[Expired] Public $400 Chase Checking + Savings Coupon

[Expired: Sorry folks, this deal has now expired. You can still get $400 & $500 coupons on eBay. Alternatively click here to view other Chase coupons available].

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Chase has offered a $400 coupon for awhile, unfortunately it was targeted and only certain people were able to get it (unless you followed our tips on how to find one for yourself). Today reader Melody sent us a link to a public offer. This is the highest public sign up bonus they have ever offered for these accounts. Unfortunately it requires a direct deposit whilst some of the other targeted offers do not.

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $400
• Availability: Nationwide, have to take coupon into branch
• Direct deposit required: Yes, Chase is extremely strict in what classifies as a direct deposit. The usual tricks will likely not work. Click here to see what has and hasn’t worked in the past.
• Additional requirements: Fund a savings account with at least $15,000 and maintain that balance for at least 90 days
• Hard/soft pull: Soft
• Credit card funding: Up to $500 with non-Chase cards
• Monthly fees: $12 for checking & $4 for savings, both avoidable
• Early account termination fee: If closed within six months they will deduct the bonus from your account
• Expiration date: July 15th, 2014

The Offer

Direct link to offer

You can complete either of this bonuses or both of them, the choice is yours. You must take the coupon into a Chase branch to complete this offer, this is NOT for online sign ups.

• Receive a $200 bonus when you open a Chase total checking account with a minimum of $100 and receive a direct deposit
• Receive another $200 when you open a new Chase savings account and deposit a total of $15,000 or more in new money to Chase, balance must be maintained for at least 90 days

The Fine Print

• Checking offer is not available to existing Chase checking customers or those whose accounts have been closed within the last 90 days
• Direct deposit must hit your account within 60 days of account opening to be eligible for this bonus
• Qualifying direct deposit is paycheck, pension or government benefits (such as Social Security)
• Bonuses will be paid out within 10 business days of completing the requirements (Chase always pays bonuses on the Tuesday for some reason)
• You can only get one checking & one savings bonus per calendar year
• All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Total Checking Account $10-$12 Monthly

The Chase Total Checking account has a monthly fee of $10-$12 depending on which state you live in. Chase waives this monthly fee if you have a minimum daily balance of $1,500 or more in the checking account OR you keep a minimum daily balance of $5,000 or more in a combination of qualifying Chase checking & savings accounts.

Chase Savings Account $4-5 Monthly

This account has a monthly service fee of $4-5 depending on which state you live in. Chase waives this fee if you have a daily balance of $300 or more or have at least one repeating deposit of $25 or more coming from your Chase checking account or have a linked Chase Premier Plus/Premier Platinum account.

Early Account Termination Fee $200-$400

Make sure you don’t close your account within six months otherwise Chase will take back any bonuses you have received. If you take all the funds out of your account you will end up with a negative balance which would be reported to ChexSystems & make it almost impossible to sign up for another bank account in the future.

Our Verdict

As we mentioned before this is the highest public offer we’ve seen. That said there are currently $500 coupons available on eBay which have the same terms but give you $300 for the Total checking & $200 for the Savings account. You can also find $400 combined coupons which do not have the direct deposit requirement.

I personally won’t be doing this offer as I already completed a similar offer (without the direct deposit requirement) earlier this year. If I hadn’t already done this offer, I’d be trying to purchase a $500 coupon from eBay instead. As long as you can find one for less than $100 (they usually go for $50-$60) you’ll end up ahead using that coupon instead of this one.

The APR on the Chase savings account is 0.01% so you’ll only earn $0.375 in interest if you keep it in the account for three months. If you were earning 1% (minimum you should be looking for with a high interest checking account) you’d receive $37.5 so the savings bonus is really only $162.5.

If I was completing this bonus, here is how I’d do it:

1. Take my coupon into a Chase branch and open both accounts
2. Use a rewards earning credit card to fund the checking account with $500 (an additional $10 in profit with a 2% card)
3. Transfer this $500 along with another $14,500 into the savings account. This is enough to keep both accounts fee free and will also trigger the savings account bonus (+$200). I’ll be forgoing $37.5 in interest by not keeping this in a high interest account.
4. Organize for my work to change my direct deposit to the Chase checking account (usually I’d do an ACH transfer or another work around, but Chase has closed these loopholes down for the most part). This will trigger the $200 checking bonus.
5. Wait three months for my savings account bonus to post, then withdraw all but $300 to keep the account fee free
6. Keep $1,500 in the checking account to keep that account fee free as well
7. Wait six months to avoid the early account termination fee
8. Withdraw all my money into my regular accounts
9. Close my Chase accounts so I can complete another offer next year

By following these steps you’ll make $335 in profit, which includes the loss you’d make in interest. Like I mentioned previously there are $500 coupon codes on eBay that you’d be better off purchasing if you want to maximize your profit. You can also find the same $400 coupons but they sometimes allow account opening online and without the direct deposit requirement.

[Read: How to save 5% on all of your eBay purchases]

We’ve added this to our list of bank account promotions. If you haven’t already, we’d strongly reading through our recommend offers page as a lot of those are better than this offer. It’s also worth looking into our dedicated chase coupon page which will be updated shortly.

 

Direct link to offer | Screenshot of offer