Latest Chase Checking Account Bonus

Update 4/19/13: There's a new $150 Chase checking account bonus available online. It's scheduled to end on 7/6/13. Here's the Chase promotion page.

Update 2/27/13: The largest online Chase checking account bonus that I currently can find is $125. This is scheduled to end on 4/6/13. Here's the Chase promotion page.

Earlier this year Chase Bank had been offering a $200 checking account bonus that was available online. That appears to be no longer available. The largest bonus that's available online that I can find now is $150. Here's the Chase promo link. It's scheduled to last until 12/15/2012 7/6/2013.

To receive the bonus, you have to enter your email address at the Chase promo page to receive a coupon. Once you receive the coupon, you can either print the coupon and take it to your local Chase Branch or apply online using the coupon code in the email. Then you'll need to open a Chase Total Checking account and set up direct deposit. According to the offer's small print:

Your direct deposit needs to be an electronic deposit of your paycheck, pension or government benefits (such as Social Security) from your employer or the government. After we receive your first direct deposit, we'll deposit the bonus in your new account within 10 business days.

The bonus isn't available to existing Chase checking customers, and you can only receive one checking account bonus per calendar year.

Other Chase Bonuses

If you wait, the $200 online bonus may come back. Chase often sends out $200 bonus coupons in the mail. You can find these on ebay.com. I currently see several being sold with prices that range from $5 to $10. Some of these may not require direct deposit. You may also be able to find a Chase checking bonus coupon in the address change packets at your post office.

Chase also offers bonuses for opening its savings account with a $10,000 minimum initial deposit. This can be up to $150. I haven't seen Chase offer this savings account bonus online. These coupons have typically been sent by mail. If you go into a branch to take advantage of the checking account bonus, you might want to ask about this savings account promotion.

Chase has also offered business checking account bonuses. Past ones have paid $200 for an initial deposit of at least $5,000. I can't find any that are available now.

Beware of Monthly Fees

Chase Total Checking has no monthly Service Fee when you do one of the following each statement period:

• Option #1: Have monthly direct deposits totaling $500 or more made to this account; OR,
• Option #2: Keep the daily balance in your checking account at or above $1,500; OR,
• Option #3: Keep an average balance of $5,000 or more in your checking and other types of qualifying Chase accounts.

Otherwise a $12 monthly Service Fee will apply ($10 monthly Service Fee for CA, OR and WA).

Since Chase pays very low interest rates, it doesn't pay to keep more than the minimum balance to avoid the monthly fees.

Other Bank Bonuses

We have a bank promotions page with a table of all of the active bank and credit union promotions. You can filter the table based on the type of promotion and based on your state. I have more details about how to use this page in this blog post.

You can view my latest bank bonus blog posts in this bank bonus page. I and DepositAccounts.com readers often post on bonuses in the checking account deals forum.