Deal has expired, view the best current checking bonuses by clicking here.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200 checking & $200 savings
- Availability: Targeted, unique code required and must open in branch
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $500+ for three consecutive months
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Mixed reports, likely doesn’t pull
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Can fund up to $50 online. I’m guessing none in branch
- Monthly fees: $10, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: None
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: August 31st, 2018
Contents
The Offer
No direct link, sent out via snail mail and contains unique code
- Wells Fargo is offering bonuses of up to $400 for opening checking & savings accounts. Bonuses are as follows:
- $200 checking bonus:
- Within 150 days set up and receive at least 3 consecutive monthly direct deposits of $500 or more
- $200 savings bonus:
- Open an eligible savings account and within 10 days deposit at least $25,000 in new money
- Maintain that balance for 90 days
- $200 checking bonus:
The Fine Print
- Unique offer code required
- Valid until August 31st, 2018
- Must open in branch
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
The Everyday Checking account comes with a $10 monthly fee. Get the fee waived with one of the following:
- 10 debit card purchases and/or payments each statement cycle from this checking account, OR
- Direct deposits totaling $500 or more each statement cycle, OR
- Maintain a $1,500 minimum daily balance, OR
- Link checking account to a Wells Fargo Campus ATM or Campus Debit Card
If you have a Wells mortgage, you might be able to get a higher-level account with no fees.
Early Account Termination Fee
There is no early account termination fee.
Our Verdict
We’ve seen better checking bonuses before that didn’t require a direct deposit. I don’t think we’ve ever seen a Wells Fargo savings bonus before at least as far as I know. $200 for a deposit of $25,000 that must be maintained for 90 days isn’t great, you’d earn almost $125 in a 2% APY savings account during that period. The Wells Fargo account basically earns 0% so it’s actually not a huge bonus. It is interesting to see them start offering a savings bonus though, hopefully the bonus gets bigger before a public offer becomes available. For bonuses we do recommend check out this page.
Big thanks to reader, Kevin D 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
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
Hey Docs,
Love this site; long time user. Just a thought: if an offer is definitely targeted and escpecially via mail only (ie unique offer code such as this, via mailing), it might not be worth your all’s time to bother with posting. Meaning only that the folks who visit this site are probably already looking out for offers in the mail.
Taegeted email offers make sense to be featured, if nothing else as a prompt to check spam folders and such.
The “our verdict” is definitely helpful for targeted folks trying to decide, but I’d argue they could also easily check your awesome section of best historical bank/credit card offers, should they get such a mailing.
Just my two cents, again in the interest of your time, and thanks again for all you do.
Offers won’t be sent within a day nationwide. So at least these targeted offer post would give you a sense what you should do IF you could receive a targeted offer in the future.
Indeed!
+1 That’s exactly how I look at it. Thanks Daniel!
Usually enjoy reading even when not tagetted, just keep me updated on what going on.
Hi Mike, sometimes even though these are targeted it’s possible to open to get the bonus without the targeted mailer. In addition the savings portion is new and worth looking at, even if targeted as maybe it will be public in the future.
Readers should be able to use the titles (e.g Targeted) to quickly see what posts are/aren’t of interest to them. We also purposefully post these on the weekend when the site is less busy with other news/deals.
Posts like this also provide a place for people who do receive the offer and sign up for it, to discuss how the process goes.
Everyone keeps telling me to cancel my accounts with Wells Fargo because of all the things going on with them. I’ve been with this bank for years and so far so good. But it does bother me that they are offering 200. To people for opening an account. I dont know whether I should change to another bank or not. Seems like I’m always reading terrible things going on.
I was in your position too. But I choose to switch bank and leave Wells Fargo as a churning bank. Same thing I did with Chase
All major banks got shenanigans up the ying yang. That is the nature of the industry. You don’t succeed to become a big bank in a cut throat world without being cut throat yourself. Wells Fargo just got caught. At least now they got caught they are under heavier scrutiny than other major banks continuing to get away with shenanigans.
They actually ruined bankers’ careers by effectively banning employees from the banking industry when they dissented with WF’s illegal practices or tried to whistle blow. The rabbit hole goes a lot deeper than you think with Wells Fargo, they are a negative force even in the banking industry which is saying a lot for that industry.
From the New York Times:
The U5 forms, the senators wrote, “confirm that Wells Fargo had ample information about the scope of fraudulent sales practices” long before it reached a settlement in September with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“In addition,” the letter continued, “public reports indicate that Wells Fargo may have filed inaccurate or incomplete Form U5s for fired employees and that the bank may have done so to retaliate against whistle-blowers. If this is the case, then it would appear that Wells Fargo concealed key information from regulators.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/business/dealbook/wells-fargo-faces-scrutiny-for-black-marks-on-ex-employee-files.html
DO NOT BANK WITH WELLS FARGO
Possible exception: Nab their bonus and then close your account asap.