In the spirit of making things up I’ve decided to anoint July as national bank account bonus (NBAB for short). The aim of NBAB is to celebrate bank account sign up bonuses and to also try to find and post as many new bonuses as possible.
How To Celebrate
Here’s how you can celebrate:
- Find new bonuses in your area. We’ve discussed this before and it’s much easier than you might think. When you find them, make sure to send them in so we can share them with other readers ([email protected])
- Introduce friends & family to the game. Save yourself the trouble of explaining how everything works by referring them to this guide.
- Complete the best bonuses currently available. As always we keep an updated list of the best bonuses here (keep in mind there are usually some dead bonuses at the start of each month as we wait to see if they get extended).
- Share your datapoints & experiences. The more information readers share with each other, the easier it is to decide what bonuses are & aren’t worth doing. At minimum it’s usually worth answering the following three questions if you can:
- If you’re a blogger, why not share this post? Sharing is caring.
How We’re Helping
- Alert system. My goal for July is to set up as many automated alerts for new banks as I possibly can, I’ll be starting with the most populous states and working backwards from there. I hope to have automated alerts set up for every bank in the nation by the end of 2018. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t set up your own alerts or stop checking in branch though. The more people searching, the more we can find.
- Rewards for useful comments. I’ve been slack when it comes to ‘best comments of the month’ recently. I’ll be bringing this back for July with a big focus on bank account bonuses and useful comments there.
- Surprises. There will be a few surprises as we go, I won’t say much about those just yet.
Final Thoughts
Let us know in the comments how you plan to celebrate and what else we can do to build the profile of NBAB.
[PA Only] Inspire Federal Credit Union
$100 Personal Checking and $250 Business Checking Bonuses
Expires 7/31/18
Limited to those who live or work in Bucks County, PA
https://inspirefcu.org/inspire-fcu-blog/bristolgo
I got into the game in February and my haul for the year is up to $1750 earned with $450 pending across 10 accounts. I’m 10/10 in being approved for all accounts. It’s not easy but I’m going to stop for this calendar year before I start getting denials and can churn a couple like Chase next year.
I talked my wife into letting me use her for a 2nd Discover savings(easiest bonus ever!) and it took some convincing to do. But she’s fine with me doing the work under my name… if I told other members of my family how easy it is to get this free money, they wouldn’t want to do the work. Like all of you I just don’t get why not. I guess they don’t like free money. Once I realized bank accounts don’t affect your credit score, why not? I am extremely organized when it comes to personal finances so keeping track of these bonuses and accounts is a cakewalk with a spreadsheet. Proud to say never 1 late payment or penny paid in interest in around 18 years or so since establishing credit when I was 17 or 18 and a sterling credit score of 820+. I must be doing something right! Not heavily into the credit card game and I’m only at 2/24 but realizing I could have done better over the years with opening bonuses, I mostly only maximize cash/points back categories but do that very well.
Big thanks to DoC and all the authors for this site! I really enjoy tracking and doing all these bank account bonuses and adding DPs for everyone else in the comments which I make sure to do for every bonus.
I’m game… I submitted an Amegy $550 offer last month but nothing happened with it as far as getting it listed…
Hmm, I still have to go through my e-mails from when I was on vacation. I see your e-mail and will do a post soon.
I’ve not done bank account bonuses yet. Started on credit card bonuses about a year ago. I may take the plunge. The main thing that I’m concerned about with bank accounts is the direct deposit requirement on so many of them. I don’t want to inconvenience my employer by changing my paycheck direct deposit.
You may be interested in this page then: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/knowledge-base/list-methods-banks-count-direct-deposits/
And occasionally a bonus opportunity shows up with no DD requirement. You don’t have to do them all. 🙂
Not all bank account bonuses require direct deposit, though many do. And, as Kyle linked, there are ways to get around those direct deposit requirements. At the very least, you should do the Chase checking bonuses each year.
Chase is catching on to me. Jan 2018 was my 3rd $500 yearly signup over 3 years. The banker said “I see you have opened accounts with us several times. What can we do to keep you as a customer barring opening and closing accounts? Anticipation of an awkward moment I prepped a side story about relocation. Then used an actual Chase check from my wife for the opening deposit cause you know, she recommended them on their customer service. I probably will give this one a rest in 2019.
My employers do everything online so I just change nearly every pay period. At one point I had my check separated into 11 different accounts at one employer and five accounts at the other. Too bad my spouse doesn’t have DD available (ironically works at a bank.). Changing DD is pretty easy and takes me less than 3 min.
I do know the head of payroll at one job and she doesn’t seem to even care.
I discovered this site about a year ago. I told my mom about it… we’ve been doing together ever since!! John 3:16
Will, if you’re willing to do a little work, you might be able to make it “official.” Check this out: https://www.daysoftheyear.com/submit-a-day/
Thanks! Will do
In the past year I’ve completed US Bank, BofA, TD, BMO, Chase, Fifth Third, WF, Columbia NJ, Fulton NJ, PNC, and Hancock Whitney bonuses. Ongoing with Regions, HSBC, BofA round 2, Citizen’s Bank, BB&T, Chase round 2, Santander.
Looking for more at this time.
Thanks for the cash doc.
How long did columbia bank take to post for you?
Should post last business day of month after you complete the requirement(s). If it does not post very likely a glitch as in my case…just call the branch and they will credit it manually. This is a good bank when it comes to bonuses. If not automatically post, they will do it manually, but has to be done by branch than the main CS.
Since you mentioned going state by state, is there a minimum criteria for having a bank/credit union included in the list? I just got $50 for opening an account at a local credit union, but it had to be opened in branch. $50 isn’t much of a bonus but it only required a $5 account opening. The $50 was instant. I can’t touch the money for 3 mos though and have to keep the account open for 30 days, otherwise I lose the $5. I was wondering cause a $50 bonus is small potatoes, but didn’t require much effort. In case you are wondering, the offer has expired.
I only post deals over $100 as deals under $100 aren’t worth doing in my opinion unless there is another angle (e.g credit card funding).
Good point. Yes, you have to make the cut somewhere.
Anyone struggling to get their ID verified after moving? I got rejected from 3 accounts saying they could verify my ID. I asked Equifax for my CR (reason for one of the denials) and they said they couldn’t send it because they couldn’t verify my address -.-
never happened to me; i immediately changed my address after i moved with every bank I had business and changed my driver’s license, car registration, etc.
I now do bank bonuses at my old and new state
I did USPS mail forwarding when I moved; it’s been 13 months and they still forward. I moved from my parents’ house, however, so it is low risk if any mail wasn’t to reach me – my parents could send it. I would definitely say that anyone who moves has at least a 6 month period in which USPS guarantees forwarding. FWIW legally, my parents are happy to confirm that the ‘other address’ is still a residence of mine, albeit not my primary residence.
For the record, the official limit is 12 months of forwarding, followed by 6 months of sending mail back to the sender with an address-change notification sticker,
Thank you for explaining. The USPS does continue to forward mail for a bit after the forwarding expires.
That sounds really odd. I figured I might get rejected cause my DL’s address does not match my current address, but I’ve been surprised to see that I do get approved. There must be something else going on with your ID because Equifax can’t verify your address. Have you updated all your addresses at your banks and credit cards?
I’ve had the same problem with reluctant family members. Only about 3 out of 20 want to take the time to make it happen. Even though they all marvel at how we can travel so much and fly first class, they just can’t bring themselves to commit
I really feel better after reading the comments about friends and family. I thought I was the only one who had family who didn’t want to make free money. Hard to believe!
Well, that’s more for us.
(Fidelity lasted one day??? Glad I jumped on that one. Already got the bonus, thanks Fido and DoC!)