Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $150
- Availability: Nationwide
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements: Keep $100,000 or more in funds for six months
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull, chex systems inquiry
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: $20, waived if account balance of $15,000 or more
- Early account termination fee: None, bonus is clawed back if closed within six months
- Expiration date: July 3rd, 2014
The Offer
- Receive a $150 bonus when you open a HSBC Advance checking account and deposit $25,000 or more in new money
- Change the $150 bonus into 15,000 Platinum MasterCard® Cash or Fly Rewards Program Bonus Points if you complete the above requirements and open an HSBC Platinum MasterCard® with Cash of Fly Rewards credit card
The Fine Print
- Valid from May 12th till July 3rd, 2014
- You’ll receive a notification within 90 days of completing the requirements
- $25,000 in funds must be added within 30 days of account opening
- $25,000 balance must be kept in the account for six consecutive months from the date of account opening
- Bonus will be paid directly into the account within 4-6 weeks of fulfilling all of the requirements
- Limit of one bonus per customer
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
There is no early account termination fee, but you do need to keep your account open and funded with $25,000 for six months otherwise they will take the bonus back. There is also a $20 monthly fee which is avoided if you have combined balances of $15,000 or greater (which is required for the bonus anyway)
You can view all the fees by clicking here.
Our Verdict
If you added $25,000 to an interest bearing account that was receiving an APR of 1% (which is easy to find & do) you’d earn $125 in six months, which is $25 less than you’d earn from this bonus. The advance checking account also earns at a 0.01% rate which would be an additional $2.5 (the advance savings account earns at 0.05% which would be an extra $12.5). This means at best you’re going to make $37.5 profit compared to an interest bearing account.
Personally I don’t think this deal is worth the hassle and I won’t be participating, especially when you can get accounts that earn at above 1% levels. I think you’d be better off finding a bank bonus that is in the higher $250 range without requiring such a large upfront deposit (which most people don’t have). Regardless, we’ve added this deal to our new checking account sign up bonus page.
