In 2019, I made over $1,000 with very little effort. I received many questions wondering how I was able to accomplish this task, so in this blog, I’m going to tell you exactly how I did it.
Many banks have generous welcome offers for customers who open new checking and savings accounts. And last year, I took advantage of 4 of those offers.
So what are the offers? Most banks will give you $150-$400 for opening a new bank account with qualifying income. What is qualifying income? It’s new money to that particular bank. Meaning, you can’t move money from one account at Bank A to open a new account at Bank A and get the bonus. Most banks require that you keep the account open for 60 days AND set up a recurring direct deposit from a third party into the account within those 60 days.
Banks often offer these rewards because they can make more money from lending and investing your deposit than it costs them to pay you the reward.
So how did I do it?
I started off by opening an account at a bank, let’s call it Bank A on January 12th. This bank was offering a $400 reward if I opened an account with a $50 minimum deposit and had $4,000 of qualifying direct deposits within the initial 60 days of opening the account. In order to meet the direct deposit requirement, I had to change my direct deposit account with my employer.
My paycheck was directly deposited into this new account for the next 60 days, and at day 60, I received an email stating I qualified for the bonus! Then, 18 days later, I received my $400 bonus. It was that easy!
From there, I opened a new account at Bank B, paid the initial deposit, and changed my direct deposit with my employer. I chose to withdraw my funds and close my account at Bank A so I didn’t have money in several different banks, but that is completely up to you.
Once I received the reward from Bank B, I repeated the process until I had received $1,100 in rewards for opening new checking accounts!
A few tips if you want to implement this for yourself:
Tip 1: If you choose to close your account at Bank A, be sure to open your new account AND change your direct deposit first. You do not want your direct deposit going to a bank account that is closed. I would probably wait until after your first deposit at the new bank to ensure the direct deposit change was active.
Tip 2: Don’t just withdraw your funds after your meet the required number of days for your new account. Most banks require a balance in the account, in order to be eligible for the reward.
Pro Tip: Since most of the banks require you to hold funds in the account for 60-90 days, you’re only able to complete this process 3-4 times per year. If you want to earn extra cash, see if you can set up your direct deposit to route to more than one bank. This way, you can open multiple accounts at the same time to increase your annual bonuses!
Until next time, stay S.M.A.R.T. about your finances!