Marcus by Goldman Sachs Brings Back $100 Online Savings Bonus for 2023
Now through February 15, 2023, Marcus by Goldman Sachs (Marcus) is offering a $100 bonus when depositing $10k or more of new money in a new or existing Online Savings Account. The new funds must be deposited within 10 days of enrollment. At least $10k of the new funds, plus the account balance at the time of enrollment, must be maintained for 90 days. Enrollment must be done by using the enrollment link on the Marcus promotion page (which can be accessed through the “Learn More” button on the DA bonus offers page) or by calling Marcus at 1-855-730-SAVE by 11:59 PM EST on February 15, 2023. The bonus will be deposited into your Online Savings Account within 14 days after the requirements have been met.
This is the fifth Online Savings Account bonus offered by Marcus in as many years. It’s not a large amount for a bonus, but it’s an easy bonus for many savers. The current $100 bonus offer seems to have the same requirements as the January 2022 offer. In 2022, Marcus increased the length of the “maintenance” period from 60 to 90 days. Several readers have regularly participated in this promotion. One long-time DA reader, Rickny, described his experience with this promo last January:
I believe this will be 3rd time I'll be getting this bonus. Haven't had large dollar amounts in my account for a long time as Marcus has not been a rate leader. Keep $5 in the account add funds to receive the bonus, when bonus is credited I pull the funds out.
Marcus verifies your bonus submission and from what I remember it displays when you access your account.
If you have participated in this promotion, please share your experience in the comments.
While existing customers can qualify for the $100 bonus, thoroughly understanding which funds must be maintained during the promotional period is paramount. The following is an excerpt from the small print on the bonus promotion page (text emphasis is mine):
After enrolling, you must deposit $10,000 or more in new funds from an external account into your Account within 10 calendar days of enrollment (the “Funding Period”). The Account balance plus a minimum of $10,000 in new funds (the “Required Dollar Amount”) must be maintained in your Account for 90 consecutive days from the end of the Funding Period. The Account balance is based on the starting current balance reflected on your account at 12 am ET the day you enroll. Once the Funding Period has ended, your Account balance may not drop below the Required Dollar Amount at any point until after the 90 consecutive days have passed. You may make multiple deposits within the Funding Period to reach the Required Dollar Amount. Internal transfers do not count for purposes of this Offer.
The relevant portion of this quote is the third sentence, which indicates that the account balance at the time of enrollment will be included in the funds required to be on deposit for 90 days. That requirement could prove to be crucial if you have plans to use any of the “account balance at the time of enrollment” money during the 90 days following the deposit of new funds.
Thanks to DA reader, cumulus, for the recent Forum post about this promotion.
Online Savings Account Overview
The Marcus Online Savings Account has a history of remaining fairly competitive for major online banks. For most of its history, its rates have been a little above the online savings account average. However, in the last couple of months, its rates have been slightly below average. Its current rate (3.30% APY) is just below the January 1st online savings account average rate (3.31% APY) as measured by the Onlne Savings Account Yield Index.
The Online Savings Account has several features that make it a strong contender for a primary online savings account, including the following:
- No minimum opening deposit.
- Rate applies to all balances of $1 or more.
- Free ACH bank-to-bank transfer service.
- Up to 4 external accounts can be linked.
- Because of a change in federal law, the six monthly withdrawal/transfer limit has been suspended. There is currently no limit on the number of withdrawals/transfers that can be made.
- Maximum outgoing transfer is $125k per transaction if done online (no limit if done by phone).
- No incoming transfer limit (as long as the maximum balance limit is maintained).
- Same-day transfers of $100k or less to and from other banks.
- Funds received by ACH transfer initiated at Marcus are available on the fifth business day. Funds received by ACH transfer initiated by another bank are available on the next business day (see FAQs for full details).
- No charge for sending or receiving wire transfers, but wire transfers to a third-party (such as a mortgage company) are not allowed. Wire transfers requested online can only be sent to a previously linked external account. According to the FAQ “Third-party wire transfers are coming soon.”
- Maximum balance of $1 million for individuals (new customers).
- Up to six beneficiaries per each account.
- A beneficiary must be an individual: you may not name a trust or other entity as a beneficiary.
- Social security numbers required for beneficiaries.
- Trust accounts are not offered.
Other Marcus Promotions
Marcus still offers AARP members two special deals. New and existing Marcus customers can receive an extra 10 bps on their savings account for 24 months. There’s also a special 8-month No-Penalty CD with a rate that currently matches the rate of the Marcus 13-month No-Penalty CD. Please refer to my 2020 AARP Marcus promotion review for more details.
Marcus also has a long-running refer-a-friend promotion in which current and new customers can receive an extra 100 bps on their savings accounts for 3 months. You can see info on this promotion at the Marcus site by hovering your mouse over the “Savings” menu item in the top navigation bar (Please avoid referral requests in the comments.)
According to the small print of the $100 bonus offer, “This Offer may be combined with other promotional offers available to Marcus Online Savings Account customers.” Thus, you should be able to combine the $100 bonus with both the AARP bonus rate and the referral bonus rate.
Availability and Account Opening
Headquartered in New York City, Goldman Sachs Bank’s internet bank operates under the Marcus by Goldman Sachs brand. Savings accounts and CDs are available nationwide and can be opened using the Bank’s online application. Account owners must be U.S. citizens or legal residents and at least 18 years old.
Enrolling for this offer is the first step toward qualifying for the $100 bonus. The Marcus promotion page with the enrollment button can be accessed by clicking on “Learn More” button in DA bonus offers page. You can also apply for the bonus by calling Marcus at 1-855-730-SAVE (7283) no later than 11:59 PM EST on February 15, 2023. A confirmation of successful enrollment will be sent by e-mail or snail-mail.
Bank Overview
As reported in this December Reuters article, Goldman Sachs has been signaling it’s “scaling back its ambitions for Marcus.” Marcus is the consumer unit of Goldman Sachs, and it has been losing money. In October, Goldman Sachs moved Marcus under its wealth business, and in December, reports emerged that Marcus would stop originating unsecured consumer loans. A few years ago Marcus had planned to introduce a consumer checking account. There were delays, but beta testing of the checking account among employees began last year. However, sources have reported that Goldman stopped the beta testing. Even though conditions appear difficult for Marcus, the savings account and CDs at Marcus should continue. According to this Reuters article, “the savings account will continue to exist because it is an important source of funding for the firm.”
In early 2016, Goldman Sachs Bank completed its acquisition of GE Capital Bank’s internet bank division, thus establishing the “GS Bank” brand. The “Marcus by Goldman Sachs” brand was launched in October 2016 as an online platform that offered unsecured personal loans to consumers. As I noted in a November 2017 blog post, Goldman Sachs decided to consolidate savings accounts, CDs, and personal loans under the Marcus by Goldman Sachs brand.
Goldman Sachs Bank has an overall health grade of “A” at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 2.37% (excellent), based on June 30, 2022 data. In the past year, the Bank has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $26.74 billion, an excellent annual growth rate of 12.29%. Please refer to our financial overview of Goldman Sachs Bank (FDIC Certificate # 33124) for more details.
Goldman Sachs Bank is currently the eighth largest bank in the nation based on assets. As of June 30, 2022, the Bank has more than $501 billion in assets and more than $348 billion in deposits.
Bottom Line
This is an easy bonus that doesn’t require much time or effort. Earning $100 on a $10k deposit in three months is approximately equivalent to a 4% APY. Adding that to the current Marcus Online Savings Account rate (3.30% APY) results in an approximate yield of 7.3%.
If you don’t qualify for the Marcus by Goldman Sachs bonus, check out our full list of the best savings and checking account bonus offers.
I think another potential gotcha to look out for is this one since it is a bit more unusual than that requirement.
"The Account balance plus a minimum of $10,000 in new funds (the “Required Dollar Amount”) must be maintained in your Account for 90 consecutive days from the end of the Funding Period."
Not 90 days from enrollment, not 90 days from the day your funds are credited, but 90 days from the end of the Funding Period.
Prior bonus deals did not have that
After enrolling, you must deposit $10,000 or more in new funds from an external account into your Account within 10 calendar days of enrollment (the “Funding Period”). The Account balance plus a minimum of $10,000 in new funds (the “Required Dollar Amount”) must be maintained in your Account for 90 consecutive days from the end of the Funding Period
The $100 bonus will be deposited into your enrolled Account within 14 calendar days after fulfilling the above requirements. To receive your bonus, your Account must be open and in good standing at the time the bonus is deposited in your Account.
Fine print says --
" Offer available to new and existing customers. Each customer is limited to one cash bonus under this Offer. This Offer can only be applied once to an account. If an Account has multiple owners, the Account is limited to being enrolled for this Offer under only one of the Account owners and receiving only one cash bonus. Remaining Account owners may be eligible to use another eligible Account to enroll in this Offer. This Offer may be combined with other promotional offers available to Marcus Online Savings Account customers. "
Even if you have more than one account, you are only one customer. So I think the answer is pretty clear.
In order to break even with the AARP $12 annual membership fee you mentioned assuming a 0.1% extra APY that you also mentioned, you would have to have a $12,000 balance in your account for a year. After you break even on any balance over that $12,000 you would earn an extra $1 per year per additional thousand dollars in balance. Don't go spending it all in one place!
Not sure it makes sense to do unless you plan to have that balance there anyway since there are better options elsewhere.
I keep saying enough, I am not going to do any more of these bonuses! I have more lucrative things to do with my time.
BUT I AM HOOKED! It is really really fun. :D
"Goldman Sachs slips on report that the Federal Reserve is investigating its Marcus business".
:)
if state tax for you , much better
The $100 is paid in addition to the interest at the stated rate. So your total return for the three months on an annualized basis is the 4% PLUS whatever interest is paid on the Marcus savings account. In this case that would be 4%+3.3%= 7.3% (annualized).
My reading of the account balance is that amount you had when the promo started
You have to maintain the balance in the account at the time of enrollment, - but nothing more than that.
jack12, - could you quote those lines in the offer you believe disallows this, - that say you have to maintain balances in the account from the date the promo started?
I recently had a previous account that they closed for 0 balance. When I tried to open a new account with same info, the account was rejected. After calling them, they said that they made a "business decision" to refuse my account, no other reason. I said, "OK, you don't want my business".
So they prevented me from taking money out of my account but they weren't trying to tell me that they don't want my business?
Very strange. I guess that was a year or two ago and I still have the account. But I'm afraid to use it after what happened because I can't rely on them to execute my transactions when needed. Never had anything like that happen anywhere else.
Chase keeps offering me deals with $700 to $1,000 bonuses if I would open a checking account with them and deposit a certain amount of money for a specified time. All these emails immediately go to trash.
(Its not really an extra hundred but even if its $65-70 its pretty easy to do for a few clicks)
The reason its not a full $100 is my regular accounts pay more than the Marcus rate)
Unfortunately I did one bonus deal that I regret which happened to be with a foreign bank (that operates in the United States). I unknowingly made the mistake of transferring the funds from that bank to Marcus after the bonus was paid. Marcus apparently has lunatics in their fraud department and I am assuming that since the transfer was from a foreign bank that they treated it as some kind of money laundering. They would not allow me to transfer the funds out. I have never had anything like that happen to me in 50 years of personal banking. They eventually let me transfer the money out but I am ticked off about it to this day.
I understand the same thing happened to someone else who responded to my post about it and said it happened to him too.
Reason I am telling the story is to warn that you should be careful with Marcus. I would recommend not transferring money to or from foreign banks in your Marcus account even if they are doing business in America. Use a another bank.. ANY other bank. I've never had any other bank do anything like that.
Marcus used to be one of my favorites, but since then I took almost everything out. I consider them unreliable after that. Fortunately I did not need those funds immediately. But if I did I would have had a real problem on my hands.
That is use my link and earn extra blah blah blah- it gets old after a few dozen times
You have to check with each new relationship you open at a bank or credit union. Many credit unions do a hard pull for just joining. Others don't. Most banks do not do a hard pull just for opening an account.
Although it will stay on your record for up to two years, the harm it causes diminishes before that as time passes.
But yes, you should always be aware of the effect on your credit and other agency reports when opening any kind of financial arrangement.
Probably on a technicality but it's kind of BS considering the money still with the institution.
I wouldn't call that either "BS" or a "technicality, but just the terms of the offer. Yeah, we'd all like to draw things up the way we'd like them (I mean, why can't the bonus be $500?).