[Dead] Fidelity: Sign Up For Investing & Spending Accounts & Get $200 Bonus

Update 6/29/18 2:14 pm ET: Offer has ended, “P.S. If you’re looking for our recent cash offer, it just ended. Sorry Charlie.” It does sound pretty clearly like they plan on honoring it for whoever already got in on this.

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $200
• Availability: Nationwide
• Direct deposit required: No
• Additional requirements: Deposit $200
• Hard/soft pull: Soft pull (make sure not to opt in for margins on the brokerage account)
• ChexSystems: Unknown
• Credit card funding: None
• Monthly fees: None
• Early account termination fee: Nine months from bonus posting, bonus forfeit
• Household limit: None listed
• Expiration date: None listed

The Offer

Direct link to offer

• Fidelity is offering to match your opening deposit of up to $200 when you open a spending account (Fidelity Cash Management) and investment account (Fidelity brokerage account). Deposit must be received within 60 days of account opening. Deposit can be made to either account or a combination of both (might make sense to put it into the brokerage account though).

The Fine Print

• This offer is valid for new or existing Fidelity customers.
• Once you open your two accounts, you will be eligible for the offer as long as you don’t have an existing Fidelity Account or Cash Management Account. You must deposit between $50–$200 to receive your bonus money. You can deposit it all into one account, or split it between both—your choice. Your bonus money will be deposited into to whichever account you choose to fund
• In order to receive the cash bonus, you must open and fund a new eligible Fidelity Brokerage Account and Fidelity Cash Management account on or after 6/21/18.
• Deposits of $50 to $99 may receive $50, deposits of $100 to $149 may receive $100, deposits of $150 to $199 may receive $150, and deposits of $200 or more may receive $200.
• New accounts must be funded within 60 days (“the qualification period”). Funding must come from an external, non-Fidelity source via any standard monetary transfer method (a standard Transfer of Assets form, check, electronic funds transfer, ADM deposit, etc.). Account holders must maintain the minimum qualifying account balance (minus any losses related to trading or market volatility, or margin debit balances) at Fidelity for at least nine months from the date on which the bonus award is credited to the account, or Fidelity may charge the account the cost of the bonus award.
• In addition, account holders must not use qualifying deposits to purchase insurance or annuity products offered or distributed by Fidelity within 60 days of receiving a bonus award, or Fidelity may charge the account the cost of the bonus award.
• Customers must register at https://communications.fidelity.com/pi/start-your-stack/?ccsource=offer.
• Must be at least 18 years of age
• All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Neither account has any monthly fees to worry about. You do pay a fee of $4.95 per trade though (not required for the fee free ETFs). You also need to “Account holders must maintain the minimum qualifying account balance (minus any losses related to trading or market volatility, or margin debit balances) at Fidelity for at least nine months from the date on which the bonus award is credited to the account, or Fidelity may charge the account the cost of the bonus award.” So basically early account termination fee of $200 if closed within 9 months of receiving the bonus and you must have a balance of $200+ during that period. It’s possible they mean you need to have $400+ in there, so I’d probably do that just to be safe

Our Verdict

It says the offer is available for new and existing fidelity customers, but you can’t already have the cash management or investment account. This seems like an insanely good deal as you only need to deposit $200 and there are no monthly fees to worry about either. I honestly can’t see this lasting long term, so if you’re interested it would make sense to do it sooner rather than later. Keep in mind you need to maintain the minimum qualifying account balance for at least 9 months from the date on which the bonus posts minus any loses from trading or market volatility. I’d probably just keep $400+ in cash in there to make sure of this.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:

• A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
• Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
• PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
• Introduction To ChexSystems
• Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
• What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
• How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
• Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
• How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
• Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
• Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
• Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
• Bank Bonus Posting Times