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Jay
Jay (@guest_1956857)
November 22, 2024 08:13

Hey Doc, any chance you could make a tab for “Easiest to Complete Bank Bonuses” ?

John R🔗
John R🔗 (@guest_1954698)
November 19, 2024 10:09

Is Fidelity still doing long hold times before cash is available for transfer out? The latest info I have: I transferred out funds ~a week ago that had been held for a few weeks.

Gadget 🕵️‍♂️ Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
November 21, 2024 02:51
Jay 🔗
Jay 🔗 (@guest_1956765)
November 22, 2024 01:22

yes, it’s about 4 weeks. it’s ridiculous.

Anna Novice
Anna Novice (@guest_1953739)
November 18, 2024 00:53

Novice here- does anyone have any tips for husband and wife duo to sign up for these? My husband keeps getting denied when I sign him up after me, and he’s going to have to call or go in to open the accounts. Anything we can do in the future so this doesn’t keep happening? Should we have cool down time between applications?

Theo
Theo (@guest_1954140)
November 18, 2024 15:46

Interesting… have you tried him first then you? Couldn’t hurt to wait a day or two between applications.

Gadget 🕵️‍♂️ Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
November 18, 2024 18:28

There are some banks that just will not approve people who open a lot of bank accounts. You can have perfect credit, but cannot get approved for a deposit account, is pretty mind blowing to some people. Anna

I haven’t seen ANY banks that are denying people solely because someone else already applied at the same address, so that is likely not the reason. I often apply same day for P1 & P2 here and usually we both get approved, but there are exceptions. The bank, unfortunately, doesn’t have to say WHY they denied the application, but are supposed to say what report they used to make the decision.

I would ask the question on the specific Doctor of Credit pages for the bank you are having issues with. What does the denial message say? Did the husband freeze their credit and LexisNexis and forgot about it? Have you reviewed their Chex and EWS reports to verify there is nothing on there that is derogatory? If there is something negative on there, that needs to be resolved, and then ask to have it removed by submitting a dispute, or at least have a statement added it’s been resolved.

Anna Novice
Anna Novice (@guest_1954725)
November 19, 2024 10:35

He doesn’t have anything on his credit for us to check for. We’re fairly young and new to this so not sure what was up. KeyBank was one of them and when he went in they were able to open the account for him. WECU told him to forward his rejection email w the items needed to open the account. He forgot to contact Chase but it’s really weird. He only opened Citi because it would allow him. These are banks that I had just applied to and gotten approved for, so that’s why I was wondering if it was due to the same address, maybe the banks are thinking it’s fraud since we are trying to open multiple accounts to different people but with the same address.

Gadget 🕵️‍♂️ Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
November 19, 2024 10:58

If you are “fairly young” your profile is thin, so you have limited info available from them to access. It may be common that your husband does need to open in branch for some accounts. KeyBank is Chex sensitive. Not sure about WECU – never dealt with them. Citi is pretty easy to get approved for, so not surprised. Chase, he should have followed up with, or go in branch.

The denials are not due to being the same address. But as someone else said, not hard to wait a day between applications, at least for long-standing offers. For the flavor of the weeks accounts that pop up and get flooded, I wouldn’t wait. Anna Novice

Theo
Theo (@guest_1954766)
November 19, 2024 11:24

Just to chime in — it’s not just your typical credit reports (Transunion, Experian, and Equifax), it’s also Chex.

Chex is ~kind of~ like a credit score for deposit accounts. When you apply for a credit card, the credit card company typically does a “hard inquiry” on your credit reports to see if you’re a trustworthy borrower. A track record of not paying your card back or too many recent hard inquiries can make it difficult to open a new card.

Similarly, when you apply for a checking account, the bank may do a “hard inquiry” on your Chex report to see if you’ve had any problems with banks in the past (e.g., ditched a bank with a negative balance). A track record of problems with banks or too many recent inquiries on your Chex report can make it difficult to open a new checking account.

There are some key differences.

  1. Virtually every credit card will do a hard inquiry on your credit to open an account, but not every bank will even look at your Chex. People on here will say whether a bank “pulls” or “doesn’t pull” Chex. Some banks that do a Chex inquiry don’t really care (those are called “Chex Insensitive”… banks that care about your Chex report are called “Chex Sensitive”).
  2. Banks typically only care about recent inquiries on your Chex report. You’ll see people on here post something like “Chex 1/2 5/6 13/24″… that means they had 1 Chex inquiry in the past 2 months, 5 in the past 6 months, and 13 in the past 24 months. Banks typically don’t care about Chex inquiries more than 24 months ago.
  3. While your FICO credit score is a pretty good summary of your credit history, your Chex score is not as useful. You can have a decent Chex score number with a lot of recent inquiries. However, if you have a very low Chex score, you should look into that.

TLDR: You should check your and your husband’s Chex report. You can sign up for an account here https://chexsystems.eto.fiscloudservices.com/#/registration
Once you have a “Consumer Portal” account, you’ll be able to check your report (Consumer Reports > Consumer Disclosure > Check Yes) to see if you have any derogatory remarks. Any derogatory marks can make it difficult to open a new checking account… but they can be resolved and reversed!

Also one more note: deposit accounts are fickle. Sometimes you just get rejected. I got rejected from KeyBank when I was first starting out for essentially no reason. It’s possible your husband just got a string of bad luck.

Best of luck! But be careful… this is an addictive hobby!

*BTW, there are some banks that also pull your credit reports — but those are fairly rare.

Anna Novice
Anna Novice (@guest_1954996)
November 19, 2024 15:25

Thank you for the info! I think he may have had a string of bad luck, but I am going to sign us up for Chex accounts later today so we can look and see what’s up.

eli
eli (@guest_1953501)
November 17, 2024 16:17

up to $300 now

Tony
Tony (@guest_1953520)
November 17, 2024 17:22

for?

Starry
Starry (@guest_1952769)
November 16, 2024 02:03

Fremont Bank has a $150 bonus:

https://www.fremontbank.com/personal/checking/cornerstone

Kinda Meh but I thought Id share

Gadget 🕵️‍♂️ Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
November 17, 2024 21:44

One person’s “meh” is another person’s treasure…

John R🔗
John R🔗 (@guest_1953871)
November 18, 2024 10:19

This treasure comes with a $15 monthly service charge 🙂

Grateful
Grateful (@guest_1952034)
November 15, 2024 09:56
Another DP
Another DP (@guest_1952042)
November 15, 2024 10:17

It looks like this may be geo-fenced. It showed no available products when I entered my zip code at the first step of the application.

Good luck to those in their service area!

Wayne
Wayne (@guest_1952301)
November 15, 2024 14:52

Not available in central FL.

Gadget 🕵️‍♂️ Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
November 15, 2024 14:53

Not available in 48 of the 50 states. (PA & MD only, IIRC)

Nicole Novice
Nicole Novice (@guest_1951627)
November 14, 2024 17:33

Novice here – Two questions.

  1. When opening a bank account in my husband’s name (he knows about it… lol) does the money need to come from an account he is owner of to fulfill the deposit requirement or can it come from one of my accounts that he is not listed on?
  2. Let’s say the deposit requirement is $10,000. I read on Reddit that you don’t need to deposit $10,000 but can trick the system by transferring $5,000, transfer it out and then transfer the same $5,000 into the account and that will fulfill the $10,000 requirement. I haven’t seen this workflow listed on here so I wanted to know if anyone can confirm this.
Gadget 🕵️‍♂️ Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
November 14, 2024 18:38

Name matching is highly recommended. There are exceptions, but the less attention you draw, the better. Unintended consequences can be the account being frozen, closed, locked, transfer rejected, etc.Assuming you are talking about Savings bonuses, that only works with Discover Savings. If you are talking about a Checking promo requiring a Direct Deposit, then yes, you can recycle funds like that, no problem, as long as the deposit is available to be moved. Nicole Novice

Anna
Anna (@guest_1951783)
November 14, 2024 21:58

Also a novice, so can I not have my husbands paycheck routed to my account and vice versa so we can meet the criteria faster? Paychecks seem to be the only route that work 100% to meet requirements.

Gadget 🕵️‍♂️ Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
November 14, 2024 23:41

All I will say is some banks frown on this. It likely usually works though. I have even had some of my military allotments rejected sent to someone else, and they are designed to pay others.

JimmytheGreek
JimmytheGreek (@guest_1952146)
November 15, 2024 12:21

Happy belated Veterans Day

Gadget 🕵️‍♂️ Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
November 15, 2024 12:25

Thank you, JimmytheGreek.

405_club
405_club (@guest_1953809)
November 18, 2024 07:53

I’ve done something similar—I opened accounts in my spouse’s name and routed direct deposits from my paycheck to her account to meet the criteria. It worked without any issues for us, but as with anything, your experience may vary (YMMV). Just double-check the terms and conditions of the account to ensure compliance.

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950201)
November 13, 2024 08:41

Black Friday bank bonus offer! That’s a churning first for me. Citizens Bank — $250 or $500 bonus, to keep $10k or $25k deposit in savings account until March 5. Current customers eligible! https://www.citizensbank.com/promo/savings/pre-black-friday-offer-2024.aspx

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950205)
November 13, 2024 08:48

knuds1b,

That’s interesting. I am currently working on a targeted Citizens Checking + Savings offer and it doesn’t appear that the terms of this new offer exclude me from doing this bonus also as long as I add $10K or $20K to my existing balance.

The new LO offer seems to more clearly exclude doing 2 offers at the same time than this new Citizens offer that you found does.

What’s your opinion?

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950217)
November 13, 2024 09:01

I don’t think they’re meant to actually occlude each other, like typical bonus offers. The current bonus offer that I’m on (opened ASAP) has a required date of maintained balance (thus account open) of Nov 30, and this has a date of Nov 27 to open/already exist, and then a Dec 6 deadline to fund. Yes, they could be occlusal, but given the language — if anything, it seems to be incentive to keep the savings account open and properly fund it now.

BTW, this came to me in a Facebook ad! I do try and make the algorithm show me lots of bank bonuses, and sometimes they’re actually useful.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950224)
November 13, 2024 09:15

It’s definitely a nice find by you.

Unless someone can prove that our interpretation is wrong, I think that I will try for it. I would need to keep about $21,500 (rather than $20K) in the account though because of the current Citizens promo that I am working on. I would still receive about 9% APY on this new offer, which is a really nice return.

New people signing up would receive about 10% APY, which is really great in today’s environment.

BTW, what did you mean by “opened ASAP”?

I’m counting on you to find some more nice bonuses in the future. 😀

John R🔗
John R🔗 (@guest_1950228)
November 13, 2024 09:23

My targeted Citizens offer only requires $1500 as of a certain date (in addition to $500 monthly deposit for 3 months).

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950242)
November 13, 2024 09:38

Thanks, they are fun to find and share! And, I meant by ASAP that I opened the account w/ promo in the earliest possible date range, for that earliest possible date of maintained balance — open in August (I did) requires $300 balance on Nov 30, open in Sept requires $300 balance on Dec 31, etc.

Tony
Tony (@guest_1950248)
November 13, 2024 09:43

All of us who participated in “10k savings account for 5mo” got paid $500 into checking by end-Oct…I was traveling and have not closed that 10k savings account yet, nor have I closed checking. How could I proceed today toward this ($250?) reward?

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950249)
November 13, 2024 09:46

Is there a post for the offer that you are referring to?

Anyway, I think that if you simply move $10K of funds to your Citizens account by 12.6.24 and maintain that balance plus what you had 1 day before that deposit hit, you should receive $250.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950253)
November 13, 2024 09:47

Tony knuds1b Peek

It might seem obvious, but I would like to point out that the $10K (or $20K) needs to arrive to Citizens in 1 deposit and cannot be over multiple deposits, based on the terms.

Peek
Peek (@guest_1950258)
November 13, 2024 09:50

Yep I did see that bit “when you make one single deposit of at least $10,000 ” but thanks for clarifying.

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950259)
November 13, 2024 09:50

Definitely worth pointing out, even if it seems obvious. Would not want to see anyone miss out.

Tony
Tony (@guest_1950256)
November 13, 2024 09:50

Problematic is “new money” language. As of today, 10k is still sitting in my Savings since 5mo ago. How do I fix “10k new money” requirement to earn another $250?

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950261)
November 13, 2024 09:53

Tony,

Unfortunately, Citizens is very vague with their definition of “new money” so I can’t give you a good answer. They wrote “New money is external funds that are not currently on deposit with Citizens or Citizens Access.”

knuds1b,

Any opinions for Tony’s latest question?

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950264)
November 13, 2024 09:54

Hmm…Transfer funds out in current statement cycle; push back in during next statement cycle? End of statement cycle seems like a reasonable reset point.

Tony
Tony (@guest_1950280)
November 13, 2024 10:08

Might work, but I’m not enthusiastic over-all about $250 reward. 10k was fetching $500 under the similar May 2024 offer

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950334)
November 13, 2024 11:13

If you do try, and it doesn’t work, would you lose much in interest, or otherwise, for a few weeks less $10k in the account? I’m asking genuinely. As it may be worth the risk if you’re only losing a few dollars in interest, and your other bonus is already done and paid in!

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1951378)
November 14, 2024 13:31

How do you get “a few weeks”? The money needs to stay in Citizens for at least 3 months.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950265)
November 13, 2024 09:54

That vagueness is why I plan to keep all the funds that I have now and the additional $1K that I will deposit for my current promo if I decide to try for this new promo.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950267)
November 13, 2024 09:56

knuds1b,

Any reason that I couldn’t deposit $20K in early-December and have that count for both this requirement and the $500 deposit that I’m required to make for the 1st promo? If that’s fine, I would only need to keep about $21K for the 3 months, which would increase my APY a little bit.

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950276)
November 13, 2024 10:05

If you’re in your 60 days for original promo, and before the 6th, then I just can’t see a reason it wouldn’t work. They could have added just a few words, in a variety of ways, to make the offers compete, but they did not. Can’t guarantee a thing, but I think you should be good to go. Good luck!!

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950281)
November 13, 2024 10:08

Good luck to you also if you go for it!

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950284)
November 13, 2024 10:11

BTW, I noticed that you edited your comment and added “If you’re in your 60 days for original promo”.

Therefore, my targeted promo must be very different than yours. I only need to deposit $500+ in Oct, Nov & Dec and then have a $1500+ balance on 12.31.24 to receive the $300.

However, I decided to keep all of the money in the account to be safe as it’s only a small “loss” in interest.

John R🔗
John R🔗 (@guest_1950289)
November 13, 2024 10:13

I successfully did a Citizen savings offer in 2023 where fulfilling the balance as of a certain date worked fine.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950292)
November 13, 2024 10:19

1 or 2 other people have told me the same. However, like I wrote, it’s a not a big “loss” in interest so I’m fine with taking the loss.

Of course it is a moot point now since I plan to go for this 2nd bonus also. Probably even you would agree that it’s not worth the risk to move any money out of the Savings account after the 2nd promo period started.

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950294)
November 13, 2024 10:20

Yes, mine is slightly different:https://www.citizensbank.com/promo/checking/special-offer-2024-d4

Yours still sounds like it will work, though! They sure do have a lot of promos floating around at once.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950302)
November 13, 2024 10:27

Our offers appear to have the same terms except that you only needed to deposit $100 3 times and have $300 in the account and I needed to deposit $500 3 times and have $1500 in the account.

BTW, it seems that you conflated the terms for the Checking & Savings offer. The Checking offer is the one that requires “one single direct deposit of $500 or more post to your new checking account within 60 days of account opening”.

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950310)
November 13, 2024 10:38

Ah, I think I assumed incorrectly that you were talking about a checking account, for your own current account (that’s what I have), not a current savings account. Sorry about that!

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950313)
November 13, 2024 10:43

To be clear, I am working on a Checking & Savings combined promo.

Are you going to keep your current Checking account open and then open a Savings account for the new promo that you found?

BTW, if I was you, I would have gone for the extra $100 for the Savings promo in that old offer that you signed up for. 😉

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950316)
November 13, 2024 10:48

I did go for it! I’m sorry if I’m still unclear. I am planning on getting $300 for checking bonus and $100 for savings bonus, on/by Dec 31, for the current promos I’m on via that link. Now, I’m also going to push $20k+ in 1 deposit by 12/6 into that savings account, and hold it there til March 5.

I think we are both doing the dual savings and checking promos! And now, another savings promo.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950320)
November 13, 2024 10:53

Yes, we are now on the same page. 😀

Mastin Halisi Snead
Mastin Halisi Snead (@guest_1952991)
November 16, 2024 12:59

It was like this deal.
Like a pop up Halloween shop, the deal lasted 2 weeks and its was $10K in a savings held for like 5 months.
I just got done with that as well and will try this one.

However,
I REALLY don’t trust being able to just blindly deposit another $20K in my account and have some phantom code in there and be praying I get a payout….

Thus,
A rep said we can have more than one of the same account, and multiple accounts in general.
When you apply for all new stuff there is a code, 24BFSAVOD

Me already being a customer, the system does not ask me to add the checking. Or I can try for the next tier savings/checking combination. The system seems to recognize everything as a logged in customer that way.

Personally, I feel better trying with an all new savings account.
I’m not sure all the reps are aware of this promo right now.
I will call in to see the how they will quality just putting in the blind 10K/20K since it has to be in by the 6th of Dec.
Then make the decision.

-M

John R🔗
John R🔗 (@guest_1950270)
November 13, 2024 10:00

CS confirmed via chat that this offer is stackable with the $300 savings mailer offer.

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950279)
November 13, 2024 10:07

Nice! Thank you

John R🔗
John R🔗 (@guest_1950285)
November 13, 2024 10:11

Of course, thanks for posting. You should get a confirmation from CS as well so you have a screenshot.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950297)
November 13, 2024 10:22

knuds1b,

I don’t know about you but I’m not planning on asking CS. What if a rep happens to say “No”? They could use that against you if you later need to file a CFPB complaint.

Based on the written terms, I feel that we should be fine.

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950314)
November 13, 2024 10:44

Here’s the thing — this seems like the Oprah of bonuses. You literally just have to 1. Have a savings account that exists by 11/27, 2. Push 1 $10k deposit by 12/6, and 3. Have that money still there by 3/5. These are things that people already do with their money, all the time. No codes, no links, no requests to CS — zero communication at all required between Citizens and account holder to initiate this, besides those happenstance transactions. There will surely be people who get this bonus by pure accident, and have no idea why Citizens just put $250 or $500 into their account on April 30, because they just happened to make a large enough deposit in the right timeframe, and held it for long enough, to trigger the bonus.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950317)
November 13, 2024 10:48

knuds1b,

Yes, that’s true. This reminds me of Hanmi. I was wrapping up a promo with them when Olympia suddenly found a new offer for “existing” customers. I am in the middle of that promo. What’s nice about that promo is that they give a monthly reward so there is no question.

BTW, I noticed that you didn’t actually say if you are going to take John R🔗’s advice or not about contacting CS pre-emptively. Was that intentional?

Olympia
Olympia (@guest_1950321)
November 13, 2024 10:57

Eric did you see there’s also a spending bonus going on right now? 1pt per dollar spent. Funding your PayPal by debit counts as a purchase…

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1951375)
November 14, 2024 13:27

No, I wasn’t aware of it. I did just view the offer on their website. I don’t think that I’ll participate in this offer as I don’t want to take the chance of getting shut down for “abuse”.

How much “spend” do you do per month for this deal?

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950326)
November 13, 2024 11:03

No, it wasn’t intentional, but I don’t find it necessary to contact them, given the terms, and given the years of my own bonus hunting in which Citizens has thus far been the most flexible, easiest, contact-less, quickest, overall best churn (besides F&M Bank, perhaps; RIP to that offer) for me. I am on #4 with them, but new offer would make #5. I really do believe they’ll honor it, and probably without asking.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1951377)
November 14, 2024 13:30

I just checked and saw that you have only been commenting on this site for 3 years so you must have started your “career” before reading DoC. I did the same.

BTW, I’ve only had 1 major issue with Citizens over the years. It was my 1st account with them many years ago. I applied before the offer deadline but they approved me after that date and refused to pay out.

That taught me a valuable lesson to try to never apply to an offer near the expiration date.

Eric 🔗
Eric 🔗 (@guest_1950318)
November 13, 2024 10:51

BTW, what is your reference to “Oprah” mean exactly? Are you referring to how she used to give prizes out to her entire studio audience or were you referring to something else?

knuds1b
knuds1b (@guest_1950332)
November 13, 2024 11:08

Yes, the random/surprise prize reference!

Mastin Halisi Snead
Mastin Halisi Snead (@guest_1953002)
November 16, 2024 13:15

Oprah was random.
Ellen was every show.
lol

ShawntheShawn👈🏾
ShawntheShawn👈🏾 (@guest_1950028)
November 12, 2024 22:49

$250 bonus from Valley Strong CU (direct deposit not required):
https://www.valleystrong.com/250

Program Requirements:
· A Regular Share Account or Business Share Account is required for Valley Strong Membership.
· This offer is valid only for new, eligible* checking accounts. You must use promo code NEW250 at account opening and make the minimum opening deposit. You are ineligible if you currently have or have previously had a checking account with us.
· Accounts must remain open and in good standing** for 90 calendar days.
· A Valley Strong debit card is required.
· You must either set up direct deposit into your Valley Strong account or complete an average of 12 debit or point-of-sale (POS) transactions per month for 90 days. ATM transactions are not included.

This credit union used to allow members of Financial Fitness Association to join, but it looks like it is no longer the case based on the application page:

Enter Eligibility
Your zip code doesn’t meet the criteria for our community field of memberships. Don’t worry, let’s explore alternative ways to qualify you.

  • I live, work, or worship in an approved County.
  • I am a relative of a Valley Strong Member.
  • I am an Employee or Board Member
  • None of the above
Gadget 🕵️‍♂️ Bank Bonus Geek 🔗
November 13, 2024 05:38

Awesome summary, but it’s missing one detail. Once an applicant selects the “None of the above” option radio button, the following response shows up:

“We regret to inform you that we are unable to process your online application as you do not meet the requirements for our community membership field. However, there may be alternative methods through which we can qualify you. Please feel free to contact us at (800) 221-3311 or visit one of our branches for further assistance and information.”

Hopefully we have some family members out there, since they told us “don’t worry”.

Sa
Sa (@guest_1949879)
November 12, 2024 19:17