[Expired] Bank of America $500 Business Checking Bonus with $20,000 Deposit [Targeted]

Update 12/9/19: Extended through January. Looks like more people have been targeted as well.

Update 9/11/19: Offer extended through 12/31/19. Updated the link below.

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: up to $500
  • Availability: Nationwide, must receive direct communication about the offer (see below)
  • Direct deposit required: None
  • Additional requirements: $20,000 deposit, 10 electronic payments
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft
  • ChexSystems: Unknown
  • Credit card funding: None, but can fund with a debit card up to $300
  • Monthly fees: $18-$29.95
  • Early account termination fee: None
  • Expiration date: August 31, 2019 December 31, 2019 January 31, 2020

The Offer

Direct link to offer | New Link (keep in mind the offer is targeted, see below)

Bank of America is offering a bonus of up to $500 when you open a new Business Advantage Checking account OR Business Fundamentals Checking account, as follows:

  • Get $500 bonus if you do the following within 60 days: make $20,000 in qualifying deposits AND make at least 10 qualifying electronic payments.
  • Get $200 bonus if you do the following within 60 days: make $5,000 in qualifying deposits AND make at least 5 qualifying electronic payments.

 

The Fine Print

  • The $200 and $500 bonus offers are mutually exclusive: only one bonus (either $200 or $500) per business customer, regardless of the number of businesses owned or operated by the customer.
  • Offer only available to customers who receive this offer via a direct communication from a Bank of America® small business specialist or from a Bank of America communication.
  • You must open your Bank of America® small business checking account by August 31, 2019, and the qualifications must be met within 60 days of the account opening.
  • All qualifying activities must be completed within the stated timeframes in order to be eligible for this offer.
  • You are not eligible for this offer if you are or were an owner or signer on a Bank of America small business checking account that is open or that was closed within the last six (6) months.
  • Bank of America may change or terminate this offer at any time without notice. Bank of America employees are not eligible for this offer. To redeem this offer, please visit your Bank of America small business specialist.
  • Qualifying deposits are deposits of funds into your new small business checking account that are new to Bank of America. A transfer done via ATM, online or teller, or a transfer from a Bank of America deposit account or brokerage accounts, such as Merrill Edge® or Merrill Lynch account is not a qualifying deposit. (See this Reddit discussion.)
  • You must not be an owner or signer on a Bank of America business checking account that is open or that was closed in the last six (6) months.
  • Qualifying Electronic Payments include, debit card, online bill pay, or ACH transactions, wire transfers or Zelle payments.
  • Your account does not qualify for the bonus until you provide all of the information we require in connection with opening the account by the promotion end date August 31, 2019. This includes information we require to identify each account owner and to report the bonus to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), including a validly completed IRS Form W-9 or Form W-8 (as applicable). The value of this bonus may constitute taxable income to you. To the extent required by law, Bank of America may withhold tax or other amounts from the payment. Please consult your tax advisor, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide tax advice.
  • Please consult a financial center, visit bankofamerica.com, or see the Business Schedule of Fees found at bankofamerica.com/businessfeesataglance for other account fees, rates and information. Reproduction, purchase, sale, transfer or trade of this offer is prohibited.
  • Offer is limited to one per business customer, regardless of the number of businesses owned or operated by the customer.

Avoiding Fees

There is no early account termination fee.

Business Fundamentals $18 Per Month

Monthly fee is waived if you do any of the following:

  • A $3,000 minimum daily balance in your primary account
  • A $5,000 average monthly balance in your primary account
  • A $15,000 combined average monthly balance in linked business accounts
  • Make $250 in net new qualifying purchases each billing cycle on your Bank of America business credit or debit card

Business Advantage $29.95 Per Month

The Business Advantage checking account comes with a monthly fee of $29.95 per month, but this fee is waived for the first three months. After this introductory period you need to do any one of the following to keep it fee free:

  • $15,000 average monthly balance
  • $35,000 combined average monthly balance of linked business accounts
  • Spend $2,500 per month in new purchases using a linked Bank of America business credit card
  • Actively use Bank of America Merchant Services or Payroll Services by Intuit® or Remote Deposit Online service

Our Verdict

The fine print notes that the offer is “only available to customers who receive this offer via a direct communication from a Bank of America small business specialist or from a Bank of America communication.” Looking at our previous post, it’s not entirely clear to me whether this is enforced. Three readers just got this $500 offer pop up for them either before or after they logged into their Bank of America account. One of them had a long string of numbers attached to the URL in an offer that popped up after login, so that’s probably the ‘direct communication’ targeting of the offer. It may well be possible to get this offer from a Bank of America business specialist in branch as well, worth setting an appointment before going.

I don’t see any time length requirement for the $20,000. That said, I’d probably send the funds close to the end of the 60 days, and leave it there until 60 days from account approval, for the avoidance of doubt. Then, I’d withdraw $17,000 and leave $3,000 in the Fundamentals account to avoid the monthly fee until the bonus posts. There isn’t any early termination fee on the account.

Might be worth doing the $20k deposits in cash or check in branch for the avoidance of doubt as well.

There was a “similar” $500 bonus which Bank of America ran for a while, except that one required a credit card or merchant services, and wasn’t what we’d call a regular bank bonus. This one is straightforward enough with $20,000 tied up until the end of 60 days to trigger the $500 bonus.

Hat tip to readers Robert, John, and nycdpj

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
    Chuck
  • On December 9, 2019, 17:26

View Comments (242)

  • Did I screw up it up?

    12/18 - Open

    12/24 - 1/23 - 11 different $1 ACH transfers from Ally

    2/5 - $20k deposit from Ally (this is the 49 day mark)

    3/19 - $20k withdrawal

    No bonus yet.

  • I am targeted for the SB750 offer, the offer expires June 12, 2020

    Has anyone actually have to go through the below when applying for BOA Business Checking Account - specifically, the first step under "What to expect after applying"?

    I was only planning to applying as sole proprietorship (SSN) and not sure what "supplemental documents" they need. Afaik, none are needed for my state

    **The information you'll need to apply**
    Business documentation such as filing documents, articles of organization, articles of incorporation and/or certificate of resolution
    Business Tax ID
    Name and address of the business
    The state in which the business operates
    The state in which the business was formed
    Date the business was established
    The SSN, address and DOB of the business owner
    What to expect after applying
    When your application is complete, you will receive a confirmation email within a couple of hours.

    **What to expect after applying**
    You’ll need to fax your supplemental documents to 800.435.0051 or scan and email them to SmallBus.Documents@bankofamerica.com (include your application ID on the fax cover sheet or in the email subject line).

    After your account is approved, you must send a signature card through traditional mail or take the card to a local financial center.

    You can fund your account while applying by using a debit card, transferring money from another account or writing a check.

    Once your account is open, you may access Online Banking and you will receive your checks and debit card(s) in approximately 7 to 10 business days.

    • Got mine as well, deposited 20k of checks at ATM and made various low-value debit purchases and the rest was billpaid out (early January). My city only has BofA ATMs, no branches.

    • 11/29 - Single $20.1k check deposit in branch (which they held for 10 days)
      12/11-12/13 Initiated 10 online billpays from BOA site
      2/21 - $500 Bonus posted

      • Yeah, plenty of DPs everywhere that show one deposit should be ok. Actually I found I also had a second "deposit" (an ATM deposit of cash) made within 60 days. Just goes to show how "creative" BOA is at finding excuses and antagonizing us churners.

      • Still unresolved, waiting for a call back from a customer service supervisor, supposedly within 48 hours. Now it's going on 72 hours.

          • No, they (same department, but different call centers; don't know how to get back in touch with the Albuequeque NM call center that made the promise) reneged on that promise completely; telling me to wait until March 17th (that's 150 days since account opening and 120 days since I met all the requirements). So I CFPB'ed them. Now waiting on that.

    • Also just heard that Escalation doesn't consider the 20+ Bill Pay I made on the BOA site as "Qualifying Electronic Payments". Rather, I'm supposed to make 10 electronic payments using only the Routing and Account Numbers, but not the debit card number, with other external sites/merchants. Double WTF.

      Good thing I saved a copy of the terms & conditions, and am able to call out that BS: "Make ten (10) Qualifying Electronic Payments within 60 days of opening that new business checking account.
      Qualifying Electronic Payments include, debit card, online bill pay, or ACH transactions, wire transfers or Zelle
      payments (starting/available in June)."

  • I want to point out a different angle that people may have missed doing the $20,000 bonus.

    When you sign up for the checking account, it asks you if you want to enroll in Preferred rewards for business. If you check this box, and deposit $20,000 within 30 days, you automatically qualify for Gold as soon as you make the deposit, you don't have to meet the usual 3 month waiting time.

    Once you have the Preferred Rewards for Business Gold status, you automatically qualify for gold status for 12 months before they give you another balance test. This means you get the extra 25% rewards on boa business cards, and even better it makes the checking account completely fee free (therefore you don't need to keep the $3K min balance in the account).

    Pretty sweet deal for a fee-free year of business checking with a free year of 25% business CC rewards booster.

    I guess you could use the same loophole to get Platinum/Honors status if you make an initial deposit of $50K/$100K, given that you don't seem to need to keep the balance there to keep the benefits.

    • @guest_845831 Big thanks for this great tip !!! Platinum Honors benefits on the checking and also biz card.

  • 10/11 - Account opened
    10/18 - $20,100 check deposited
    10/21 - 15 $0.01 debit card transactions and 10 Zelle transactions
    01/17 - $500 bonus showed up

  • Anyone had the bonus post recently? I met all the requirements November 14th, but haven’t received the bonus. This is definitely different than the early datapoints of this bonus posting quickly.

    • Was targeted on the online banking homepage. Applied in October. Met terms November 25 via three 7k+ mobile check deposits into account, along with AMZN reloads. No bonus yet. In early November I received a letter specifically stating the offer terms. Have screenshot of application page with offer code filled in.

      Was just charged my first 29.95 monthly fee. Terms state bonus will be deposited within 60 days after eligibility period, which for me would be 2/2. I'm going to give it another month.

        • She opened the bank account because she really loves Bank of America. Isn't that why everyone opens up these accounts at DoC?

          • I guess I should have phrased the question as, “Why did you open the Advantage account instead of the Fundamentals?”

    • Were you targeted via email? I just got approved online and am going to call a business banker to make sure my bonus was added. If not, I will just cancel the accounts.

        • I just got my bonus yesterday. $500, after opening account on 9/30. So if you opened your account in November, just hang tight! It's coming.

  • I was *not targeted* but started the application (with bogus SS#, name etc) to see if I would get an Offer Code;
    On page 2 (Personal Information - but no info added) I selected "Do you have an offer code?"
    It then showed Offer Code= SSDDIG.

    Did anyone else see this? I wonder if that would mean that the promo would work...?

    • "SSDDIG is the same code I had prefilled in my targeted app yesterday that was mentioned by a below user. Just know that BOA is on record saying it doesn’t matter if you use the code or not if you weren’t targeted." This is an exact quote from a previous post.

Leave a Comment