Best Savings and Checking Account Bonus Offers - April 2024
These bonuses allow you to earn the most with the least amount of work. Most are nationally available, but a few may only be available in certain states.
The best bonuses don’t just have a large bonus amount with easy requirements. See all the factors to consider for checking accounts and savings accounts to determine if the bonus offer is worth your time.
Before you apply for one of these bonuses, review these bonus tips. They will help you avoid the potential problems and increase the chance you’ll receive the bonus.
If you’re choosing a checking or savings account for the long term, there are other more important things to consider than the bonus. See how to use our rate tables to learn the important details of the account.
All offers are updated as of April, 2024.
Savings Account Bonus Offers - April 2024
- Requirements:This offer is for new consumer savings customers only. All Wells Fargo consumer savings accounts are eligible for this offer with the exception of Time Accounts (CDs) and savings accounts offered by Wells Fargo Private Bank. Only the primary owner of the new savings account is eligible for this offer. You must use your bonus offer code at account opening when you apply for a new eligible Wells Fargo savings account.
- When you'll get it:To receive the bonus, you must: Open a new Wells Fargo consumer savings account in a Wells Fargo branch by June 25, 2024. All account applications are subject to approval. Deposit $25,000 or more in new money to your new savings account within 30 days and maintain at least a $25,000 balance for 90 days after account opening.
- Disclaimer: You are not eligible for this offer if: You are a current primary account owner of a Wells Fargo consumer savings account. The primary account owner is the owner whose Taxpayer Identification Number, such as a Social Security Number, is assigned to the account and has tax responsibility. You have received any other consumer savings offer bonus or promotional rate that required a bonus offer code within the past 12 months. You are a Wells Fargo employee.
- Requirements: n order to qualify for eligibility for a bonus, SoFi must receive at least one Direct Deposit (as defined below) from an Eligible Participant, the first of which must be before the end of the Promotion Period. Direct Deposits are defined as deposits of $1,000.00 or greater from an enrolled member’s employer, payroll, benefits provider, or government agency via ACH deposit.
- When you'll get it: The Direct Deposit Bonus Period begins when SoFi receives a Direct Deposit within the Promotion Period and ends 25 calendar days later (the “Direct Deposit Bonus Period”). Once the Direct Deposit Bonus Period has elapsed, SoFi will determine if you have met the offer requirements and will deposit any earned bonus into your checking account within seven (7) business days.
- Disclaimer: Deposits that are not from an employer, payroll, benefits provider, or government agency (such as check deposits; P2P transfers such as from PayPal or Venmo, etc.; merchant transactions such as from PayPal, Stripe, Square, etc.; and external bank ACH transfers not from employers) do not qualify for this Direct Deposit Promotion.
- Requirements: Earn $200 when you deposit $10,000 or more in new money within 20 days, then maintain a balance of at least $10,000 for 90 days from the date the deposit requirement is initially met.
- Disclaimer: You will not qualify for the Savings Bonus if you are an existing TD Bank personal savings or money market Customer OR had a previous personal savings or money market account that was closed within the preceding 12 months or have received a prior personal savings or money market account bonus at any time.
- Expires: 12/31/24
- Availability: Nationwide
- Requirements: Open a new The Ultimate Opportunity Savings account online at the promotional page, or by phone at 800-328-1935 and mention Suze Orman’s The Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account promotion. Then transfer or deposit the first $100 within 30 days, make transfers or deposits totaling at least $100 or more each month for the next 11 consecutive months, and keep an average daily balance of at least $100. To receive the bonus, at the end of the 12-month period your account must be open with a balance of at least $1,200.
- Disclaimer: New Alliant Credit Union members only. People who have closed an Alliant savings account within 180 days, existing members and joint owners on Alliant savings accounts are not eligible. The bonus will be credited to your account within four weeks of meeting the requirements.
Checking Account Bonus Offers - April 2024
- Requirements: To enroll in this offer, you must apply directly from bonus offer page. Opening an account does not guarantee that you meet eligibility requirements. Open a new eligible checking account and enroll in the cash bonus offer the same day. Offer valid from 1/10/24 to 7/8/24.
- When you'll get it: Deposit New-to-Citibank Funds into your new checking account within 20 days of account opening. The balance on your 20th day will determine your maximum eligible cash bonus. Maintain the required minimum balance in your eligible account(s) for an additional 60 days from the 21st day. The cash bonus will be deposited to your open, eligible checking account within 30 calendar days after you complete all required activities. Only new checking customers can take advantage of this offer. We want you to have flexibility with this offer, so if you need to withdraw some of your funds during the balance maintenance period, just make sure you have at least $30,000 in your account(s) to remain eligible to earn at least our minimum cash bonus of $500.
- Disclaimer:If you also open and fund a new Citi Savings Account, your balance can be held in your Checking Account or between your Checking Account AND your new Citi Savings Account to count toward the minimum requirement to earn a bonus.
- Requirements: Earn up to $500 by opening a new U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking account and $200 by opening a new U.S. Bank Standard Savings account. This Offer valid till June 27. Open your checking account online through offer page or over phone with opening deposit of $25. Within 90 days of account opening, enroll in the U.S. Bank Mobile App or online banking and make at least two direct deposits. Open your savings account through offer page, in a branch or over the phone with opening deposit of $25.
- When you'll get it: You will earn $100 or $300 or $500 bonus with U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking by making direct deposits of $3,000 or $5,000 or $10,000 respectively. You will earn $200 bonus with U.S. Bank Standard Savings by depositing at least $15,000 in new money by July 17 and maintain minimum total balance of $15,000 until October 31.
- Disclaimer: Your checking bonus will be credited to your new checking account within 60 days following the end of the calendar month during which you completed all the offer requirements. Account must be open and have a positive balance to receive the bonus. Offer may not be combined with any other checking account bonus offers. Your $200 savings bonus will be credited into your new savings account within 30 days after you have completed all the offer requirements. Account must be open and have a positive balance to receive the bonus.
- Requirements: Choose and open the checking account that best fits your needs. a) For Perks Checking, set up and receive a qualifying direct deposit (such as a payroll or government payment like Social Security) within 90 days of account opening and keep your account open for 90 days. b) For Platinum Perks Checking, make cumulative new money deposits of $25,000 into your new Platinum Perks Checking account within 90 days of account opening and keep your account open for 90 days
- When you'll get it: The bonus up to $400 for Perks Checking or $600 for Platinum Perks Checking will be deposited in your new account within 14 days of meeting requirements.
- Disclaimer: This offer is only available to new personal checking customers. Deposits that DO NOT QUALIFY are those through the Real-Time Payments (RTP) network, and payments through peer-to-peer networks such as PayPal, Zelle, Venmo or others. These do not qualify as direct deposits. Transfers from another Huntington deposit account also do not qualify.
- Requirements: To take advantage of the new personal checking account cash bonus offer, you must open your account between May 4, 2024 and Sept. 9, 2024 and use the promo code. You may open your account at a BMO branch, online, or by calling 1-800-546-6101. Offer is limited to one per customer and account. Offer is not available for existing BMO personal checking customers or those who have closed a BMO or Bank of the West personal checking account within the past 12 months.
- When you'll get it: Get a $500 cash bonus when you open a new Relationship Checking account and have a cumulative total of $7,500 in qualifying direct deposits within 90 days of opening. BMO Relationship Checking account and have qualifying direct deposits of salary or other personal income such as a paycheck, pension payment, Social Security payment, or other government benefits payment electronically deposited into the account from an employer or similar third party. We reserve the right to request documentation that the direct deposits qualify. Deposits processed as a debit card credit or via Account to Account or Peer to Peer (e.g. Zelle®, Venmo) transfers do not qualify.
- Disclaimer: You are only eligible for one checking account cash bonus; you cannot open multiple checking accounts and receive multiple cash bonuses. The promo code is applied to the first checking account that is opened between May 4, 2024 and Sept. 9, 2024. The checking account type you have on Day 90 will determine which cash bonus you are eligible for. To receive the cash bonus, you must meet the associated criteria for that account. Cash bonus is paid into the checking account approximately 100 days after account opening.
- Requirements: To qualify for the reward, the new Virtual Wallet product must be opened online via the application links on offer page from 01/03/2024 through 07/01/2024, and a qualifying Direct deposit(s) must be received within the first 60 days. Your Virtual Wallet product must remain open in order for you to receive the reward, which will be credited to the eligible account within 60–90 days after all conditions have been met and will be identified as Credits Check Reward on your monthly statement.
- When you'll get it: A qualifying Direct Deposit for this offer, is defined as a recurring Direct Deposit of a paycheck, pension, Social Security or other regular monthly income electronically deposited by an employer or an outside agency into the Spend account of a Virtual Wallet with Performance Select, Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend, or Virtual Wallet. The total amount of all qualifying Direct Deposits credited to your Spend account must be at least $5,000 for Virtual Wallet with Performance Select, $2,000 for Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend or $500 for Virtual Wallet. Credit card cash advance transfers, wire transfers, person to person transfers, transfers from one account to another or deposits made at a physical PNC location or ATM do not qualify as qualifying Direct Deposits.
- Disclaimer: Offer is contingent on product availability and may vary based on where you open your account and the Zip code of your primary address. For online or phone origination, the Zip code of your primary address will be used to determine product availability. You may earn a $400 reward if you open and use a new Virtual Wallet with Performance Select, a $200 reward if you open and use a new Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend, or a $100 reward if you open and use a new Virtual Wallet. If you change your Virtual Wallet product type after account opening, the product type that you are in on the last business day of the month in which you opened your account will determine your offer eligibility, terms and corresponding reward amount, if applicable.
- Requirements: n order to qualify for eligibility for a bonus, SoFi must receive at least one Direct Deposit (as defined below) from an Eligible Participant, the first of which must be before the end of the Promotion Period. Direct Deposits are defined as deposits of $1,000.00 or greater from an enrolled member’s employer, payroll, benefits provider, or government agency via ACH deposit.
- When you'll get it: The Direct Deposit Bonus Period begins when SoFi receives a Direct Deposit within the Promotion Period and ends 25 calendar days later (the “Direct Deposit Bonus Period”). Once the Direct Deposit Bonus Period has elapsed, SoFi will determine if you have met the offer requirements and will deposit any earned bonus into your checking account within seven (7) business days.
- Disclaimer: Deposits that are not from an employer, payroll, benefits provider, or government agency (such as check deposits; P2P transfers such as from PayPal or Venmo, etc.; merchant transactions such as from PayPal, Stripe, Square, etc.; and external bank ACH transfers not from employers) do not qualify for this Direct Deposit Promotion.
- Requirements: To earn up to a $300 bonus, you must be approved for your new Axos Bank Rewards Checking account, fund it within 30 days of account opening, and have qualifying direct deposits that total at least $5,000.00 each calendar month during the first seven (7) calendar months your account is open as well as maintain a minimum average daily balance of $7,000. The minimum balance must be achieved and maintained through the first seven (7) calendar months your account is open including the month in which your account was opened. Use PROMO CODE AXOS300.
- When you'll get it: A cash bonus of up to $300 can be earned in the following manner during the first seven (7) statement cycles. A statement cycle is a calendar month consisting of the days your account was open during that month. A maximum of four (4) payouts of $75 for each calendar month that the Rewards Checking account is receiving the direct deposit and maintain a minimum average daily balance of $7,000 can be earned during the seven (7) statement cycles, and the bonus will be deposited into your Axos Bank Rewards Checking account within 10 business days following the end of the statement cycle in which the direct deposit requirement was met
- Disclaimer: Your Axos Bank Rewards Checking account must be open and in good standing at the time the bonus is paid to be eligible to receive the bonus, and your Axos Bank Rewards Checking account must remain open for 210 days, or an early closure fee of up to $300 may apply, equal to the amount of the total bonus earned up to $300.
Features of the Best Savings Account Bonus Offers
Just like checking account bonus offers, the dollar amount of the bonus is the number one feature for a savings account bonus offer. However, unlike checking accounts, savings account bonus offers rarely have much activity requirements since there’s not much you can do with savings accounts. This tends to reduce the bonus amounts as compared to checking account bonuses.
The typical savings account bonus offer requires a minimum deposit to qualify for a bonus. Often there are several bonus amounts with each larger bonus amount requiring a larger deposit. The bonus offers will generally require you to maintain the minimum deposit for a certain period of time.
Of course, the bonus offers with the smaller minimum deposits and shorter required times for those deposits are better bonuses. To decide if it’s a worthwhile bonus, the opportunity cost for the minimum deposit should be evaluated. Instead of opening the account with the bonus, if you opened another account that didn’t have a bonus but had a higher rate, how much more interest would you earn? Is the bonus large enough to compensate for a lower interest rate?
Features of the Best Checking Account Bonus Offers
The most important feature is the bonus amount. The best checking account offers typically have bonus amounts of at least $200. However, this amount can sometimes be lower when the bonus offer has other desirable traits. On the other hand, if the bonus offer has many unattractive attributes, a bonus amount well above $200 may not be enough for it to be included in the best list.
The next most important bonus offer feature is the requirements to qualify for the bonus. The bank is hoping that the new customer won’t leave as soon as they receive the bonus. They want long-term customers who will use more of the bank’s services and become profitable for the bank. The bonus requirements are designed to make the account more “sticky”. In other words, they make it harder for the customer to move their checking account to another bank. That’s why checking requirements often include direct deposit of net pay. Many employers don’t make changing direct deposit a quick and easy process. ACH auto pay, in which you give a company your routing and account number to electronically debit your account, can also make a checking account sticky. Each company has their own procedures for changing or stopping auto pay.
Bonus requirements may help the bank, but they can make the bonus offer impossible to do for some people. At the very least, the requirements can make the bonus much less appealing. Direct deposit is probably one of the most common checking bonus requirements, and it’s also one of the most disliked requirement.
The downside with direct deposit is that many people can’t receive direct deposits from an employer. Even those who do receive direct deposit may not want to change it for a promotion. There can also be an issue if there’s a requirement that the direct deposit be a certain amount. That can make it difficult for those with lower income to participate in the bonus offer. For all of these reasons, bonus offers that require real direct deposit will be less likely to be on the best list. Whether a direct deposit is real or not will be discussed in the Tips section.
Another typical banking activity that is included in bonus offer requirements is debit card usage. A bonus offer may stipulate that ten debit card purchases a month be done for three months, and there may also be a minimum purchase amount. Unlike direct deposit, anyone can make debit card purchases. Unless the number of required purchases or the minimum dollar amount of the purchases are excessively high, I’ll consider this requirement less of a negative than direct deposit.
Tips to Avoid Problems and Help You Receive the Bonus Offer
One thing to be aware of is that bonus payouts are typically reported by the bank to the IRS as interest. The bonus amount will likely be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT in the year the bonus is received. So you should consider the bonus amount to be the pre-tax amount. The higher your tax bracket, the smaller the net bonus amount will be.
Another issue for bonus offers is that many banks target their offers to specific groups of people. Banks want customers who will be profitable for them, and that’s the reason they will target specific customers with promotions. A common example of a targeted promotion is a bonus offer that is mailed to select home addresses. The letter will often direct the customers to open an account at a landing page on the bank’s website. That landing page will probably not be mentioned anywhere else on the bank’s website. If you come across one of these landing pages and you did not receive the promotion mailing, you may not be eligible for the bonus. The landing page will sometimes warn about eligibility. For example, the small print of the landing page may say that the offer is only for those who received the direct communication. Sometimes, the banks do pay the bonuses to non-targeted customers who open accounts through these landing pages and meet the bonus requirements. However, there is no guarantee. These bonus offers are often considered “your miles may vary” (YMMV) cases since non-targeted people may occasionally get lucky and receive the bonus. Sometimes you can improve your odds of success by receiving confirmation of eligibility from a customer service representative (CSR). However, CSRs often provide wrong information. It’s always best to communicate with CSRs in writing, either by email, secure messaging or online chat service. Then keep the written record for future reference.
If you’re a bonus chaser who participates in many bonus offers each year, you’ll want to watch out for hard credit pulls and ChexSystem verifications in account applications.
Banks often do a hard credit inquiry (also called hard credit pull) in their account application process. When a hard credit inquiry is done, it can temporarily ding your credit score. This is rarely a big deal for those participating in a few bonus offers a year, but for the serious bonus chaser, this can be an issue.
Many banks also do a ChexSystem verification step during account application. ChexSystems is primarily done to ensure you have a history of being responsible with checking accounts. If you have unpaid fees at banks or have written bad checks, banks will report you to ChexSystem, and that can make it difficult to open new accounts. If you apply for an account and the bank looks at your ChexSystem record, those with a record of checking account abuses are likely to be denied. Unfortunately, there’s another reason a bank may deny you an account. A ChexSystem report can tell the banks how many accounts you have applied for at other banks. Each time a bank pulls a ChexSystem report, that goes on the ChexSystem report as an inquiry. Some banks will reject an account application if they see too many recent ChexSystem inquiries. Thus, you have to be careful on how many bonus offers you attempt.
A bonus offer may say it requires direct deposit, but in reality, it may not require a real direct deposit from an employer. Any ACH deposit may count. If that’s the case, a direct deposit can be simulated by initiating an ACH transfer from another bank. For example, the customer can log into their account at an internet bank and initiate an ACH transfer from their internet account to their account at the bank offering the bonus. Many internet banks offer a free bank-to-bank transfer service. Unfortunately, there is no certain way to know if an ACH transfer can be used instead of a real direct deposit. Customer service representatives are often not reliable on this, and banks often change how they count direct deposit. Sometimes banks will specifically state in the small print about what qualifies as direct deposit and what does not. For example, the small print may say that a qualifying direct deposit is defined as a recurring direct deposit of a paycheck, pension or Social Security. It may also say that a transfer from one account to another does not qualify.
Another potential way to add to a bonus offer (or any new account opening) is to fund the account using a cash back credit card. This requires that the bank allows funding with a credit card (if they do it’s typically limited to a certain amount). It’s also only beneficial to you if the transaction is treated as a purchase and not as a cash advance. If it’s treated as a cash advance by your credit card, you’ll be hit with a cash advance fee which will more than offset the cash back you receive. Unfortunately, banks and credit cards each treat account funding differently, and this can change over time. So you can never be 100% sure that credit card funding of an account will be treated as a purchase or as a cash advance. One way to reduce the chance of being hit with cash advance fees is to make a request to your credit card issuer that your cash advance limit be set to zero. This isn’t a total solution, however, since many credit card issuers don’t allow customers to lower their cash advance limit to zero.
Even if you are careful and precisely follow the bonus requirements, banks do not always pay the bonuses as promised. Banks do make mistakes. If you have met the requirements and the bonus doesn’t arrive by the date specified in the bonus offer disclosure, make sure to contact the bank. The customer service representative should be able to tell you if the bonus payout is just late or if no bonus payment is pending. If the bank determined that you didn’t qualify for the bonus, any documentation you have supporting your case will be useful. That’s why it’s a good idea to have a copy of the bonus offer disclosure. When you apply online, take a snapshot of the webpage describing the bonus offer by either printing the page or using your computer’s snipping tool.
Going Beyond the Bonus Offer When Choosing Your Bank
The best bonus offers are for accounts that you’ll want to keep for the long term. They will be the bank accounts that have a history of offering very competitive rates. They will also have the useful features that you need without excessive fees.
An account that has a competitive rate now doesn’t mean it’ll remain competitive over the long run. Banks are allowed to lower interest rates on their checking and savings accounts at anytime. Although there’s no way to guarantee a bank will remain competitive over the long run, you can improve your odds by looking a bank’s history. This can be done by using our checking rates table, savings rates table and money market rates table. In these tables, you should be able to find the bank and the account. Click on the “details” arrow on the right side of the row. This will expand the row displaying the rate history chart. This chart shows when we began tracking the account and how the rates have changed. Beware of new accounts without much history or with a history of big rate fluctuations. The best accounts have a long history of steady and competitive rates. If you can’t find a bank in these tables, search for the bank using the search box on the top right of any page. That will take you to our information page for that bank that will include the list of accounts with the rates. Clicking on an account row will expand it and display the rate history chart for that account.
In addition to competitive rates, a good long-term checking or savings account should have no excessive fees. You don’t want an account in which you have to worry about monthly service charges or minimum balance fees. Also, the best accounts offer many services for free. This includes free wire transfers for savings accounts and free ATM access for checking accounts.
In addition to the rate information, we have fee information for most of the checking, savings and money market accounts. You can access this fee information the same way that the rate history is accessed. In any of the rate tables, click on the “details” arrow on the right side of the account row. This will expand the row and display the fee details. If you can’t find a bank in these tables, search for the bank using the search box on the top right of any page. That will take you to our information page for that bank that will include the list of accounts with the rates. Clicking on an account row will expand it and display the fee information.
To help you find the best long-term checking account that gives you the best combination of high rates and low fees, we have the Free Checking Finder tool. Input your monthly banking behavior and the tool will search our database of free checking accounts to find the ones in which you can earn the most on your expected balance and will cost you the least based on your anticipated use of the account. For example, if you typically overdraw your account several times a year, the tool will put more weight into searching for accounts that have low overdraft fees.