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CD Early Withdrawal Penalty: Should You Pay It?Signup Bonus Summary for Major Online Banks
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ON BY Ken Tumin
Update 9/28/07: NetBank closed by the FDIC. See post for more details.
I thought it would be useful to give a summary of the latest signup bonuses for the national online banks. Some of them will be expiring at the end of this month. Several of the bonuses are not advertised on the banks' main websites and may not be officially available to the general public. Consequently, there's a chance you might not get the bonus even if there's a promotion webpage. So I've listed the official signup bonuses first which are being advertised followed by the unofficial ones. For each bonus, there's a link included to one of my previous posts for more info.
The Official Signup Bonuses
The Unofficial Signup Bonuses
Signup Bonuses Through Referrals
Recently Expired Bonuses
I thought it would be useful to give a summary of the latest signup bonuses for the national online banks. Some of them will be expiring at the end of this month. Several of the bonuses are not advertised on the banks' main websites and may not be officially available to the general public. Consequently, there's a chance you might not get the bonus even if there's a promotion webpage. So I've listed the official signup bonuses first which are being advertised followed by the unofficial ones. For each bonus, there's a link included to one of my previous posts for more info.
The Official Signup Bonuses
- NetBank - The $175 deal is still being advertised. It's the highest signup bonus around although it does require signing up for 3 different accounts to get the full $175. One thing to note is that it's not advertised at NetBank's site. The page that has the link to the NetBank promo page is at DrugStore.com. The offer seems to be intended as a perk for DrugStore.com customers. Since it is being publicly advertised, I consider it official.
- MetLife Bank - The only problem with this $50 deal is that it requires an initial $5K deposit. It is being advertised on their main page and is good till the end of the year.
- ebank - This $50 signup bonus requires opening a checking and a savings account. Both have minimum deposit requirements. The bonus is advertised on their main page. Offer expires the end of this month.
- AmboyDirect - This $50 bonus only requires signing up for AmboyDirect's eSavings account. It does require a minimum balance of $3K to get the bonus. The bonus is advertised at their main page and is valid until 10/30/05.
The Unofficial Signup Bonuses
- Etrade Bank - They have a $50 signup bonus for their money market account. Only $100 is required to open, but $1K is needed to avoid fees. The promo page is a special page on their website that's not being advertised. Offer expires November 15th.
- HSBC - Some people received an official $35 signup bonus offer in the mail. They were given a promotion code to use at HSBC's site. When I checked with HSBC I was told these promotions were intended only for specific customers. Back in September many Fatwallet members signed up with one $35 promo code and they're still waiting for their bonus. Another September $25 promo code and a $35 promo code issued early this month seemed to have worked. Many on this thread have reported success. Here's the link to the $35 bonus page. It expires at the end of this month. Refer to my earlier post for more info.
- EmigrantDirect - There's no official EmigrantDirect signup bonus. However, you may be able to get a $10 bonus by signing up through a link at MyMoneyBlog. The site owner is an affiliate with EmigrantDirect and gets $20 for each person who signs up through his affiliate link. Instead of keeping all of the $20, he'll split it with those who use the link. He does have some rules to keep the process organized. A $10 signup bonus isn't great, but this 4.0% EmigrantDirect account is. For more info on EmigrantDirect, check out my previous post.
Signup Bonuses Through Referrals
- ING Direct - When an ING Direct member sends you a referral email, you'll receive $25 when you join using the link in the email. The member receives $10. ING Direct just changed the rules on this offer. You'll need to make an initial deposit of at least $250. There's also a $50 signup bonus if you've purchased various personal finance software.
- VirtualBank - When a VirtualBank member sends you a referral email, you'll receive $20 when you join using the link in the email. The member also receives $20. A $100 initial deposit is required. Check out this post for more info.
Recently Expired Bonuses
- MyBankingDirect - They use to offer $25 for signing up for their money market account. They ended it earlier this month when they raised their money market rates from 3.75% to 4.00%. No big loss here. It required $5K initial deposit to get this bonus.