This bonus has expired and is no longer valid. Click here to view the best business checking bonuses.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $2,500
- Availability: Nationwide, must open at a Bank of America branch and get a small business specialist to give you this offer. Branch locator found here.
- Direct deposit required: No, see below
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- Credit card funding: No
- Monthly fees: Waivable
- Early account termination fee: None mentioned
- Expiration date: February 28 2018
The Offer
- Receive a $1,000 bonus when opening a Business Advantage checking account + one of the other accounts listed below (e.g. a BofA business credit card); must deposit $50,000 of outside funds into the checking account within 90 days
- Receive and additional $500 for opening each of the other three accounts listed below; open three for an additional $1,500 bonus ($2,500 total bonus)
Here are the four options which count for this bonus offer:
- Small Business Credit Card: Apply, be approved and spend at least $2,000 on your small business credit card within 90 days of opening your Business Advantage checking account.
- Business Term Loan: Apply, be approved for and and open a new term loan within 90 days of opening your business advantage checking account.
- Business Line of Credit: Apply, be approved for and and open a new line of credit within 90 days of opening your business advantage checking account.
- Bank of America Merchant Services Account: Open and activate a merchant services account and settle $10,000 of funds into your Business Advantage account within 90 days of opening it.
There’s no direct link for this offer we’ve aware of; reader Matt was given this by his Bank of America small business banker. Ask in your local branch to see if it’s available for you, you’ll have to talk to the small business banker to check. The offer code for this offer is: BBR7OFF, that might help the banker find it since there are many different offers codes showing in their system at all times.
The Fine Print
- Offer only available to customers who receive this offer via a direct communication from a Bank of America small business specialist
- New Business Advantage checking account must be opened by 2/28/2017 and the qualifiers of all Select Business Accounts selected must be met within 90 days of opening your new checking account
- Bank of America may change or terminate this offer before this date without notice
- Bank of America employees are not eligible for this offer.
- To redeem this offer with your Bank of America small business specialist, use offer code (redacted)
- To Earn the Initial $1,000: There are two steps to earning the Initial $1,000 bonus. First, you must open a Bank of America Business Advantage Checking account by February 28, 2018. Additionally, you must make at least $50,000 in Qualifying Deposits (less cash received) into that new business checking account within ninety (90) days of account opening. “Qualifying Deposits” are deposits of funds into your new Small Business Checking account new to Bank of America and/or Merrill Lynch. A transfer done via ATM, online, or teller, or a transfer from a Bank of America consumer account or brokerage accounts such as Merrill Edge or Merrill Lynch account is not a Qualifying Deposit. You must not be an owner or signer on a Bank of America business checking account that is open or that was closed within the last six (6) months.
- Second, you must open and meet the qualifiers of one Select Business Account requirements within 90 days of opening your new Bank of America Business Advantage Checking account as set forth in the sections marked a), b), c) or d) below.
- a) Apply and be approved for a new small business credit card account and make at least $2,000 in new Net Purchases with your new credit card that post to your account within 90 days from the opening of your new Business Advantage Checking account. “Net Purchases” exclude any cash advances, transaction fees, returns and adjustments.
OR - b) Apply, be approved, open and activate a new Bank of America Merchant Services account and settle at least $10,000 of merchant processing funds into your Business Advantage Checking account within 90 days from the opening of your new Business Advantage Checking account. Activation is defined as the submission of a batch greater than $20 of any card type. You must not be an owner or signer on a Bank of America Merchant Services account that is open or that was closed within the last six (6) months. The processing volume calculation will include only Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express transactions, less fees, refunds and chargebacks. If you have multiple merchant services processing accounts that settle into a single eligible Bank of America DDA, the processing volume calculation will be combined for those accounts and you will only receive a single bonus payment.
OR - c) Apply and be approved and open a new Business Advantage Credit Line within 90 days of opening your new Bank of America Business Advantage checking account.
OR - d) Apply and be approved and open a new Business Advantage Term Loan within 90 days of opening your new Bank of America Business Advantage checking account.
- a) Apply and be approved for a new small business credit card account and make at least $2,000 in new Net Purchases with your new credit card that post to your account within 90 days from the opening of your new Business Advantage Checking account. “Net Purchases” exclude any cash advances, transaction fees, returns and adjustments.
- To Earn an Additional $500: Earn an additional $500 for each new select business account that you open from the sections above (a/b/c/d), provided you complete the related qualifying activity for each product (only one incentive per product type eligible). Maximum earnings of $2,500.
- Additional Terms: All new accounts and services opened must be in good standing at the end of any 90 day qualifying behavior period.
- We will make every attempt to deposit the earned cash bonus directly into your Business Advantage Checking account within 90 days from the end of your qualifying period.
- All account applications are subject to our normal approval process. Your account does not qualify for the bonus until you provide all of the information we require in connection with opening the account by the promotion end date. This includes information we require to identify each account owner and to report the bonus to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), including a validly completed IRS Form W-9 or Form W-8 (as applicable).
- The value of this bonus may constitute taxable income to you. To the extent required by law, Bank of America may withhold tax or other amounts from the payment. Please consult your tax advisor, as neither Bank of America, its affiliates, nor their employees provide tax advice. Please consult a financial center, visit bankofamerica.com or see the Business Schedule of Fees found at bankofamerica.com/businessfeesataglance for other account fees, rates and information.
- Reproduction, purchase, sale, transfer or trade of this offer is prohibited.
- Offer limited to one per business customer and one business entity, regardless of the number of businesses owned or operated by the customer.
- Excludes Business Auto Loans, Loans through Practice Solutions, SBA lines, SBA loans, Secured lines and Secured loans.
- Some small business credit card applications may require further consideration and additional information may be requested. All credit cards are subject to credit approval and credit card account limits are subject to creditworthiness. Normal credit standards apply. Bank of America may prohibit use of an account to pay off or pay down another Bank of America account. Some restrictions may apply.
Avoiding Fees
The Business Advantage checking account comes with a monthly fee of $29.95 per month, but this fee is waived for the first three months. After this introductory period you need to do any one of the following to keep it fee free:
- $15,000 average monthly balance
- $35,000 combined average monthly balance of linked business accounts
- Spend $2,500 per month in new purchases using a linked Bank of America business credit card (be sure the credit card is linked to the bank to get the fee waiver; people have had problems with this in the past)
- Actively use Bank of America Merchant Services or Payroll Services by Intuit® or Remote Deposit Online service
You should be able to downgrade to the Fundamentals checking at some point down the road which has easier requirements: just $250 in credit card spend or $5,000 balances. It’s probably worth waiting until the bonus posts before downgrading – judging from prior comments, that could be take around 5-6 months.
Our Verdict
The more standard business checking bonus from BofA is $200 (recently expired, hopefully it’ll renew soon). We saw a similar $2,000 bonus from BofA back in 2015. The downside of this offer versus the 2015 offer is that this one requires a $50,000 deposit of funds.
From the four auxiliary accounts, the credit card is the easiest (BofA business credit card options here). By opening a business checking and business credit card, you’ll get an impressive $1,000 bonus, so long as you can deposit $50,000 and spend $2,000 on the credit cards. And that’s on top of whatever the signup bonus for the credit cards is:
- $200 for Cash Rewards or Platinum Visa
- $250 for Travel Rewards
- 30,000 Alaska miles
- 15,000 Spirit miles
- 10,000 Aisana miles
Just be sure your credit card is linked to the checking account as numerous readers report that being an issue last time around. The linking is necessary both to get the bonus and to waive monthly checking account fees. Note that last time around it took 5-6 months to get the bonus (despite terms stating 90 days) which adds to the hassle of trying to keep the account fee-free that entire time.
Beyond the checking + card, some of the other accounts might be doable as well. I’m guessing an overdraft line of credit would qualify for the ‘line of credit’ option, and that might be a fee-free way of netting another $500. The ‘merchant services’ option requires $10,000 in settled payments so that won’t be easy or free, but it’s doable. The ‘term loan’ option might come with fees as well as interest on the loan. It’s likely that all the hard pulls will be combined into one for whichever products you open at the same time.
A $2,500 bonus is terrific, but the $50,000 deposit requirement makes it more difficult to do. My best guess is that you can just receive $50k total into the account within 90 days and that’ll work, even if not all is in the acccount at the same time. E.g. you can deposit a $10k check or ACH payment or direct deposit, then withdraw/use those funds, then deposit $10k again the next week, then withdraw/use those funds, and keep going until you hit $50k.
If you have any experience with this bonus, please share in the comments. We’ll add this bonus to our list of best business checking bonuses.
Hat tip to reader Matt
