Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:Â $500
- Availability:Â Nationwide
- Direct deposit required:Â No
- Additional requirements:Â See below
- Hard/soft pull:Â Soft, as long as you opt out of overdraft protection
- ChexSystems: Mixed datapoint, most say they don’t pull
- Credit card funding:Â None, but you can fund with a debit card up to $250
- Monthly fees:Â $4.95, avoidable
- Early account termination fee:Â None
- Household limit:Â None
- Expiration date:Â December 31, 2024
Contents
The Offer
- Bank of America is offering a $500 bonus when you open a new checking account with promo code MCC500CIS and complete the following requirements:
- Deposit $15,000 or more in new money directly into the new checking account within 30 days of account opening
- Maintain your checking account balance at $15,000 or above daily from days 31 to 120 after opening your account. Actively use the account by doing one of the following within 120 days of opening to receive a $500 bonus:
- Make at least one qualifying direct deposit
- Send a payment through Zelle® using your newly acquired checking account
- Make a Bank of America Mobile Check Deposit
- Use Bank of America Bill Pay to send a payment
The Fine Print
- Offer valid through December 31, 2024. This is a limited time offer and is not available for use in combination with other offers. Bank of America may change or discontinue this offer at any time without notice before that date.
- Offer limitations:Â You are not eligible for this offer if you were an owner or co-owner of a Bank of America personal eligible checking account within the last twelve (12) months. The new checking account must be owned or co-owned by one or more individuals only. Non-personal, fiduciary or trust accounts will not satisfy the checking account requirement. Offer limited to one incentive per client. Clients must have a U.S. domestic address (this includes Puerto Rico and P.O. Boxes) to qualify for this offer. Clients with any foreign address are not eligible for this offer.
- Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking®, Bank of America Advantage Plus Banking® and Bank of America Advantage Relationship Banking® for Wealth Management accounts are eligible for this offer. Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking® for Family Banking accounts are not eligible for this offer.
- How it works:
- Open a new eligible Bank of America checking account by December 31, 2024Â here. See above for a list of eligible checking accounts.
- If you have questions, please contact your financial advisor or Wealth Management Banking Specialist.
- Deposit $15,000 in “new money” directly into the new eligible checking account within 30 days of account opening. New money is money not currently or previously held in other accounts at Bank of America, Merrill, Bank of America Private Bank, or retirement plan accounts administered by Merrill or Bank of America.
- Maintain a daily $15,000 balance in your new eligible checking account during the “maintenance period.” The maintenance period begins 31 days after opening the checking account and ends 120 days after account opening. During the maintenance period, if your daily balance drops below the minimum balance of $15,000 you will no longer be eligible for the cash bonus.
- Bank of America checking account must be deemed “active” within 120 days of opening the new account by:
a. Sending a payment through Zelle®4 using your newly acquired checking account, making a Bank of America Mobile Check Deposit5 or Bank of America Bill Pay6 or;
b. Having a “qualifying direct deposit” made into the account. A qualifying direct deposit is a direct deposit of regular monthly income — such as your salary, pension or Social Security benefits, which are made by your employer or other payer — using account and routing numbers that you provide to them. Examples of transfers and deposits that are not a qualifying direct deposit include the following: teller deposits, wire transfers, debit card transfers, ATM transfers or deposits, Online and Mobile Banking transfers or deposits, or transfers from a bank or brokerage account or Merrill account.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Both SafeBalance Banking & Advantage Plus Banking don’t earn interest. SafeBalance is the easier of the two to keep fee free. That account has a $4.95 monthly fee that is waived if any of the following are met:
- An owner of this account is under the age of 25
- Maintain a minimum daily balance of $500 in your account
- Are a member in our Preferred Rewards program
Advantage Relationship Banking earns 0.01% APY so that isn’t worth considering.
Early Account Termination Fee
This account has no early account termination fee.
Our Verdict
Ideally you’d deposit the $15,000 close to day 30 and then hold it from then until day 120. Basically a 90 day hold period. If you put the $15,000 into a 5% APY account you’d earn ~$185 during that period (although rates are on the way down). There is a $200 bonus with much easier requirements as well. I think this bonus is better if you’re okay with locking up $15,000 for a period of time and will add this to our best bank bonuses.
Hat tip to Jay
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
The current status: Reps say MCC500CIS doesn’t exist at all and there’s nothing they can do for me (after talking to their back office) nor open a ticket because it’s not a valid promo code. Spoke to 4 different reps in a transfer game and I’m not sure there’s anything else to do with the CFPB gutted.
12/30 account opened online
12/31 wired $20k in
1/15 Bill Pay sent
2/12 and 2/15 Bill Pay sent
4/29 would’ve been 120 days
5/17 called and went round and round that no promo was attached at opening, this promo doesn’t exist (I literally said “just google it and you’ll see the BofA link and screenshots of it. It doesn’t exist today because it expired 12/31”).
On 5/5/25, a $500 credit posted to my BofA Advantage SafeBalance Checking account (opened 10/8/24) with the description “$500 New Account Offers (MCC500CIS)”
See https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-of-america-500-checking-bonus-direct-deposit-not-required/#comment-2063220
12/28/24 – Opened w/ $501 initial deposit
1/24/25 – ACH deposit $14,600 (to meet + exceed 15K requirement)
2/24/25 – Real employer DD
4/28/24 – 120-day maintenance window ended
5/9/25 – $500 bonus posted (I received a text message saying “Congratulations, your Bank of America credit request was approved. View in Online Banking for more information”)
Bonus received 132 days after account open
12/18 Account opened
12/30 Bill pay
1/9 $15k deposit
4/25 $500 bonus paid
11/5/24 – opened account
11/7/24 – $100 ach deposit was made
11/20 – $15k deposit was made totaling 15,100
11/21/24 – $40 zelle withdrawal was made
3/14/25 – $500 bonus posted
Based on reports of when the bonus was paid, they are being paid 3 to 13 days after the end of the maintenance period. The average is 9 days.
11/12/24 Account opened online.
11/14/24 $10 mobile check deposit.
12/9/24 $15,100 in-branch check deposit.
3/14/25 $14,550 pull withdrawal.
3/21/25 $500 bonus credited to account.
11/1/24 account opened
11/23/24 $15150 available
3/05/25 $14500 moved out
3/14/25 morning called customer service was told not meet requirement yet need wait.
$500 post on 3/14/25 afternoon.
Please translate: “3/14/25 morning called customer service was told not meet requirement yet need wait.”
3/14/25 in the morning 9am, I called customer service was told by the rep I have not met requirement yet and I need wait.
Which requirement had not been met on 3/14/25? The end of your maintenance period and the deadline for completing a required activity was 3/1/25 (= 11/1/24 + 120 days). After 3/1/25, there were no additional requirements to meet, other than keeping the account open until the bonus is paid.
The rep told me i did not send a payment through Zelle® using my newly acquired checking account but i argued with her i did real payroll since Nov. to Feb. and mobile deposit five times and bill pay 10 times. then she said i did not fund on 11/1/24 then i asked to speak her manager then my $500 bonus post.
@bc Dont you love these stupid bitter reps? 🙂
Neither the CS phone reps nor their supervisors process bonus offers or decide whether you get a bonus.
Bonus offers are processed by the bank’s automated customer incentive system.
CS can look up the status of a bonus offer that was applied to your account in the customer incentive system, tell you what the system says, and even provide a copy of the status report. The status report will show the terms of the offer, your progress toward the bonus, whether the bonus was paid, or why it wasn’t paid.
If you dispute the denial of your bonus, CS will submit a ticket to have your claim investigated by the back office. The back office, not CS, decides whether your claim is valid.
See https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-of-america-500-checking-bonus-direct-deposit-not-required/#comment-2023257
DP and advice for those still waiting for their bonus more than two weeks after the end of their maintenance period: call BofA and ask them to check the status of your bonus in the customer incentive system.
On 2/5/25 I met all the requirements for the Bank of America $500 Checking Cash Bonus Offer that expired 12/31/2024. Still no bonus. Today I called BofA and learned that the customer incentive system says I didn’t meet the requirements. System gives no explanation. Ticket submitted to back office.
Same exact issue except… they say MCC500CIS doesn’t exist at all and there’s nothing they can do for me nor open a ticket because it’s not a valid promo code. Spoke to 4 different reps in a transfer game and I’m not sure there’s anything else to do with the CFPB gutted.
12/30 account opened online
12/31 wired $20k
1/15 Bill Pay sent
2/12 and 2/15 Bill Pay sent
4/29 would’ve been 120 days
5/17 called and went round and round that no promo was attached, this promo doesn’t exist (I literally said “just google it and you’ll see the BofA link and screenshots of it. It doesn’t exist today because it expired 12/31”).
CFPB is not “gutted”!
After getting nowhere dealing with Discover Bank phone reps and “supervisors,” I decided to go over their heads by filing a CFPB complaint against Discover Bank on 5/7/25.
The very next day, I got the following email response from the Executive Office of Discover Financial Services:
Thank you for your recent correspondence to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dated May 7,2025. To ensure your concerns are properly addressed, your correspondence has been forwarded to my attention at the Executive Office of Customer Advocacy within Discover.
I am currently in the process of investigating your concerns. A detailed response will be provided to you upon completion of my investigation.
If you have any questions or would like to provide additional information, please feel free to contact meat (302) 317-7019. I am typically available Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET).
Sincerely,
Chris
Executive Office of Customer Advocacy
This is a positive Data Point for payout of the $500 bonus for the Bank of America “New Customer Checking Account Offer” (offer code MCC500CIS) that expired 12/31/24.
On 5/5/25, 29 days after the end of the bonus payout period for the offer, a $500 credit posted to my Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking account (opened 10/8/24) with the description “$500 New Account Offers (MCC500CIS).”
The $500 credit was the result of an executive investigation that concluded I was eligible for the offer after two previous investigations had erroneously concluded that I was ineligible.
Since the offer expired 12/31/24, the offer webpage was taken down months ago.
However, I saved the expired URL and a screenshot of the offer webpage.
The CASH BONUS OFFER TERMS are disclosed in the fine print in footnote 1 of the screenshot. Unfortunately, the resolution of the fine print in image displayed by imgur.com is poor. (The resolution of the original PNG file I have is excellent.)
My timeline.
If you applied from the offer webpage, the offer code MCC500CIS should have been applied. Whether or not the offer code was applied, you evidently met the requirements of the MCC500CIS offer. Have BofA look in the customer incentive system for a record for your checking account.
A branch manager gave me a printout of the incentive status report for my new checking account. The report showed an offer that was different from the offer disclosed in footnote 1 on the offer webpage from which I applied. I was not eligible for the offer disclosed in the status report, but I was eligible for the offer disclosed in footnote 1 of the offer webpage.
They were refusing to even look at the offer webpage until I had BofA served with a lawsuit for breach of contract, bad faith and consumer fraud. In addition to the $500 bonus credit, they also reimbursed my court filing and process service fees.
DP and advice for those still waiting for their bonus more than two weeks after the end of their maintenance period: call BofA and ask them to check the status of your bonus in the customer incentive system.
On 2/5/25 I met all the requirements for the Bank of America $500 Checking Cash Bonus Offer that expired 12/31/2024. Still no bonus. Today I called BofA and learned that the customer incentive system says I didn’t meet the requirements. System gives no explanation. Ticket submitted to back office.
My timeline:
10/7/24 Applied online from the offer webpage for a new Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking checking account. Offer code MCC500CIS was prefilled.
10/08/24 DAY 0. Opened new, eligible Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking checking account. Deposited $25.
11/06/24 DAY 29. Met the new money deposit requirement with a teller deposit of a $15,000 check drawn from my account at Primis Bank.
11/06/24 DAY 29. Met the activity requirement with a Zelle payment.
11/07/24 DAY 30. End of Funding Period.
11/08/24 DAY 31. Start of Maintenance Period.
02/05/25 DAY 120. End of Maintenance Period.
Met the maintenance requirement by maintaining a daily $15,000 balance during the maintenance period (DAY 31 thru DAY 120).
02/07/25 DAY 122. Withdrew $15,000.
03/14/25 DAY 157. BofA’s customer incentive system says I didn’t meet the requirements. No explanation. Ticket submitted to back office.