[YMMV] 25,000 Alaska Miles When You Open A BofA Checking Account

Offer at a glance

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Receive a sign up bonus of 25,000 Alaska miles when you open an interesting checking or core checking account with Bank of America and receive two direct deposits of $2,000 or more each within 90 days of account opening.

alaska 25k offer

The Fine Print

  • Valid until July 31st, 2015
  • Offer only available to customers who receive this offer via a direct communication from Bank of America. In the past this hasn’t always been enforced, but YMMV. 
  • You’re not eligible for this bonus if you were a signer or owner of a Bank of America checking account within past twelve months
  • A qualifying direct deposit is a paycheck, pension, Social Security or other eligible regular monthly income, electronically deposited by an employer or an outside agency into your new checking account
  • They will make every attempt to deposit your bonus of 25,000 miles within 60 days of meeting all of the requirements. Account must be open and in good standing.
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them. The fine print states that you might have a 1099-INT form sent out for this bonus, but it doesn’t state how much they will value the 25,000 miles at.

Avoiding Fees

There is no early account termination fee.

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

Our Verdict

As I’ve mentioned, in the past you’ve been able to get these bonuses even if you weren’t specifically targeted. The fine print mentions the Alaska Airlines credit card, so at minimum you’ll need one of those cards open to get this bonus (sign up bonus on those cards is currently 25,000 miles + $100). If you haven’t received this targeted communication, then I’d recommend confirming with BofA first that you will be eligible for the bonus.

That being said, I’m pretty hesitant to recommend this bonus to anybody as we don’t know how much the miles will be valued at for tax purposes or if they will be taxed at all. Obviously if they aren’t taxed, this deal is incredible. If they are valued at 2¢ then this offer is pretty average.

It’ll be interesting to see how this bonus develops, as it has the potential to be very very good. If you have any personal experience, please share in the comments. In the mean time you can read our post on the $300 and $500 BofA checking bonuses (looks like they are desperate to improve their numbers).

Direct link to offer | Screenshot of offer

Hat tip to reader Kolby

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14 Comments
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Bad BofA
Bad BofA (@guest_220380)
January 26, 2016 20:02

Ugh… dealing with BofA has been horrible. Every time I called them about this promotion I got transferred around several times with long holds before finding someone who knew what they were talking about. I was finally told that even though I met the deposit requirements, I was not eligible since I was not targeted.

jp
jp (@guest_171548)
September 12, 2015 12:00

Update: a chat with B of A reveals that ACH transfer won’t work to trigger the bonus. N

jp
jp (@guest_171281)
September 11, 2015 21:29

Any update on this promo? I did the ACH transfer back in June, and no points have posted. Please share your wisdom with us…. we have a couple more weeks to scramble to make the requirements if the ACH transfers no longer count as a direct deposit.

Angela
Angela (@guest_160269)
August 15, 2015 19:26

Hello Good Doctor 🙂

I opened this account using the link above and sent the two transfers of $2k each from my citi checking acct. I read all the fine print/T&C and think I *should* qualify – although of course I was not actually targeted. But, I do have the BofA Alaska visa.

Anyway, the 90 days is up on Monday and so far no miles have posted. Assuming they don’t post Monday – would you contact BofA and fight it? I really, really don’t like dealing with BofA when it comes to any problems or issues as their customer service representatives always seem just shy of openly hostile to me. Plus – they weren’t actually employer direct deposits, so I’m afraid they’d shut me down on account of that as well.

Thoughts?

Michael
Michael (@guest_155632)
August 5, 2015 18:21

Hi there, I applied before the deadline and did two ACH transfers from my bank. Has anyone had that work yet?

Angela
Angela (@guest_160271)
August 15, 2015 19:27

Hi Michael,

Has the 90 days passed for you? Mine is up Monday, and still no luck for me.

mastervk
mastervk (@guest_164561)
August 27, 2015 14:21

Did you got 25K miles ?

Dirah
Dirah (@guest_147579)
July 19, 2015 19:44

Any success for those who weren’t specifically targeted?

Ben
Ben (@guest_126050)
May 27, 2015 12:26

Anyone have more updated info on ACH counting as direct deposit for BOA?

Julia
Julia (@guest_131616)
June 9, 2015 10:46

Hi, Would a Citibank transfer count as a ACH?

Thanks!

Gene
Gene (@guest_147896)
July 20, 2015 13:55

what about ally or paypal?
thanks