[Expired] Chase $500 Checking & Savings Bonus

Deal has ended, view more Chase deals by clicking here.

Update 11/29/20: Deal is back until 1/15/2021, probably still worth waiting for the $600 bonus to return.

Update 10/18/20 Deal is back through November 23, 2020; updated the link below. A lot of people will hold off with hopes of the $600 deal coming back. Hat tip to reader Jo

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $500
Availability: Nationwide, though the online link won’t work unless you have a branch in your state.
Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum. Click here to view what triggers this bonus.
Additional requirements: None for checking; $15,000 balance for savings
Hard/soft pull: Soft
Credit card funding: Can fund up to $50 with a debit card online (prepaids do not work). Cannot fund with debit or credit in branch.
Monthly fees: $12, waivable
Early account termination fee: Bonus taken back if closed within six months
Household limit: None listed
Expiration date: ~~August 10th, 2020~~ ~~November 23, 2020~~ January 15, 2021(often pulled early)

Contents

1 The Offer
2 The Fine Print
3 Avoiding Fees
4 Our Verdict

The Offer

~~Direct link to offer~~ | New Link

Chase is offering a checking & savings bonus worth up to $500. Bonus is as follows:
- Receive a bonus of $200 when you open a Chase Total checking account and have a direct deposit post to the account within 90 days.
- Receive a bonus of $200 when you open a Chase savings account and deposit $15,000 or more in new money within 20 business days and maintain a balance of $15,000 for 90 days.
- Receive an extra $100 bonus when you complete both of the above bonuses.

The Fine Print

Checking offer is not available to existing Chase checking customers.
Savings offer is not available to existing Chase savings customers.
Both offers are not available to those whose accounts have been closed within 90 days or closed with a negative balance.
To receive the $200 checking bonus: 1) Open a new Chase Total Checking account, which is subject to approval; AND 2) Have your direct deposit made to this account within 90 days of account opening. Your direct deposit needs to be an electronic deposit of your paycheck, pension or government benefits (such as Social Security) from your employer or the government. Person to Person payments (such as Chase Quickpay® with Zelle®) are not considered a direct deposit.
After you have completed all the above checking requirements, we’ll deposit the bonus in your new account within 10 business days.
To receive the $200 savings bonus: 1) Open a new Chase SavingsSM account, which is subject to approval; 2) Deposit a total of $15,000 or more in new money into the new savings account within 20 business days of account opening; AND 3) Maintain at least a $15,000 balance for 90 days from the date of deposit.
The new money cannot be funds held by you at Chase or its affiliates.
After you have completed all the above savings requirements, we’ll deposit the bonus in your new account within 10 business days.
To receive the extra $100 bonus: You must open the checking and savings account at the same time and complete all requirements above for BOTH the checking bonus and savings bonus.
After you have completed all requirements, we will deposit the remaining bonus due in your new checking account within 10 business days.
You can receive only one new checking and one new savings account opening related bonus every two years from the last enrollment date and only one bonus per account.
Coupon is good for one-time use.
Bonuses are considered interest and will be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT (or Form 1042-S, if applicable).
If either the checking or savings account is closed by the customer or Chase within six months after opening, we will deduct the bonus amount for that account at closing.

Avoiding Fees

Savings Account

The Chase Savings Account comes with a monthly service fee of $5. Monthly fee is waived with any ONE of the following:

Keep a minimum daily balance of $300 or more
Have at least one repeating automatic transfer from your Chase checking account of $25 or more; one time transfers do not qualify
Have a linked Chase Premier Plus Checking, Chase Premier Platinum Checking, or Chase Private Client Checking account

Checking Account

The Chase Total Checking account comes with a monthly service fee of $10-$12 which is waived if complete any of the following:

Have monthly direct deposits totaling $500 or more
Keep a minimum daily balance of $1,500 or more in the checking account
Keep an average daily balance of $5,000 or more in any combination of qualifying Chase checking, savings and other balances

Early Account Termination Fee

If you close either account within 6 months of account opening, you will forfeit the bonus.

Our Verdict

The standard offer we see is the exact same, but the checking bonus is for $300 instead of $200 (meaning you can get a total of $600 instead of $500). Earlier this year we saw a bonus of up to $900 (you got an extra $400 for doing both the checking & savings), I don’t think that was ever supposed to be public and I highly doubt we will ever see that offer again. I assume Chase is reducing the bonus due to COVID-19, keep in mind if you do this bonus then you’ll be ineligible for future bonuses two years (but also doing this bonus would reset that clock earlier than waiting).

It’s difficult to decide if you should go for this bonus or not. My gut feeling would be to wait to see if this offer gets extended or if we see the $600 bonus return after August 10th. But the bonus could also drop. The safe play is to probably just go for this bonus if you can. Hopefully most readers aren’t eligible due to doing the bigger $900 or $600 bonuses earlier in the year. I’ll add this to the best bank bonus page with the caveats that we’ve seen bigger bonuses recently.

Hat tip to reader devyanks90

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses: