Chase Checking Bonus Code – $500
Over the past couple of years Chase has been perhaps the most generous of the big banks with bonuses for opening up checking/savings accounts. Who can forget the amazing $500 business bonus they ran last year and of course there was the popular $500 personal offer as well. Thankfully that personal offer has now returned. Let’s take a look!
The Offer
- GET $300 for new Chase checking customers who open a CHASE TOTAL CHECKING® account and set up Direct Deposit.
- GET $200 for opening a new CHASE SAVINGS account, depositing a total of $15,000 or more in new money within 10 business days, and maintaining a $15,000 balance for 90 days.
Key Terms
- Checking offer is not available to existing Chase checking customers. Savings offer is not available to existing Chase savings customers. Both offers are not available to those with fiduciary accounts, or those whose accounts have been closed within 90 days or closed with a negative balance.
- For checking bonus, make a direct deposit within 60 days of account opening. Your direct deposit needs to be an electronic deposit of your paycheck, pension or government benefits (such as Social Security) from your employer or the government.
- For savings bonus, deposit a total of $15,000 or more in new money into the new savings account within 10 business days of account opening and maintain at least a $15,000 balance for 90 days from the date of deposit. The new money cannot be funds held by Chase or its affiliates.
- If either the checking or savings account is closed by the customer or Chase within six months after opening, we will deduct the bonus amount for that account at closing.
The full terms can be found on the offer page after generating your unique code. (See below.)
Getting the Offer
Normally offers like this one are targeted, however there is a direct link where you can generate a unique coupon code. I suggest generating your code now, in case the offer runs out. The code can be redeemed any time through March 7, 2017. You do need a Chase login to generate a code and the accounts have to be opened in-branch.
Avoiding Fees
Chase Savings has a $5 fee per month. You can avoid the fee in the following ways:
- $300 or more minimum daily balance
- or at least one repeating automatic transfer of $25 or more from your personal Chase checking account (available only through Chase Online Banking)
- or when linked to a Chase Premier Plus CheckingSM, Chase Premier Platinum CheckingSM or Chase Private Client CheckingSMaccount
Chase Total Checking has a $12 fee per month. You can avoid the fee in the following ways:
- Direct deposit totaling $500 or more made to this account.
- or a $1,500 or more minimum daily balance in this account
- or an average daily balance of $5,000 or more in any combination of qualifying linked deposits.
Analysis
Both my wife and I have maximized this bonus in the past when we were targeted. In my experience it takes about 30-60 minutes to open your accounts in-branch. Making an appointment seems to make things go quicker. Keep in mind that you WILL receive a 1099-INT for these bonuses and thus you will be taxed on the money.
Conclusion
If you aren’t a current Chase checking/savings customer then this is about as good as a bonus gets. While the savings deposit amount is a bit high, I think the effective interest rate including the bonus more than makes it worth doing.
HT: Doctor of Credit
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How do you log-in to generate the code if you are a new customer and therefore don’t have a Chase log-in? Tried to create an online account but requires entering a Chase account number…
You have to have a login with them as a credit card or other customer. Perhaps you have a friend who has a login and can get you the code?
Did this bonus in 2015 and then again in 2016. Decided last year to just keep it open and not poop where I eat. A simple monthly $500 transfer from another bank keeps it fee-free. The $300/$200 is pretty standard and about as good as it gets and it’s come out around this time of year for the last 2+ years.
In my experiences the bonus, including drive time etc, is definitely more than an hour to get it all done IF you don’t have an appointment. Obviously this is YMMV and depends on proximity to the bank and how busy the bank is. For me I was only 12 minutes away and yet both times encountered heavy wait times due to an understaffed bank. When I called the other branch another 10 minutes away I was told they had a similar wait. Moral of the story is to make an appointment like Shawn suggests (I didn’t even know you could).
My wife has a Chase checking account and I am an an authorized user on it. Would I be eligible to get the bonus if I open an account under my name?
It didn’t work in my case. Wife was authorized user on my chase checking. She attempted to open bonus for both checking and saving. Received bonus for saving but not checking.
Do you keep the accounts open? Or close once you meet the minimum standards?
You need to keep them open for 6 months. After that you are free to close them.