Update 5/11/21: Deal is back and valid until expires august 31
Update 2/16/21: Deal is back and more people targeted.
Update 1/20/21: Deal is back and valid until April 30, 2021. Hat tip to reader Conor C
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $500
- Availability: Targeted
- Direct deposit required: $10,000 within 90 days, or reach a deposit requirement
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft, as long as you opt out of overdraft protection
- ChexSystems: No
- Credit card funding: None, but you can fund with a debit card up to $250
- Monthly fees: $12, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: None
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date: December 31st, 2019
Contents
The Offer
No direct link to offer, showing for some when logged into their Bank of America accounts
- Bank of America is offering a bonus of $500 when you open a new checking account and complete ONE the following requirements:
- Set up and receive qualifying direct deposits totalling $10,000 or more within 90 days of account opening
- Make qualifying deposits of $50,000 or more in new money into your personal checking account within 30 days of opening and maintain that balance for 90 days
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
Easiest account to keep fee free seems to be the Bank of America Advantage Plus Banking account. This has a $12 monthly fee that is waived if you do any of the following:
- Maintain a minimum daily balance of $1,500 or more
- Receive a direct deposit of $250+
- Students under age 24 are eligible to have this fee waived while enrolled in high school, college, university or a vocational program.
- Preferred Rewards clients get this fee waived (waiver applies to first 4 checking accounts).
Early Account Termination Fee
As far as I know there is no early account termination fee.
Our Verdict
Previous best bonus has been $300, that was recently publicly available. This requires $10,000 in direct deposits, this might be a struggle for some readers although in the past some work arounds have worked and it should be possible to cycle the funds making it a little easier. It’s a shame that this is targeted, because I do think it’s definitely worth doing. I think they have targeted this towards people with cards such as the old Merrill+ card, so they probably see these as high value customers and thus the $500 bonus. If this was a public bonus I’d be adding it to the list of the best checking bonuses.
Hat tip to reader Daniel H
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
where will I see the offers once I am logged in?
Got an email for both the $500 and $750 bonus but due to some Ally transfer issues, it looks like I might not be able to transfer the money in time. Opened account on 5/26/2021 and the money is going to get transferred on June 10 which is 16 days after the account is opened 🙁
Don’t you have 90 days?
Also, curious what type of issues you are having with Ally. Was seriously considering opening an Ally account to use as a hub. Would appreciate any info. Thanks!
Oops, I should have posted this for the Biz checkings page instead.
Ally has been great and I’ve used it as my churning hub for the last 3 years. Only downsides – 20 external accounts at most, opening a new savings account takes a bit more time even though they have all my information. This was the first time I’ve had this issue and it’s because I was moving 20k from Marcus to Ally to a new bofa checking account so they marked it as fraud.
Thanks for the info and update on Ally. Does it take more than a phone call to unmark and free-up the transfer to complete and post?
Is there any way to avail the 500$ offer? I have never had a BoFA account. I’m anyway thinking of establishing one with them, 500$ would be a nice gift..
If we knew a code we could ask a branch banker to add it. Is someone willing to share the code?
Hate how participating in preferred rewards requires a checking account, and therefore locks one out of these bonuses.
this is a nice bonus but very difficult to do.
Where does one see this offer when you log on?
Really wish I was targeted, only opened savings account 2 months ago(solely to get targeted for this offer), hoping I get targeted in time.
I received it by email
What’s the waiting period from previously received bonus to churn this? Thanks!
In the email they sent me:
“Offer is only available to individuals who have not owned or co-owned a Bank of America personal checking account within the last twelve (12) months.”
Targeted for this offer today, expires august 31. Relationship with bofa started less than a year ago with a savings account; since then I’ve opened a few CCs and ML brokerage accounts. Always hard to say what triggers it, but I did make a large purchase on one of the CCs recently.
I opened a CC with them about a year ago. I instantly got targeted for a $100 bonus. I didn’t bite, I then got targeted for $300 bonus that’s active now. Should I take it or should I wait to potentially get the $500 in the future? I can easily hit $10k DD.
I have the same question can anyone suggest ?
Didnt bite on the $300, got targeted for the $500. doing that now.