Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200
- Availability: Nationwide, but you must have received this offer by direct communication with Bank of America. As long as your a Bank of America mortgage holder, you should be eligible – but you’ll need to call or go into a branch to get the offer added to your account.
- Direct deposit required: None
- Additional requirements: Pay mortgage with new account
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- Credit card funding:None, but you can fund with a debit card up to $250
- Monthly fees: Waive-able
- Early account termination fee: None
- Expiration date: June 1st, 2015
Contents
The Offer
- Open a Bank of America Interest Checking Bank of America Core Checking account and enroll in Online Banking or PayPlan by June 1st and
- Use Online Banking (Bill Pay or Transfers) or PayPlan to automatically pay your mortgage and have your payment applied by July 31st, 2015
The Fine Print
- This exclusive offer is only for select Bank of America® mortgage customers who don’t already have a checking account with us. You should be able to go into a Bank of America branch or call in if you have a mortgage with them and get this promotion added to your account.
- You must not currently have a Bank of America checking account and cannot have been a signer on or owner of an account within the last six months
- Every attempt will be made to post the $200 bonus within 60 days of meeting all of the requirements to receive the $200 bonus.
- Account must be open at the time of receiving the bonus
- All bank account bonuses are treated as interest, as such you must pay taxes on them.
Avoiding Fees
Core Checking $12 Monthly Fee
The $12 monthly fee is waived if you meet one of the following requirements:
- Have at least one qualifying direct deposit of $250 or more
- Maintain an average daily balance of $1,500 or more
- Are a student under the age of 23
Interest Checking $25 Monthly Fee
The interest rate on this account is 0.03% APY, so I really wouldn’t bother personally. The monthly fee on this account is waived if you hold balances of $10,000 or more in your eligible linked accounts. Combined balances include the following:
- Average daily balances for the statement cycle in eligible linked checking, savings and money market savings accounts
- The current balances, as of the end of the checking statement cycle in linked personal CDs and IRAs
- The current balance, as of two business days before the end of the checking statement cycle, in your eligible linked Merrill Edge®and Merrill Lynch® investment accounts
Early Account Termination Fees
It looks like Bank of America does not charge any early account termination fees according to their fee schedule.
Our Verdict
Bank of America actually offers a $300 checking bonus for credit card holders, so it’s surprising to see them offer less for mortgage customers who are presumably more profitable. The reason I’ve posted this deal is because that it does not require a direct deposit like the $300 bonus does. Personally I think it’s worth the extra hassle for $100, but that choice is up to you.
Because this offer is targeted and there is a higher $300 bonus we haven’t added it to our best of bank bonuses. It has been added to the all encompassing database though.
Special thanks to reader Lyn for letting me know about this deal.