[Targeted] Bank of America Up To $500 Savings Bonus

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $500
Availability: Nationwide, but targeted
Deposit Requirement: At least $10,000
Deposit length: 60-90 days
APY: 0.01%-0.03%
Hard/soft pull: Soft
ChexSystems: Unknown
Credit card funding: None, but you can fund with a debit card up to $250
Monthly fees: $5-$12 avoidable
Early account termination fee:
Household limit: None
Expiration date: June 30th, 2017

Contents

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

The Offer

Direct link to offer (note this is a targeted offer, you might be able to see if you’re targeted by logging in and look under ‘special offers & deals’)

Receive a sign up bonus of up to $500 when you do the following:
- Open a new Bank of America® Regular Savings or Rewards Money Market Savings account by June 30, 2017
- Within thirty days make qualifying deposits of $10,000+, the bonus you receive will be based on the amount in your account after this 30 day period:
  - $150 bonus: $10,000-$19,999
  - $200 bonus: $20,000-$49,999
  - $300 bonus: $50,000-$99,999
  - $500 bonus: $100,000+
- Maintain this balance for an additional 60 days
APY is 0.03% on the rewards money market savings account and 0.01%-0.02% on regular savings account.

The Fine Print

New money” is money not currently or previously held in any account in your name at Bank of America, Merrill Lynch or Merrill Edge
This offer is only available to select Bank of America customers who receive this offer via a direct communication from Bank of America. Fiduciary accounts are excluded from this offer.
This offer expires on June 30, 2017.
Bank of America may change or discontinue this offer at any time without notice before that date.
This offer is intended for new savings customers only; you are not eligible for this offer if you were a signer on or owner of a Bank of America personal savings account within the last six (6) months.
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.
All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

There are two accounts that are eligible for this bonus:

Regular Savings ($5 monthly fee), waived with a minimum daily balance of $300 (plus other ways)
Rewards Money Market Savings ($12 monthly fee), waived waived with a minimum daily balance of $2,500 (plus other ways)

Our Verdict

Ideally you’d make your deposit the day before the 60 days requirement starts, but realistically you’re going to deposit before that time to make sure you don’t miss the qualification period. If we say that you need to deposit it for the full 90 days you’ll get a better idea of the real return. Your rate of return decreases as the bonus increases (e.g $150 bonus is a 1.5% return over the bonus period and the $500 bonus is a 0.5% return).

The other thing to keep in mind though is that this should qualify you for Bank of America Preferred Rewards. That makes the higher bonuses a lot more interesting. $500 return + Platinum Honors status (good for getting 2.625% on all purchases) for depositing $100,000 for 90 days/three months isn’t a bad return. Shame it’s targeted, otherwise we would add it to our list of the best savings bonuses.

Big thanks to reader, NinjapParty001 who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.

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