12 Banks With the Best Sign-Up Bonuses
A 2019 survey from the FDIC reported that 7.1 million households were unbanked. That means no one in the entire household had their money in a bank, and it’s a significant number considering there were 122.8 million households in the country in 2019.
Maybe you are unbanked, or maybe you are simply looking for a bank that better fits your needs. Whatever the reason, if you’re considering a new bank, you might as well choose one with a lucrative sign-up bonus, right?
Of course, a sign-up bonus is far from the only item to consider when signing up with a bank. You’ll also want to be sure it meets your needs in terms of online capability, customer service, branch locations and much more. With that being said, here are the banks with the best sign-up bonuses right now:
- Citi® (up to $2,000 bonus)
- HSBC ($450 bonus)
- PNC Bank (up to $400 bonus)
- BMO Harris Bank (up to $350 bonus)
- Huntington National Bank (up to $300 bonus)
- TD Bank (up to $300 bonus)
- Monifi
- M&T Bank (up to $250 bonus)
- Chase (up to $225 bonus)
- Discover (up to $200 bonus)
- Alliant Credit Union ($100 bonus)
- Bank of America ($100 bonus)
Let’s take a closer look at each of these welcome offers.
Citi®
Citi is currently offering some of the most generous sign-up bonuses around with the Citi Priority Account. This welcome offer is tiered, with $200, $500, $1,000, $1,500 or $2,000 bonuses, but you’ll need a significant amount of cash to earn them.
The $200 bonus is offered to those with balances between $10,000-$29,999. If you have a balance of $30,000-$74,999, you get a $500 bonus. If your balance is $75,000-$199,999, you get the $1,000 bonus. The $1,500 bonus is for balances of $200,000-$299,999 and for balances of $300,000 and above, you qualify for a bonus of $2,000. From the date of opening the account, you have 20 days to deposit the minimum amount and maintain it for 60 consecutive days to qualify. This offer is good until Jan. 9, 2024.
HSBC Bank
HSBC currently has a sign-up bonus worth $450 when you sign up for its Premier Checking account. In order to be eligible for the offer, you will need recurring, qualifying direct deposits totaling $5,000 for three consecutive calendar months. This account has minimal fees, including no monthly fees. The offer is valid until March 31, 2022.
PNC Bank
PNC is another bank currently offering tiered sign-up bonuses. For PNC, those tiered bonuses are worth $50, $200 and $400. They are reserved for those making qualifying direct deposits of $500 or more, $2,000 or more and $5,000 or more, respectively. In addition, to be eligible you must not be an existing PNC checking customer or have closed a PNC checking account within the past 90 days. This offer is valid until Feb. 28, 2022.
BMO Harris Bank
BMO Harris will give you a bonus of up to $350 for opening a checking account. The bank has two $200 sign-up bonuses and one $350 sign-up bonus. The two $200 bonuses are for the Smart Advantage and Smart Money accounts and the $350 bonus is for the Premier account. Both $200 bonuses require $4,000 of qualifying direct deposits in the first 90 days, and for the $350 Premier bonus, it’s $7,500. Valid until Jan. 28, 2022.
Huntington National Bank
Huntington National is currently offering three sign-up bonuses worth up to $300. The Asterisk-Free Checking account has a $150 bonus, the Huntington 5 Checking account has a $200 bonus, and the Huntington 25 Checking account has a $300 bonus.
The Asterisk-Free Checking account and the Huntington 5 Checking account both require qualifying direct deposits of $1,000. However, the $300 bonus for the Huntington 25 Checking account requires $25,000 in direct deposits. All of these deposits must be made in the first 60 days, and the account must be open for at least 90 days. Valid until Feb. 28, 2022.
TD Bank
TD Bank is currently offering two sign-up bonuses for checking accounts worth $150 and $300. TD Convenience Checking has a $150 bonus and requires qualifying direct deposits of $500 in the first 60 days. The TD Beyond Checking account has a $300 bonus and requires qualifying direct deposits of $2,500 in the first 60 days. Compared to other bonuses, the deposit requirements are low for TD. Valid until March 31, 2022.
Monifi
Monifi, a division of Midfirst Bank, is currently offering a $250 sign-up bonus with its checking account. To receive this bonus, you’ll need two direct deposits of at least $1,000 each. Also note that Monifi requires two accounts, as Ken Tumin of DepositAccounts.com pointed out. “One is the checking account, called Spend Balance, and it has no monthly fees,” he said.
“The second is a savings-like account, called Save Balance, and it offers an interest rate that has been above the average rate for online savings accounts.” Even if you don’t feel you need a savings account, it’s nice to have an above-average APY. Valid until Jan. 31, 2022.
M&T Bank
M&T Bank is offering a sign-up bonus of $250 for any of its checking accounts. All you have to do is receive $500 in direct deposits in the first 90 days. This is certainly one of the better offers out there considering the bonus is equal to 50% of the direct deposit amount. Plus, its EZChoice Checking account has no monthly fee. Valid until March 31, 2022.
Chase Bank
Chase is currently offering sign-up bonuses of $225 for Chase Total Checking and $100 for Chase Secure Banking. For Total Checking, you can earn the bonus with $500 or more in direct deposits in the first 90 days. The bonus for Secure Banking only requires 10 qualifying deposits. Both of these bonuses are relatively easy to earn and don’t have high deposit requirements. Valid until July 19, 2023.
The information related to Chase Secure Banking was collected by GOBankingRates and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this product/card. Product details may vary. Please see issuer website for current information. GOBankingRates does not receive commission for this product.
Discover Bank
Discover offers nice sign-up bonuses for its online savings accounts, with two separate bonuses of $150 and $200. However, they have high deposit requirements; the $150 bonus requires $15,000 or more in deposits and the $200 bonus requires $25,000 or more in deposits. Plus, money must be deposited in the first 30 days. That said, unlike other banks’ bonuses, you can transfer your own money in as opposed to direct deposit. Valid until March 15, 2022.
Alliant Credit Union
Alliant has an interesting sign-up bonus for its Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account. The bonus is $100 and it requires direct deposits of $100 for 12 consecutive months. While that does total $1,200, the good news is Alliant’s savings account has a high APY. Plus, there are no fees, as Tumin told me. “Alliant’s savings account has no monthly fees, and it has a long history of offering a high rate that has remained above the average rate for online savings accounts.” Valid until Dec. 31, 2022.
Bank of America
Bank of America is offering a $100 sign-up bonus with several of its checking accounts. The offer is good with $1,000 of direct deposits within 90 days of account opening. It isn’t the most generous offer on this list, but it’s still a nice bonus if you wanted to open a BofA account anyway. The current offer is valid until August 31, 2023.
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