Update 7/3/24: Deal is back and now up to $6,000.
Update 2/28/24: This deal from 2019 is back again now in 2024 (ht reader Vita-GJ)
The Offer
- Schwab brokerage has a bonus offer of up to $2,500 for new or existing customers who transfer over funds to the brokerage within 45 days of enrollment/opening.
New customers can signup on the landing page. Existing customers should call 800-503-3307 or visit the nearest branch to enroll. Here are the bonus tiers:
- $300 bonus for $50,000–$249,999 deposit
- $600 bonus for $250,000–$499,999 deposit
- $1,200 bonus for $500,000–$999,999 deposit
- $2,500 bonus for $1,000,000-$4,999,999 deposit
- $6,000 bonus for $5,000,000+ deposit
$200 bonus for $50,000–$99,999 deposit$300 bonus for $100,000–$249,999 deposit$600 bonus for $250,000–$499,999 deposit$1,200 bonus for $500,000–$999,999 deposit$2,500 bonus for $1,000,000+ deposit
The Fine Print
- Reader icemule1 was told that this $2,500 bonus offer is intended to run through November 18, 2019, though it may end sooner.
- If you are not completely satisfied for any reason, at your request Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (“Schwab”), Charles Schwab Bank (“Schwab Bank”), or another Schwab affiliate, as applicable, will refund any eligible fee related to your concern within the timeframes described below. Two kinds of “Fees” are eligible for this guarantee: (1) Program Fees” for the Schwab Private Client (“SPC”), Schwab Managed Portfolios (“SMP”), Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium (“SIP Premium”), and Managed Account Connection (“Connection”) investment advisory services sponsored by Schwab (together, the “Participating Services”); and (2) commissions and fees listed in the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Individual Investors (“Account Fees”) or the Charles Schwab Bank Pricing Guide. Program Fee refund requests must be received no later than the next calendar quarter after the Fee was charged. Account Fee refund requests must be received within one year of the date that the Fee was charged. The guarantee does not cover Program Fees for accounts managed by investment advisors who are not affiliated with Schwab or managed by Schwab‐affiliated advisors outside of the SPC, SMP, SIP Premium and Connection services. The guarantee is only available to current clients. Refunds will only be applied to the account charged and will be credited within approximately four weeks of a valid request. No other charges or expenses, and no market losses will be refunded. Other restrictions may apply. Schwab reserves the right to change or terminate the guarantee at any time.
- Offer valid for Charles Schwab & Co. (“Schwab”) clients who make a qualifying net deposit into an eligible retail brokerage account within 45 days of enrollment. Net deposits are assets deposited into the enrolled account minus assets withdrawn from the account and transferred out of Schwab. Only outside assets new to Schwab qualify; assets transferred from affiliates other than Schwab Retirement Plan Services are excluded. Net deposits will be calculated as of the 45th day after enrollment and the Cash Bonus Award will be credited to the enrolled account within approximately one week.
- For taxable accounts, excluding accounts pledged to Charles Schwab Bank, you must maintain the net deposit amount (less any market losses) at Schwab for at least one year or Schwab may charge back the Cash Bonus Award.
- Schwab reserves the right to change the offer terms or terminate the offer at any time without notice and may decline requests to enroll in the offer at its discretion.
- The offer does not apply to accounts managed by independent investment advisors, the Schwab Global Account™, ERISA-covered retirement plans, certain tax-qualified retirement plans and accounts, or education savings accounts.
- The cash bonus, when combined with the value received from all other offers in the last 12 months, may not exceed $5,000 per household, as defined in the Charles Schwab Pricing Guide for Individual Investors.
- The offer is not transferable, saleable, or valid in conjunction with other offers and is available to U.S. residents only.
- Employees, contractors, or persons similarly associated with Schwab or a Schwab affiliate; their spouses; and employees of any securities regulatory organization or exchange are not eligible. Other restrictions may apply.
- Consult with your tax advisor about the appropriate tax treatment for this offer and any tax implications associated with receipt before enrolling. Any related taxes are your responsibility. For taxable accounts, the Cash Bonus Award will be reported on your Form 1099-INT. IRS guidance may impact your ability to make more than one IRA to IRA rollover in a one-year period.
Our Verdict
This offer works even for for those with an existing Schwab account, just be sure to call in and have the promo added to your account. If you are new to Schwab, you can just sign up at the direct link and it’ll be added automatically. Remember that you need to leave the funds there for a full year, else the bonus could be clawed back.
There’s a separate referral bonus for new Schwab members of up to $500. (I’m sure that offer won’t stack with this one.) That offer is better for the lower tiers while this offer is better for someone who wants to transfer $250k+. More notably, this offer works even for existing Schwab brokerage customers. We’ll add this to our list of Best Brokerage Bonuses.
As an added bonus, reader icemule1 tells us that Schwab reimburses the fees charged by other brokerages to transfer the investments over, although they don’t advertise this benefit. I assume you need to call in to get that reimbursement; probably worth calling in beforehand to verify with a broker.
Hat tip to reader icemule1
Related:
- Charles Schwab To Remove Commission On Stocks, ETFs & Options
- Charles Schwab Referral Bonus Up To $500
- Best Brokerage Bonuses – Earn Up To $3,500
- Opening a Schwab Brokerage, Checking, and Amex Platinum Credit Card before Year’s End
Deal History:
- Update 10/9/19: Reader icemule1 was told that this $2,500 bonus offer was intended to run through November 18, 2019, but due to high demand it will likely be terminated next week.
Is there requirement to keep the money in for a period of time?
1 year
Called in and was told while the promo is officially done, they may make an exception if you can bring in funds before Sept 15.
The bonus will only apply to ONE account though. You can’t use a combination of accounts (taxable + Roth IRA) that would meet the bonus threshold.
I can confirm that this promotion has ended. I called this morning because the link just redirects to the home page and was told that it ended last week.
I have a 50k Tbill in my Fidelity account that is about to mature. I plan on buying another once it does. Can I transfer the funds to my Schwab account and purchase the Tbill there instead? Is there any downsides to buying it through Schwab instead of Fidelity?
Sure, why not ? Just a different interface to learn but there is should be no problem apart from that.
Beware that Schwab does automatic T-bill rollover poorly compared to Fidelity and Vanguard. At Schwab, your funds sit in cash (at a near 0% APR) for a week between maturity and reinvestment. The other brokerages reinvest on the maturity date. You might be better off with SGOV or TFLO instead of T-bills.
TFLO and SGOV are what I use, too. They have an added advantage of same-day liquidity (vs. SWVXX money market fund) if you need the cash for a same-day investment opportunity in a non-margin account such as an IRA.
good advice, thanks.
any advice who should i contact for matching if I’m a new customer ?
I called the number listed in the email Schwab sent with the promo. The rep gave me his email so I could provide the link for the offer I wanted matched. He got back to me shortly after saying the officer was matched and applied to my account.
I have nearly 7 digits worth of funds in brokerage holdings with Schwab. I asked someone who “cold-emailed” me if they would match other offers from direct competitors. They said possibly, so I sent them the details of the E-Trade and Citi ones.
After over a week of waiting, I finally received a v-mail post a missed call saying they’d match E-Trade, then got a follow-up e-mail almost immediately from the same person saying they’d match Citi. I asked which one it was. The response was Citi.
Then I got another follow-up e-mail from Schwab (more from a corporate “approval” type standpoint) and the fine print included a required 12 month hold instead of 3 months like it is with Citi. I told the individual that had finally gotten back to me that this is not the definition of a match, and they won’t budge, so needless to say, I’m not proceeding and this was a complete waste of time.
I’ve only been with Schwab for about 9 months because of the forced TD Ameritrade merger/transfer, and I really like the ThinkorSwim platform, but this situation has me wanting to leave them completely.
I think their standard for matches is 12 months hold
That’s fine, but if it’s not mentioned, especially from a “VP of Financial Services” that reached out to me directly, don’t waste my time, because that can have massive implications and would’ve been an automatic dealbreaker before I even reached out. Plus, she certainly wasn’t aware of it. Pathetic situation all the way around no matter how you look at it.
Fair enough. Sorry they didn’t mention it to you
Does Schwab actually charge back the bonus if you withdraw within 12 months?
Moving out $85K from my Vanguard Solo 401k and Roth 401k due to the Ascensus transition and fee increase. I plan to move to Schwab.
Can anyone confirm this bonus worked for a Solo 401k? Link doesn’t have the option to sign up for it, so I suppose it would have to be manually added by a rep.
Additionally, anyone had success getting a matched bonus on a Solo 401k? For my amount of funds, I believe the only active brokerage bonuses above the Schwab offer is Webull, Tastytrades, and Citi – though none of those offer a 401k (and only Citi’s is even eligible for an IRA). I can’t imagine I’ll get a successful match to any of those, but I may as well ask.
Regarding the account (not bonus related) –
Can anyone confirm that IRA rollovers are not allowed in Schwab? (source – https://thecollegeinvestor.com/18174/comparing-the-most-popular-solo-401k-options/)
That means I can never terminate the (Roth/) 401k and convert it to a (Roth/) IRA? How about just converting 401k funds to Roth 401k funds (in a down income year)?
Update – Schwab rep told me confidently that both this offer and the referral offer are not eligible on the 401k accounts. No promotions available for those. Anyone have a different experience?
Schwab matched the ETrade offer ($800 for $200K). The rep asked me to email the ETrade URL, and the approval came in an email reply a few hours later. This is for adding funds to an existing Schwab account.
Same year hold?
You should see if they will match Citi – it’s $1000 for $200k.
Thanks, they matched me with the citi offer.
Great! Did you have to call to match?
Since I’m an existing Schwab customer I had to call the number provided to enroll into the offer. Rep asked me to email me citi offer link. Got the approval in email in few hours.
thanks!
Did you call to match?
50k-249k get 300$ bonus.
i get more than that in 1 month on a saving account at 5.15% APR !
Your comment is misleading and incorrect. Obviously no one is going to put 249k in at the top of the tier, so let’s assume someone puts 50k in which is at the bottom of the tier. Interest at 5.15% for one month on $50K is $214.58 which is less, not more, than the $300 bonus. The bigger factor here is people are not moving liquid assets to Schwab and missing out on the 5.15% interest they could be getting somewhere else; they are moving stocks which are increasing in value on their own AND getting a bonus on top of it.
Your stocks increase in value?!
deposit 50K, invest in treasury bond or CD at 5.XX% APR and get the $300 bonus