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!
Note: The banking offers that appear on this site are from companies from which The College Investor receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). The College Investor does not include all banking companies or all banking offers available in the marketplace.
Personal 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:
Up to $700 with HSBC Premier Checking
HSBC is starting the year with a strong bonus offer to entice new customers!
Right now, you can get up to $700 with a 3% Cash Back Checking Offer when you open a new HSBC Premier checking account and complete the following qualifying activities.
You must open your new HSBC Premier checking account by June 29, 2020, and set up Qualifying Direct Deposits into your new HSBC Premier checking account.
You can then enjoy 3% Cash Back, on Qualifying Direct Deposits into your new HSBC Premier checking account, up to $120 per month, during the first 6 calendar months after account opening - up to $700.
You will automatically receive that month's bonus into your HSBC Premier checking account approximately 8 weeks after completing the qualifying activities.
Read our full HSBC Online Banking review here.
Get up to a $700 bonus!
Up to $500 with Capital One 360 Performance Savings
Capital One 360 is known for top notch savings accounts. Right now, the 360 Performance Savings account earns a 1.30% APY.
When you open a 360 Performance Savings account, you could earn a $100 cash bonus for every $10,000 you deposit and maintain (up to $500) by May 31, 2020.
All you have to do is open a 360 Performance Savings account with the promotion code SCORE500. Then, deposit money into the account within 10 days. This has to be "new money" to Capital One - you can't move from an existing Capital One Account. Finally, the money has to remain for 90 days.
You can get:
- $100 if you deposit $10,000
- $200 if you deposit $20,000
- $300 if you deposit $30,000
- $400 if you deposit $40,000
- $500 if you deposit $50,000 or more
Read our full Capital One 360 review here. See all of the Capital One bonus offers here.
Up to $475 with HSBC Premier Checking
HSBC has a second bonus going on if you don't think you want to do the higher level above.
Right now, you can get up to $475 welcome deposit when you open a new HSBC Premier checking account and complete the following qualifying activities.
You must open your new HSBC Premier checking account by June 29, 2020, and set up Qualifying Direct Deposits into your new HSBC Premier checking account.
To qualify, you must make recurring monthly Direct Deposits totaling at least $5,000 from a third party to your HSBC Premier checking account(s) for 3 consecutive calendar months from the second full calendar month after account opening.
You will automatically receive that month's bonus into your HSBC Premier checking account approximately 8 weeks after completing the qualifying activities.
Read our full HSBC Online Banking review here.
Get up to a $475 bonus!
Up to $270 with HSBC Advance Checking
If maintaining a Premier relationship is a little too much, check out the HSBC Advance Checking offer.
Right now, you can get up to $270 with a 3% Cash Back Checking Offer when you open a new HSBC Advance checking account and complete the following qualifying activities.
You must open your new HSBC Advance checking account by June 29, 2020, and set up Qualifying Direct Deposits into your new HSBC Advance checking account.
You can then enjoy 3% Cash Back, on Qualifying Direct Deposits into your new HSBC Advance checking account, up to $50 per month, during the first 6 calendar months after account opening - up to $270.
You will automatically receive that month's bonus into your HSBC Advance checking account approximately 8 weeks after completing the qualifying activities.
Read our full HSBC Online Banking review here.
Get up to a $270 bonus!
Up to $225 with HSBC Advance Checking
HSBC has a second bonus going for on Advance Checking as well if you don't think you want to do the higher level above.
Right now, you can get up to $225 welcome deposit when you open a new HSBC Advance checking account and complete the following qualifying activities.
You must open your new HSBC Advance checking account by June 29, 2020, and set up Qualifying Direct Deposits into your new HSBC Advance checking account.
To qualify, you must make recurring monthly Direct Deposits totaling at least $500 from a third party to your HSBC Advance checking account(s) for 3 consecutive calendar months from the second full calendar month after account opening.
You will automatically receive that month's bonus into your HSBC Advance checking account approximately 8 weeks after completing the qualifying activities.
Read our full HSBC Online Banking review here.
Get up to a $225 bonus!
$200 with Chase Total Checking®
Chase Total Checking® is a solid checking account at one of the largest brick and mortar banks in the country.
And right now, you can get up to a $200 bonus when you open an account and setup direct deposit! That's awesome!
Chase Total Checking® has a $12 per month fee that's easily waived if you simply do ONE of the following:
- Keep a minimum daily balance of $1,500 or more in your account
- Have monthly direct deposits totaling $500 or more into your account
- Keep an average daily balance of $5,000 across qualifying Chase accounts
Read our full Chase Bank review here.
Get a $300 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 $100 with Bank of America
Bank of America is offering a really simple promotion that can allow you to earn up to $100. All you have to do is open one of their checking account products, and setup and receive at least two direct deposits within the first 90 days of opening the account.
This will earn you $100.
Get up to a $100 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!
$50 with Stash Banking
Stash Investing is best known for their investing app that allows for users to learn to invest easily! But they also have a checking account, and they are incentivizing new users with a $50 bonus!
You can get your $50 if you open a Stash Banking account and direct deposit $300 within 30 days. That's it!
Get a $50 bonus!
Business Banking Bonus Offers Right Now
The offers below are for business banking products. They are typically a bit higher than personal bonus banking offers given the nature of business banking.
No Offers Right Now.
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?
You should also read in depth about certain bank bonus offers:
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!
Robert Farrington is America’s Millennial Money Expert® and America’s Student Loan Debt Expert™, and the founder of The College Investor, a personal finance site dedicated to helping millennials escape student loan debt to start investing and building wealth for the future. You can learn more about him here.
He regularly writes about investing, student loan debt, and general personal finance topics geared towards anyone wanting to earn more, get out of debt, and start building wealth for the future.
He has been quoted in major publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Fox, ABC, NBC, and more. He is also a regular contributor to Forbes.