Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $250
- Availability: Nationwide
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements: No
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Unknown
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date: None listed
Contents
The Offer
- Mercury is a ‘banking stack for startups and small businesses’ and is offering a bonus of $250. There are no deposit requirements, just requires approval.
The Fine Print
- 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 to worry about
Early Account Termination Fee
I’m unsure if there is any early account termination fee or not
Our Verdict
Not as good as the recent $500 bonus, but that was pulled as they consider us an affiliate site even though we aren’t earning a commission from Mercury. Upside to this bonus is no deposit requirement. I doubt we will see the $500 bonus return, so we will add this $250 bonus to the best bank bonus page.
Allegedly the bonus is triggered when you “start using Mercury,” but does anyone know what that means ? As noted below, there aren’t any details. Does this refer to opening the account? Funding it? Making a debit? Or something else? I’ve done all three of the above but haven’t seen anything yet.
I signed up last week and just got the bonus
Signed up, instantly deposited $100.
Received bonus 1 week later.
Not sure exactly what triggers it beyond sign up / approval, but a simple deposit probably doesn’t hurt.
Anyone know when bonus will pay out since there’s no requirements?
I was just wondering the same, and read the terms again. There isn’t any detail about the $250 promotion.
I wonder whether a deposit is required other than being approved before they actually pay out the bonus. Since that promo page is constantly getting updated, how do they keep track of who to pay and who not to 🙁
The link changed, I just got paid
Received the bonus within 1 week.
I found a working link for $500 – requires deposit of 10k, but well worth it IMO
William Charles
https://mercury.com/partner/founder-shield
Saved this a few hours ago and saw the offer, clicked now to apply and seems its pulled as well xD
This is no go for me because sole prop isn’t supported.
This isn’t a criticism, but: If one wants to play in the business account space, why doesn’t one form a business entity, e.g. LLC?
Because I like doing sole prop better than doing LLC as doing LLC is more complected and cost a lot of money. Besides, I have opened with Bluevine, Relay, and Found without any issues for sole prop. That’s just my IMO.
I respect personal choices. Still: “cost a lot of money”? Not really. Obviously varies by state, but in most states (40 out of 50) the initial filing fee is $150 or less, and the annual fee (42 out of 50) is $100 or less.
And “complicated”? Trust me, if someone is smart enough to open SP bank accounts, that person is smart enough to complete LLC paperwork.
Here in Tennessee, it’s more than that. $300 min to $3,000 max a for LLC filing fee and also annual filing fee as well.
That sucks. TN is in fact one of those high cost states, but a single-member LLC should cost $300 initially and $300/yr thereafter.
One last thought: In TN, you might think about forming a general partnership, maybe with SO/P2. There’s no state document filing required, nor any initial or annual state fees. Some providers, like Mercury, who don’t open accts for SPs, will do so for partnerships (it’s an entity type in the dropdown). Anyways, thanks for the discussion.
Good idea, I will have to do that.
Another state in which a general partnership would make sense.
Interesting. Only similar thing with which I am familiar is ABA rule that prohibits a lawyer from partnership w/ non-lawyer to practice law. But they could certainly form a partnership to, say, own a hot dog stand.
Personal experiences vary, but I have never had to “show” a bank proof of actual revenue to open an account. If pressed, you can say that you’re at the planning stage of your enterprise, e.g., hot dog stand, house flipping, quantum computing research.
Also: I completely get the P2 challenge. What about forming an irrevocable trust benefitting someone (P2, charity, me?) to hold a 1% interest in the general partnership?
Honestly, it’s frequently easier just to escalate within the bank. I actually did finally manage to open a Mercury account for my sole prop by getting in touch with a C-suite exec. I will post a DP once I get my bonus.
[Brag] Glad I jumped on the $500 version last week. Opened account and wired in funds on Friday, bonus credited on Monday. Personal best for me.
Top Cashback has a $50 offer too. Not sure if it stacks but will find out.
Mostly likely will not stack: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/mercury-fintech-500-business-checking-bonus/#comment-2028362
Reporting back for DP that this does work. I received the TCB $50 bonus within 24 hours and the Mercury bonus within 7 days.
If this is the same deal as last week, no sole prop option 🙁
Anyone know if this is a hard or soft pull?
I was approved with the $500 deal yesterday before it was removed; no pull at all.
That would be great if only we could get approved! lol