If you’re considering opening up a new checking account today, the best checking account bonuses right now make it an attractive time to sign up. Potential new account holders can pick between offers as high as $2,500 currently with more attainable bonus offers ranging from $200 to $600.
Top checking account bonuses can be easy money. I personally know many people who churn offers from bank to bank, scooping up valuable sign-up offers and earnings totaling well over $1,000 per year with just a few clicks and requirements met. And, for the less advantageous, these promotions can be a great way to test which bank fits your lifestyle with a bonus in the process.
Rather than have our readers cycle through offers on bank websites, we did the legwork and compared the checking account bonus offers in market right now. These eight we highlight below are what we believe to be the best checking sign-up offers right now in 2024 factoring in requirements needed and potential bonus.
Overview: Best checking account bonuses
- Chase Bank: $300 checking bonus (expires 7/24/2024)
- SoFi: Up to $300 checking and savings bonus (expires 6/30/2024)
- Axos Bank: Up to $300 checking bonus (expires 6/30/2024)
- Citibank: $300 checking bonus (expires 7/8/2024)
- Wells Fargo Bank: $300 checking bonus (expires 4/1/2024)
- PNC Bank: Up to $400 checking bonus (expires 4/30/2024)
- Bank of America: $200 checking bonus (expires 5/31/2024)
- Huntington Bank: $400 or $600 checking bonus (expires 6/7/2024)
Terms and conditions apply for these offers and they’re of course subject to availability given extensions and pull-downs tend to be quite common. See the fine print and apply for each on the offer pages linked above or continue reading about the best checking account bonuses right now.
Chase Total Checking® account: $300 bonus
Perhaps the easiest bonus you’ll make in your life is by opening a Chase Total Checking® account. Enjoy $300 if you open a new Chase Total Checking® account and make direct deposits totaling $500 or more within 90 days of coupon enrollment to qualify. The simplicity of this offer yet competitive bonus from a large, reputable bank makes this the top checking account bonus currently being offered.
Offering one of the largest branch networks in the country, the Chase Total Checking® account gives customer easy access to managing their funds.
Plus, there's responsive customer support, a versatile mobile app and customer-friendly features like Chase Overdraft Assist℠. There is a monthly service fee but there's multiple waiver options to avoid it.
- 15,000 ATMs and more than 4,700 branches
- Easy to earn welcome bonus
- Powerful Chase Mobile® app
- Monthly service fee applies if qualifications not met to waive
- No interest on balance
How offer works:
- Open a new Chase Total Checking® account with coupon code applied by 7/24/2024.
- Make direct deposits totaling $500 or more within 90 days of coupon enrollment.
- Receive your bonus within 15 days.
Some important bonus details:
- 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.
- Not available if you’re currently a Chase checking customer, if you had a checking account from Chase closed within the last 90 days or closed one within three years with a negative balance.
- Not offered if you’ve received another checking account bonus from Chase within last two years of last coupon enrollment and only one bonus is available per an account.
- Only one bonus per an account.
» MORE: Open a Chase Total Checking® account
SoFi Checking and Savings: $300 bonus
Open a SoFi Checking and Savings account and you can earn a cash bonus of $50 or $300 depending on your direct deposits during the qualifying bonus period. You’ll want direct deposits in excess of $5,000 to truly take advantage of this offer otherwise it isn’t very attractive.
How offer works:
- Open an account and set up direct deposit by 6/30/2024.
- The direct deposit bonus period begins a direct deposit hits your account and ends 25 calendar days later.
- Get either $50 or $300 depending on your direct deposit amount: between $1,000 to $4999.99 earn a cash bonus of $50; total direct deposits of $5,000 or more earn a cash bonus of $300.
Some important bonus details:
- Eligible direct deposits are the electronic deposits of your paycheck, pension or government payments (e.g., Social Security) from your employer, benefits provider, or the government.
- This offer is open to customers opening a new SoFi Checking and Savings account or existing account holders who haven’t previously made direct deposits at any time.
- In the case of a joint account, only the primary account holder (the member who signed up first) is eligible for a bonus.
» MORE: Open a Sofi Checking and Savings account
Axos Bank Rewards Checking: Up to $300 bonus
The Axos Bank Rewards Checking account is currently offering a checking bonus for new account holders of up to $300. Combined with offering a competitive interest rate of up to 3.30% APY and unlimited domestic ATM fee reimbursements, it’s a checking account worth signing up for if you can qualify for all the payouts and keep your account open.
The Axos Bank Rewards Checking account is a free checking account with no monthly fees, no minimum balance requirements and reimbursements for ATM fees.
Earn a competitive APY and take advantage of a limited time checking bonus.
- Up to 3.30% APY*
- Lucrative welcome bonus
- No monthly maintenance fee
- Unlimited domestic ATM fee reimbursements
- Multiple rate requirements to earn max APY
- No physical branches
How offer works:
- Open a new Axos Bank Rewards Checking account with promotional code by 6/30/2024.
- Fund your account within 30 days of account opening.
- Have qualifying direct deposits that total at least $5,000 each calendar month during the first seven calendar months your account is open as well as maintain a minimum average daily balance of $7,000.
- Earn six payouts of $50 for each calendar month qualifications are made. Earned within 10 business days following the end of the statement cycle in which the direct deposit requirement was met.
Some important bonus details:
- Limited to one checking account promotional offer per year.
- Customers who have held primary ownership of an Axos Bank checking account at any time in the last twelve months are not eligible.
- Account must remain open for 210 days, or an early closure fee equal to the amount of the total bonus earned up to $300 may apply.
» MORE: Open an Axos Bank Rewards Checking account
Citi® Checking account: $300 bonus
Open a new eligible Citi® Checking account with Enhanced Direct Deposits and make the total required deposits for a $300 cash bonus. This looks to be an easy bonus to earn but there have been some comments about new account holders having problems with deposits via Zelle resulting in frozen accounts to be aware of.
How offer works:
- Open a new eligible Citi Checking account with Enhanced Direct Deposits through the Citi offer page by 7/8/2024.
- Deposit at least two Enhanced Direct Deposits (EDD) directly into your new checking account (equal to $1,500 or more) within 90 calendar days of opening your checking account.
- Receive a $300 cash bonus if your checking account has completed the required activities within 30 calendar days.
Some important bonus details:
- An EDD is an electronic deposit through the Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) Network of payroll, pension, social security, government benefits and other payments to your checking or savings account. An EDD also includes all deposits via Zelle® and other P2P payments when made via ACH using providers such as Venmo or PayPal.
- Must not have had a Citi account in the last 365 calendar days to be eligible.
» MORE: Open a Citi® Checking account
Wells Fargo Everyday Checking account: $325 bonus
The Wells Fargo Everyday Checking account is offering a bonus offer of $325 from another one of the largest banks in the United States. This is a slightly better offer than the $300 bonus offer that is also active with a closer expiration of 4/1/2024 but not as good as the $400 offered at one time by Wells Fargo in the past few years.
How it works:
- Open a new Wells Fargo Everyday Checking account with the supplied offer and a minimum deposit of $25 by 4/9/2024.
- Receive a total of $1,000 or more in qualifying electronic deposits to your new checking account within the 90 calendar day qualification period.
- Receive a bonus of $300 deposited into your account following confirmation on offer completion.
Some important bonus details:
- All Wells Fargo consumer checking accounts are eligible for this offer with the exception of checking accounts offered by Wells Fargo Private Bank.
- Current owners of a Wells Fargo consumer checking account, those who have received a bonus for a consumer checking account from Wells Fargo in the past twelve months and current Wells Fargo employees are not eligible.
» MORE: See offer details from Wells Fargo
PNC Virtual Wallet: Up to $400 bonus
The PNC Virtual Wallet offer doesn’t drag out the process of earning a bonus. Data points show customers getting the promotional cash bonus for this checking and savings combo about two weeks after completing the deposit requirement.
How it works:
- Virtual Wallet: Earn $100 when you establish total qualifying direct deposits of $500 or more to your spend (primary checking) account.
- Virtual Wallet with Performance Spend: Earn $200 when you establish total qualifying direct deposits of $2,000 or more to your spend account.
- Virtual Wallet with Performance Select: Earn $400 when you establish total qualifying direct deposits of $5,000 or more to your spend account.
- Qualifying direct deposits must be received within 60 days of account opening and your account remain open in order to receive award.
Some important bonus details:
- A qualifying direct deposit for this offer, is defined as a recurring direct deposit of a paycheck, pension, Social Security or other regular monthly income electronically deposited by an employer or an outside agency.
- If you change your Virtual Wallet product type after you open your account, the last business day of the month in which you opened your account will determine your offer eligibility and corresponding reward amount.
- New account will not be eligible for offer if you or any signer on the new account has an existing PNC Bank consumer checking account or has closed an account within the past 90 days, or has been paid a PNC promotional premium in the past 24 months.
» MORE: Open new PNC Virtual Wallet
Bank of America Advantage Plus Banking®: $200 bonus
Open a new Bank of America Advantage Plus Banking® account with qualifying direct deposits and earn a bonus of $200. There’s a minimum of $100 to open this account or you can choose to open a Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking® account ($25 min) or Bank of America Advantage Relationship Banking® account (also $100) depending on your level of banking needed.
How it works:
- Enroll in offer and open a new Bank of America personal checking account by 5/31/2024.
- Set up and receive qualifying direct deposits that total $2,000 or more into the account within 90 days of opening.
Some important bonus details:
- This offer is online only and limited to individuals who have not owned or co-owned a Bank of America personal checking account within the last twelve months.
- Direct deposits that qualify under this offer are defined of those of regular monthly income – such as your salary, pension or Social Security benefits, which are made by your employer or other payer – using account and routing numbers that you provide to them.
» MORE: Open a Bank of America Advantage Plus Banking® account
Huntington Perks Checking account: Up to $600 bonus
Huntington Bank is offering a checking account bonus of $400 through their Perks Checking account and $600 through their Platinum Perks Checking that requires a high minimum deposit. Both of these can be opened online or at a branch location.
How it works:
- Earn $400 when you open a new Perks Checking account by 6/7/2024. You must set up and receive a qualifying direct deposit within 90 days of enrollment by coupon.
- Earn $600 when you open a new Platinum Perks Checking account by 6/7/2024 and make minimum deposits of $25,000 within 90 days of coupon enrollment.
- Accounts must be kept open for at least 90 days.
- Bonus will be added to your account within 14 days of offer completion.
Some important bonus details:
- Existing Huntington checking customers, including any sort of relationship with a Huntington checking account, or those who closed a checking account within the last six months, can not receive offer.
- Only available to applicants residing in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia or Wisconsin
- Transfers from another Huntington deposit accounts or payments through peer-to-peer networks do not qualify as direct deposits.
» MORE: Open a Huntington Checking account
The competition: Other checking bonus offers
These are some other checking account offers we considered you may want to look into further if the basic requirements and resulting bonus sound promising.
BMO Smart Advantage Checking
- Earn a $250 bonus when you have a total of at least $4,000 in qualifying direct deposits within 90 days.
- Offer expires 9/30/2024.
TD Beyond Checking
- Earn a $300 bonus when you have $2,500 in qualifying direct deposits within 60 days.
- Offer expires 3/31/2024.
M&T Bank EZChoice Checking
- Earn up to a $200 bonus by having a total of at least $500 in qualifying direct deposits within 90 days of account opening to qualify.
- Offer expires 4/30/2024.
U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking
- Earn a bonus between $100 to $500 when you make qualifying direct deposits between: $3,000 and $4,999.99 (earn $100); between $5,000 and $9,999.99 (earn $300); $10,000 or more (earn $500).
- Offer expires 3/12/2024
Chase Private Client Checking℠
- Earn up to a $3,000 bonus when you open a new account with qualifying activities. Start by meeting with a Chase Private Client Banker. You’ll need to deposit at least $150,000 to earn the minimum bonus of $1,000 and at least $500,000 to earn the full $3,000.
- Offer expires 7/24/2024.
Citi® Checking account ($30,000+)
- Open an eligible checking account and enroll in the cash bonus offer (with balance held in your checking or between your checking and a new Citi Savings account) with your balance on your 20th day deciding your bonus: $30,000 – $199,999 (earn $500); $200,000 – $299,999; (earn $1,500); $300,000 or more (earn $2,500).
- Plus, new to relationship customers can choose their Relationship Tier based on combined average monthly balance. Tiers include Citi Priority, Citigold and Citigold Private Client.
- Offer expires 7/8/2024.
Why do banks offer bonuses for checking accounts?
Banks and credit unions offer checking account bonuses to make checking accounts stand out. These serve as an incentive to an open account during the offer period that can bring in new customers and new deposits. Rewards are usually open only to new account holders and require setting up direct deposits or depositing a sum of money by a fixed deadline. There’s also usually a time period an account must remain open, constituting a trial run of the bank’s product.
Some checking accounts forego offering a bonus and instead additional features or a higher interest rate as the draw with the same end goal to potentially build a long checking account relationship.
How to choose between checking account bonuses
Banks will almost always be clamoring for your business. If that means publishing incredibly generous loss leaders to get you in the door, they’ll do it. From the above list, you can see how it’s relatively easy to net a couple hundred dollars or more just for giving a bank a test drive for a few months.
Here are priorities to keep in mind when choosing from the best bonus offers.
Offer availability and eligibility
Bonus offers may vary based on where you open an account and not be be offered nationwide. Offers also may be online only or require certain requirements if using at a physical branch location. There are also terms and conditions to consider that could have an effect on eligibility, like if you’ve held a matching or similar account prior with the bank or credit union. Start by confirming the offer is available to you so you don’t run into the issue of trying to open a new account for a sign-up offer you can’t receive.
Overall value of the promotion
Consider the overall value of the promotion being offered. Offers typically allow you to earn a flat bonus amount or up to a certain bonus amount with different tiers of earning. The end result, taking account tax implications and existing alternatives, should be considered when choosing the best checking bonus offer for you at any given time.
A huge bonus may sound nice until you read the fine print and see you can only realistically qualify for a portion or it’s the highest tier requirement being featured.
Effort required to qualify
The effort required should line up with the checking bonus offered. That means the number of direct deposits or funds needing to be held in a checking account along with the actual process should make sense for what you can earn. Having to apply at a local branch and then meet $10,000 in direct deposits doesn’t make sense to earn a $200 bonus, for instance.
The effort of a checking bonus should also be realistic. You don’t want to sign up for a checking account that requires a qualification you know won’t be attainable for your current situation. That results in wasted effort and lost opportunity on a checking account bonus that could have realistically been hit instead. That $300 offer may be a better choice from the start than the “up to $400” offer that may only earn $100 from.
Ongoing use of the account
New checking account holders may be content with a lower bonus offer if the ongoing use of the account offers more regular benefits. There’s a give and take. This is especially important for those seeking a long-term checking account option versus just trying to take advantage of the best possible bonus.
Are bonuses for checking accounts worth it?
Bonuses on opening a new checking account can be worth it as a way to earn some extra money. Certain offers can be worth hundreds of dollars (or more) for meeting the stated requirements. Opening multiple checking accounts to take advantage of bonuses, however, results in more checking accounts to track and potential account closure fees. It’s important to read the fine print on offers and make sure you’re considering all the details for a resulting net gain
One factor to consider on bonus offers that require you to lock up funds for a period to qualify is if you would be better offer earning a competitive rate during that same period with another deposit account. Take the Citi checking offer for example: if you were to keep $250,000 in their new checking account and still took best course with your funds, including depositing latest possible to qualify, you’d still be better off earning on your cash with a high-yield savings account.
Short-term vs. long-term checking account value
Is a short-term checking bonus or a better overall checking account the better option? If you’re looking for a long-term relationship with a checking account to manage your finances properly, there are far more important factors to consider than just a short-term incentive. The best outcome would be to find a checking account you’re considering because it fits your lifestyle and come across an offer to sign-up for it to take advantage.
Therefore, rather than the list of checking bonuses, you may want to consider the best checking accounts. There’s a number of account benefits and details to consider that may provide long-term value outside of just a one-off sign-up offer. These details for comparison to find the top accounts included: monthly maintenance fees, minimum deposits, account features, ATM access, insurance and customer service. In a single year, certain features through perks offered and money saved on fees you would have paid otherwise can eclipse the money you’d receive in a sign-up bonus.
The bottom line
There are a lot of checking accounts that offer unique features and perks, including valuable bonus offers. Compare these checking account sign-up offers, ensure eligibility, verify you can meet the requirements and make sure the bonus was fitting of the effort. You may end up being a fan of the simple bonus of $300 for the Chase Total Checking® account or find another offer that works best from our top choices instead.
Checking account offers and deals might be the incentive you need to give a bank you’ve never heard of a whirl. Just remember that terms are constantly changing — bonuses can be here one day and gone the next. If you see a checking account bonus you like, it’s best to sign up sooner than later.
FAQs about checking account bonus offers
Can I close a checking account after getting a bonus?
Many checking account bonus offers require you to keep your account open for a fixed period of time. Closing an account before this timeframe is completed could result in a forfeit of a bonus, failure to successfully complete an offer as stated or result in an account closure fee.
What is bank account churning?
Bank account churning, including churning checking accounts, is opening up new accounts exclusively for the sign-up offer and moving on to the next offer. This may mean closing or moving money out of a previous account. You run the risk of having bonuses deducted or account closure fees ruining profitability if you don’t read the relevant terms and this is done incorrectly.
Do you have to pay taxes on a checking account bonus?
Yes, bank bonuses that act as incentives are taxed in the same way your income is. That includes a bonus when opening up a new checking account. You may receive a 1099-MISC form and/or a 1099-INT form (or Form 1042-S, if applicable), similar to what you would receive when paying taxes on interest. Some banks do not send out forms but you are still responsible for the tax liability. You can use a 1040 form for additional income when filing your taxes to list the income from a checking account bonus.