Deal has ended. view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.
Update 3/11/25: Deal is back and valid until 04/15/2025
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:Â $250
- Availability:Â Nationwide, business checking customers not eligible
- Direct deposit required:Â Yes, $500+
- Additional requirements:Â None
- Hard/soft pull:Â Soft pull
- ChexSystems:Â Unknown
- Credit card funding:Â None
- Monthly fees:Â None
- Early account termination fee:Â Unknow
- Household limit:Â None
- Expiration date:Â October 31, 2023
Contents
The Offer
- American Express is offering a $250 bonus when you open a new personal checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Receive two qualifying direct deposits of $1,000 or more
The Fine Print
- Earn a Welcome Bonus of $250 deposited into a new American Express Rewards Checking account after you do each of the following:
- Open an American Express Rewards Checking Account in your name by October 31, 2023.
- Have a Qualifying Direct Deposit posted to your American Express Rewards Checking Account by December 10, 2023.
- Applying for an American Express Rewards Checking account can be completed in minutes. We are currently accepting applications from Card Members with a U.S. Basic Consumer Card issued by American Express National Bank with 3+ months tenure.
- After you have completed the above, American Express will deposit your Welcome Bonus into your Rewards Check Account within 8-12 weeks.
- A Qualifying Direct Deposit is a single ACH transfer of $500 or more from an employer or the government for a paycheck, pension, government benefit (such as Social Security), or tax refund. The following are not Qualifying Direct Deposits: person to person transfers (P2P), demand deposit account to demand deposit account transfers (for example, from a checking account to another checking account), and deposits or ACH transfers not from an employer or the government (for example, online transfers or bank transfers).
- You are not eligible for the Welcome Bonus if you have an existing Rewards Checking Account. Each individual customer may only have one Rewards Checking Account. You must keep your account open and in good standing until we award you your welcome Bonus. If your account is closed for any reason prior to such time, including being closed by us, you will not be eligible for the Welcome Bonus. If we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated the Rewards Checking Account Terms or have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with your account, we may determine that you are not eligible for the Welcome Bonus. In such circumstance, we may rescind or decline to award you the Welcome Bonus.
- Your Welcome Bonus may be taxable income to you and may be reported on IRS Form 1099. You are responsible for any federal or state taxes resulting from the Welcome Bonus. Please consult your tax advisor if you have questions about the tax treatment of the Welcome Bonus. Your Welcome Bonus may not be transferred, sold, traded, or combined with other Welcome Bonuses. You are only eligible for one Welcome Bonus. Limit one Welcome Bonus per American Express Rewards Checking Account. American Express reserves the right to modify or revoke this Welcome Bonus offer at any time without notice.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
This account has no monthly fees
Early Account Termination Fee
Unsure if there is any EATF
Our Verdict
We have never seen a public sign up bonus on this account (there has been many bonuses on the business checking bonuses before) but there was a targeted offer for $200. Some people might prefer to wait for a bigger bonus as we did see them increase with business checking. This deal itself is great though and we will add it to our best bank bonus page.
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
- PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
- Introduction To ChexSystems
- Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
- What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
- How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
- Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
- How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
- Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
- Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
- Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
Has anyone who met the requirements after the last bonus payout on 5/16 received their bonus?
I tried Fidelity and didn’t meet it before the last payout on 5/16 since Fidelity doesn’t seem to be working, so I used Wise to transfer on 5/30 and 6/2, haven’t yet received the bonus, waiting to see if I’ll get it tomorrow on 6/16 if it pays out on the 16th or if it’ll be 6-8wks from my last transfer which would be mid to late July…
Thanks, Wise DD on 5/22 and 5/23 and nothing just yet.
Nothing on my end so far either; holding out hope it may come in July, if not, probably just missed out on this one, oh well. It was my first attempt at churning so I’ll take it as a learning experience =)
Used Fidelity, Found biz checking and relay biz checking…. No bonus yet. Per terms and DP’s should have been paid by now
anyone know if Robinhood still works?
Don’t bet on it. Schw/Fido both fail.
Can confirm Schwab brokerage did not work for me.
Did not work for me either
If anyone’s looking for the terms, http://web.archive.org/web/20250413113949/https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/banking/checking-account/ -> go.amex/march2025incentive1 -> https://www.americanexpress.com/content/dam/amex/en-us/banking/online-checking/cash-bonus-terms/march2025incentive1.pdf?extlink=US-Web-null-march2025incentive1
March 12: opened with $50
March 19: transferred $1000 from Chase business (with fee)
March 21: transferred $1000 from Chase business (with fee)
May 16: Customer Incentive Payment posted $250
Chase Biz charge a fee?
how did it showlike this Online Transfer / Payment: Credit
JPMorgan Chase?
Charles Schwab brokerage and Ally didn’t work. Confirmed through Amex chat. Will try Wise since it hasn’t been 90 days yet.
Don’t call/chat the bank when you didn’t do a real direct deposit.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/dont-call-the-bank/
Ally worked for me in 2024
They obviously changed their algorithm. Schwab used to work and doesn’t anymore either.
Wise worked for me
March 28, 2025: Opened the account.
April 03, 2025: Tax return (Online Transfer / Payment: Credit IRS TREAS 310) for 2500 USD.
April 10, 2025: Online Transfer / Payment: Credit JPMorgan Chase for 1100 USD.
April 12, 2025: Online Transfer / Payment: Credit CAPITAL ONE for 1100 USD.
Bonus not received yet. No bonus email as well. Anyone?
You still have time to try other dd options. better hurry.
Based on DP’s of others completing the requirements after I did and getting the bonus…. fidelity must not be working anymore.
That is correct, Fido no longer works.
Fidelity and Schwab didn’t work for me. Can someone write out the process for using Wise? I have a wise account but have never used it for this. I started to walk through a transfer and it looks like they want to charge me $4-9 so I’m not sure if I’m doing it correctly.
Go look for your routing/account number for wise. You can push money into wise so you have a wise balance. Then you can transfer from wise for ~$1. Make sure you put “payroll” in reference field when you are transferring from wise
Does it matter if you add the user as the other recipient, not yourself? i.e., If PI sends money with Payroll DD in a reference field to P2’s AMEX account, would it work?
It doesn’t matter. I use P1 wise for P2 accounts all the time
Did you use wise business account or personal account to transfer to Amex checking? Thanks.
Thanks! Do you add P2’s account as someone else’s account and fill all details like name, address etc. or simply add as yours?
Just “payroll”, nothing else?
Yes, some people also put “payroll DD” but I haven’t needed to
Hey Bedu, thanks for the DP
Do you send to yourself or someone else from Wise?