Can You Churn Chase Checking & Savings Bonuses?

Update 10/30/23: Now you can receive only one new checking and one new savings account opening related bonus every two years

Original Post 5/30/15:

I was wondering if you can churn Chase checking & saving account bonuses, because I’m a current customer.

Jan B (slightly rephrased)

Hi Jan, yes it is possible to churn Chase deposit accounts.  There are three rules that you need to keep in mind.

1. If you close your Chase account within six months of opening it, you’ll forfeit any bonus you earned on that account
2. To be eligible for a new bonus you must currently not have an account, or have closed an account within the past 90 days (you also can’t have ever closed a Chase account with a negative balance – which you wouldn’t want to do anyway as it would be a red flag on your ChexSystems report).
3. You can only receive one new checking and one new savings account opening related bonus per calendar year

So yes, it’s entirely possible to churn these bonuses and it’s something I’ve done and will continue to do. I’d recommend waiting for a $300 Chase total checking bonus and a $300 Chase savings bonus (although sometimes there are lower bonuses with easier to meet requirements). You can always see what current Chase bonuses are available here.

While I was writing this, Chuck saw and had a follow up question for me and thought that a lot of people would have similar questions so why not answer it publicly.

I was wondering if you’ve churned multiple chase deposit bonuses before? Did the banker ask you why you keep opening and closing? Did they make you feel weird? The downside to Chase is that they usually require you to open in branch.

I think the requirement to open in branch is something that’s been introduced in the last 6-12 months. I’ve gotten the bonus on the checking account multiple times (I think 3+ now) and a couple of times on the savings account as well. Banker didn’t ask me about my previous accounts with Chase at all, so I definitely didn’t feel weird about it.

It’s a bit more of a hassle opening in branch, but I think it’s worth it when the bonuses are suitably high (e.g $300+). I think the main reason they required you to open in branch is so they could upsell potential valuable customers. If somebody is initially depositing $100,000 they could target them for a private banker for example.