You can check if you are targeted by logging in to online banking & clicking on the “Special Offers & Deals” header. You may also see it prominently displayed in the Activity Center, after clicking on the “Special Offers & Deals” square
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $300
- Availability: Nationwide but targeted
- Deposit Required: $5,000-$50,000
- Deposit Length: 60 days
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Yes
- Credit card funding: None, but you can fund with a debit card up to $250
- Monthly fees: $5-12, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: None
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date: September 30th, 2017
Contents
The Offer
- Bank of America is offering a bonus of up to $300 when you open a new Bank of America Regular Savings or Rewards Money market savings account by September 30th, 2017. You have 30 days from account opening to make qualifying deposits (bonus is tiered depending on how much you deposit). After the 30 day period all qualifying deposits will be totaled to determine your eligible bonus tier. To receive the bonus you must also maintain your qualifying deposits for an additional 60 days. Bonus tiers are as follows:
- $5,000-$9,9999: $50 Bonus
- $10,000-$19,999: $100 bonus
- $20,000-$49,999: $200 bonus
- $50,000+: $300 bonus
The Fine Print
- Open a new, eligible savings account by September 30, 2017, in a financial center, online, or via phone. Certificates of Deposit (CDs), Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), and Minor/Student savings accounts are not eligible for this offer
- Next, you have thirty (30) days from account opening to make deposits of new money directly into your savings account (each is a “Qualifying Deposit”). “New money” is money not currently or previously held in any account in your name at Bank of America, Merrill Edge®, and/or Merrill Lynch®. At the end of the 30-day period, all Qualifying Deposits will be totaled to determine which of the bonus tiers you are eligible for (the “Qualified Tier”).
- Qualifying Deposits totaling $5,000–$9,999 will be eligible for the $50 bonus tier, $10,000–$19,999 will be eligible for the $100 bonus tier, $20,000–$49,999 will be eligible for the $200 bonus tier, and $50,000 or more will be eligible for the $300 bonus tier
- Finally, for an additional sixty (60) days after the Qualified Tier is established (the “Maintenance Period”), you must maintain the Qualifying Deposits. The average daily balance in your new savings account must be equal to or greater than the minimum balance for your Qualified Tier. For example, if your Qualified Tier is $200, you must maintain an average daily balance of at least $20,000 for an additional 60 days after your Qualified Tier is established
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
There is no early account termination fee.
Regular Savings $5 Monthly Fee
The monthly fee on this account is waived if you do any of the following:
- Maintain a minimum daily balance of at least $500
- Link your Bank of America Interest Checking to Regular Savings account
- When you are a Bank of America Preferred Rewards client
- Make combined monthly automatic transfers of $25 or more from your Bank of America checking account to savings account
Bank of America Rewards Money $12 Monthly Fee
The monthly fee on this account is waived if you do any of the following:
- Maintain a minimum daily balance of at least $2,500
- Link your Bank of America Interest Checking to Regular Savings account
- When you are a Bank of America Preferred Rewards client
Our Verdict
Rewards Money Market has an APY of 0.03% and interest checking is 0.01% for balances under $50,000 and 0.02% for balances over $50,000 so basically nothing. First three tiers are a turn of 1% over ~60 days and the last tier is 0.6% over ~60 days. Not terrible but I don’t think it’s worth the effort of setting up a new account for that short of a time period, especially when there are lots of high yield savings accounts and savings account bonuses that are better.
Big thanks to reader, SnowdensOfYesteryear who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.
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
Was targeted for this offer online.
Opened Regular Savings online 9/28/17, approved immediately. Had a BoA checking since 2009
Deposited $20k (a check) at branch 10/26/17. There was hold on the money for around 10-14 days, but the deposit date shows 10/26
Moved all money except $300 to the checking acct 1/4/2018
$200 Bonus posted 1/6/2018. Success!
Opened account 08/09 with 20-50K tier in mind.. deposited 20K by 09/01.. kept money for 60+ days after 30 day window.. no bonus yet but I do see a $100 credit on my account with description
ACH CREDIT BANK OF AMERICA PAYMENT ON 11/30
I have no idea from where this payment has come, I am not expecting money from anywhere at this time. I hope it has no relation with bonus posting. Anyone ever saw something like this?
Anybody seen their bonus yet?
I put in 15K on July 20 and another 5K in a week or so later. Thinking the bonus should post by the end of this month.
Curious about the timing of other people’s bonus….
No bonus yet … next statement is middle of the month. I will call them if nothing comes by mid-November.
Anybody get their bonus yet? If so, how many days did you get it after meeting all requirements?
I’m noticing the fine print says “If all requirements listed above are met, we will attempt to deposit the bonus directly into the eligible savings account within sixty (60) days after the end of the Maintenance Period. Your Bank of America eligible savings account must be open up to and including the date the bonus is paid in order to receive the bonus.”
Would I be okay to pull the money after the first 60 days, or does the balance still need to be there for them to deposit the bonus? I thought I had to the up the money for a potential 4 months + the initial maintenance period.
Jelena, the way I read it is that you only need to have ALL of the money (for your particular tier) there for between 61 and 90 days (90 days if you put all the money in at account opening, 61 if you wait until until just before the maintenance period begins to deposit the amount required for your tier).
I think you only need to put the money in that account for 60 days ( maintenance period) and then leave the account open until you get the bonus ( within additional 60 days).After the first maintenance period, it’s fine that you can withdraw or pull out the money
I was told I need a code or I wouldn’t receive a bonus.
I got the email inviting me to do this — so I am targeted — but when I log into my account, I don’t see the offer under “special offers and deals”.
So if I open a new savings account, how will I know if I get the bonus?
Anybody else in this situation?
I would do it if you want the deal. You have a great argument if they don’t pay.
I ended up phoning in and opening the savings account on the phone. Not too painful. Once I proved that I am who I said I was, the CSR was able to see that I was eligible for the bonus.
Still don’t know if phoning in was necessary — probably not — but I feel better about my chances for getting the bonus. $20K for the $200 bonus is the sweet spot in my book.
As an aside, there was no hint of a ChexSystems check from the questions she asked me on the phone, but I suppose she could have run a check silently. I did already have checking with BofA.
Thank you, Brain.
I also received the email but do not see anything under “Special Offers”. Please share whether additional Chex inquiry was made if you happen to view your Report. I have a Checking with them and want to open for 20K tier but do not want another inquiry on Chex.
Sorry I meant Brian 🙂
Damn, auto correct..
So if we exactly calculate the % interest.. BOA $20K deposit for 60 days/$200 bonus yields 6.01% while Chase $15K deposit for 90 days/$200 bonus yields 5.4%. So if Chase is one of the best savings bonus, why BOA is not? Because of Chex inquiry? Or I am missing something else?
Also if we already have a Checking account with them and try to open savings account, there is an additional Chex inquiry? Wow, I did not know this.
Chase bonus is paired with the checking bonus, meaning one ChexSystems inquiry and it also has the longer 90 day period than this 60 day period. As always do your own calculations. If you think this is a good deal, go for it.
HSBC is better
“First three tiers are a turn of 1% over ~60 days and the last tier is 0.6% over ~60 days. Not terrible but I don’t think it’s worth the effort of setting up a new account for that short of a time period, especially when there are lots of high yield savings accounts and savings account bonuses that are better.”
I strongly disagree with this statement because you are not considering the fact that APR/APY is calculated on an annual basis or 365 day basis. As such the 1% interest rate you quote for holding the money at Bank of America for 60 days on an annualized basis is approximately 6.1% APY. Now this assumes you were able to receive the bonus every 60 days for a full calendar year which you are not. However, since there are so many bank account bonuses that exist it makes little sense to use the true APY definition which is a blended rate of the bonus for 60 days followed by the regular APR for the remainder which would give you approximately a 1.02% APY since no one financially savvy should hold there money in an account like this for 1 full year at the normal APYs BofA is offering.
I think it’s clear I’m talking about a 1% return over 60 days, not an annualized return. 6.1% APY for 60 days isn’t that exciting considering the number of 5% APY accounts IMO.
OTOH, it’s still 6% interest. I would not move money out of another account into BOA for 60 days and take it back out, but if I was receiving funds from a paycheck or something else, I would definitely drop off the money there on its way to something higher yielding.
Yeah but I don’t think 1% bonus interest for a 60 day period is worth the ChexSystems inquiry, hassle of opening account and then closing it. YMMV though
No one said you had to close the account. I have Preferred Rewards through Merrill Edge anyway so I don’t care, but now that I think of it, I may close the account to see if I get targeted in a future round.
If you don’t close it you still need to worry about the monthly fee…
I got this offer. They stress the new money language. I opened a discover account today, and transferred in 20k. If I turn around an ACH this back into a new BoA account in 2 weeks are there any dps on whether it will count? Not sure how banks know if it’s new money or not.
As soon as it leaves the bank and comes back in it is new money. Even if it is the “same” money.
JT,
I am assuming your statement is true for this promotion since the fine print doesn’t define new money, but many financial institutions have clauses in their promotions requiring new money that new money is considered any money not currently on deposit at XYZ bank and that your balance as of ABC date will be used to determine whether your deposit is new money.
When these types of clauses exist if your balance was $50k on January 01, 2017 and they say the balance cut off is Jan. 01, 2017 then any money added above the $50k is considered new money as long as it is not on deposit with the bank currently. So if you took $20k out of your existing account, transferred it TAB financial, and then transferred it back to BAC three weeks later it would not be considered new money.
Interesting, I never knew this.
I work for the bank and your example would be considered new money. Once it leaves the bank anything that comes in would be new money.