to use their deposit and checking services! With the economy picking up, and interest rates rising, there seem to be more and more of these on offer.
Here's our list of the best ones!
Special Promo - HSBC Bank. Why? You can get up to 2.30% APY on your account with no minimum balance requirements! They currently offer one of the best interest rates available. Plus, combine it with a Premier checking account, and get up to a $750 bonus! Open an account at HSBC Online Savings Account here >>
Bank Bonus Offers Right Now
If you have a lot of cash that you don't mind having in the bank for a few months, these are the best promotions out there right now:
$750 With HSBC Premier Checking
HSBC is offering $750 if you open an account by July 31, 2019 and complete the required activities.
You must open the account by July 31, 2019, and make recurring Direct Deposits totaling at least $5,000 from a third party to your HSBC Premier checking account(s) per calendar month; and receive monthly Direct Deposits totaling at least $5,000 into your checking account for 3 consecutive months from the first full calendar month after account opening (This can be a great way to take advantage of the HSBC Best Money Market Account).
To qualify for an HSBC Premier relationship, you need to open an HSBC Premier checking account and maintain balances of $75,000 in combined U.S. Dollar personal deposit accounts and investment balances OR recurring direct deposits totaling at least $5,000 from a third party to an HSBC Premier checking account(s) per calendar month OR any HSBC U.S. residential mortgage loan with an original loan amount of at least $500,000. Business owners may use their qualifying HSBC U.S. Dollar commercial balances to qualify for a personal Premier relationship. A monthly maintenance fee of $50 will be incurred if one of these requirements is not maintained.
Get a $750 bonus!
$350 With HSBC Advanced Checking
HSBC is offering $350 if you open an account by July 31, 2019 and complete the required activities.
You must open the account by July 31, 2019, and deposit a minimum Qualifying Balance of $5,000 or more in New Money in combined checking and savings accounts within 30 calendar days of account opening, maintain at least the minimum Qualifying Balance of for 90 calendar days from the date you deposited the minimum Qualifying Balance; and set-up recurring Direct Deposits from a third party to an HSBC Advance checking account at least one per calendar month for 3 consecutive months following account opening month (This can be a great way to take advantage of the HSBC Best Money Market Account).
To qualify for an HSBC Advance relationship, you need to open an HSBC Advance checking account and maintain combined balances in U.S. Dollar personal deposit accounts and investment balances of at least $10,000 OR of at least $5,000 with a recurring direct deposit from a third party to an HSBC Advance checking account at least once per calendar month OR any HSBC U.S. residential mortgage loan. Business owners may use their qualifying HSBC U.S. Dollar commercial balances to qualify for a personal HSBC Advance relationship. A monthly maintenance fee of $25 will be incurred if one of these requirements is not maintained.
Get a $350 bonus!
Chase Bank usually has a variety of bonuses for opening various kinds and combinations of accounts.
Here are two that are available right now to customers who have not had a Chase account within the last 90 days or have had one closed with a negative balance:
This isn't quite as good a deal as what Citibank is currently offering, but it may be available more regularly or for longer.
- You can enjoy up to a $200 bonus when you open a new Chase Total Checking® account and setup direct deposit.
- You can also get up to a $150 bonus when you open a new Chase Savings℠ and deposit $10,000 or more within 20 days, and maintain that $10,000 balance for at least 90 days.
Get up to a $350 bonus!
Up to $600 with Citibank
Citibank has some great promotions right now if you open a combined checking and savings account.
You don't have to go to a branch or set up direct deposit, but you do need to make a substantial deposit and leave it there for a while, so you'll need to calculate the opportunity cost of what else that cash could be doing.
The basics of the bonus are pretty good though: If you deposit $5,000 into your new Basic Banking Package accounts and leave it there for 60 days, you can receive $200.
If you can deposit $15,000 in a Citibank Accounts Package and maintain that for 60 days, you can receive $400. That's a better rate than you'll get on most savings accounts, so if you have a large emergency fund it might be a good idea to take this offer.
A Couple Of Notes:
First, you won't qualify if you've had a Citibank personal checking account within the last six months.
And second, you need to watch out for monthly fees if you keep the account open past the bonus period but withdraw most of your money.
There is a fee of $12 for the Basic Banking package, waived if you maintain a $1,500 balance, and a fee of $25 for the Citibank Accounts package, waived if you have a combined balance of $10,000 across both accounts.
This won't be a problem during the period when you're earning your bonus, but it's something to keep an eye on afterwards.
Get up to a $600 bonus!
Up to $200 with Huntington Bank
Huntington Bank is a Midwestern regional bank. You must be in one of their states: Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
This bonus offer is for opening a new checking account:
Make a deposit of at least $1,000 within 60 days and you keep it there for 90 days.
Consumers cannot open an approved account online outside of the 7 state footprint of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Get up to a $200 bonus!
Up to $300 with PNC Bank
PNC bank has tiered offers ranging from $50 to $300. You cannot have had a PNC account open within the last 90 days, and you have to be a resident of: Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, or the District of Columbia.
The $50 level is, in my opinion, not really worth it unless you have another reason to open a PNC account; you need to set up a direct deposit of $500/monthly and make 10 purchases with your debit card to receive a free $50.
If you can set up direct deposit of $2,000/month or $5,000/month, though, you can receive $200 or $300, respectively. (You also need to use the debit card at least 10 times a month.) That makes it a much better deal if you're looking for a new main debit/checking account and you live in one of the states where PNC is authorized to operate.
Get up to a $300 bonus!
Up to $500 with TD Bank
You can open this account online, but to qualify for the bonus you must be a resident of Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, or Washington, D.C.
If you meet that requirement, and also are a new customer of TD Bank, you can open an account at one of two bonus levels:
- Open a TD Bank Premier Checking account and direct-deposit $2,500 within the first 60 days the account is open, and receive $300 — ta-da! There is a $25 monthly fee, but it can be waived with a minimum daily balance of $2,500, which is pretty minimal.
- Open a TD Bank Preferred Savings account with $20,000 within the first 20 days. (This is cumulative, not on a single deposit, so multiple deposits during that period are fine as long as they add up.) You must then maintain this for 90 days. Then, you receive $200.
Get up to a $500 bonus!
Up to $100 with Chase College Checking℠
The Chase College Checking℠ account is one of the best checking accounts designed for students. Students between the ages of 17-24 don’t have to worry about maintenance fees. You can have the fee waived for up to fives years as a student.
This account comes with a debit card, and you’ll have mobile access.
And right now, you can get up to a $100 bonus when you open a new account, enroll in paperless statements, and complete 10 qualifying transactions within 60 days! That's awesome!
Get up to a $100 bonus!
Other Great Savings Accounts
These accounts don't always have bank bonus offers, but they do have some amazing interest rates!
Things To Remember
Done right, switching banks for bonuses can be a great way to make some extra side cash. But you do need to be careful: look at the terms and conditions and be sure you can avoid monthly fees, account closing fees, and so on. Also, remember that you'll have to pay income tax on this cash, so you might want to set some of it aside for that.
That said, if you pay careful attention to the terms of these offers, you can make much more than you make even by parking your money in a high-interest savings account. You might want to just do this once for a few hundred dollars, but if you invest a little more time, you can make thousands of dollars a year treating it as a regular side hustle.
And who among us doesn't like free money?
These offers change every month, but right now here's the best of the best on offer, divided into offers that require you to begin with large amounts of cash on hand, and offers that let you start with very little money.
Final Thoughts
Overall, there are some great bank bonus offers out there right now. I'd advise you to decide what kind of bonus hustler you are: do you want to do this once while you're switching to a new account permanently? Or do you need a complex calendar to keep track of your multiple bonus accounts?
Be careful, but also, take advantage of free money if you're sure you can follow the rules! If this is all too much, check out our list of the best online banks and just park your cash there!
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