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How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2021?

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Doctor of Credit has a Best Bank Account Bonuses page that he keeps up to date with the best offers each month.  In that master post, he links to individual bank account bonuses with helpful information regarding the bonus details, how to avoid monthly fees, when to close the account, how often you can open a new account, and much more.  For the last 7 years, I have been opening new checking accounts, savings accounts, brokerage accounts, and cash management accounts for the new member bonuses.  Tt the end of each year, I share my results on the blog.  Over the last 7 years, I have made $15,850 in bank account bonuses.  You will receive 1099-INT tax forms every year, so you have to pay taxes on the bank account bonuses, but sometimes you can fund the opening deposit with a credit card and earn miles, points, or cash back.  If you are lucky, you can meet a minimum spending requirement by funding a new checking account or reach a high spending target to earn more rewards.  Here are my results from the last 7 years with links to corresponding blog post summaries:

Drum roll please… Here are the 13 new accounts I opened in 2021:

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The above list includes traditional checking accounts, savings account, brokerage accounts, and cash management accounts.  I include everything above since the process is basically the same.  The Tastyworks Brokerage bonus was in the form of 100 shares of stock that was worth about $2 per share.  The Betterment Checking bonus was in the form of American Express Membership Rewards Points from Rakuten.  The requirements vary quite a bit between the accounts: deposit $10,000 for 3 months, to having a few direct deposits, to making a few debit card purchases, to funding the account with $100.  I don’t mind jumping through hoops to open new accounts (funding accounts, moving money around, changing direct deposits, keeping track of bonuses, and then closing accounts), but I don’t get very excited about earning $50 or $100 in Swagbucks or MyPoints for opening new accounts from small online banks.

As you can see, I only have 5 accounts still open today (December 13).  The Kabbage by AMEX Checking is currently paying 1.1% interest, so that will probably become my go to online savings account for 2022.  The Marcus Online Savings account is currently paying 0.7% interest since I referred a few people, but that rate is not as competitive as Kabbage.  I keep my Brex Cash and Betterment Checking accounts open since there is no monthly fee, but I am not using them right now.  I will probably close my Fidelity Cash Management account in the next month or so.

If you are interested in bank account bonuses, I recommend checking out Doctor of Credit’s Best Bank Account Bonuses page.  If you did any bank account bonuses in 2021, please let me know how much you made this year and whether your total is higher or lower than previous years.  Thanks for reading and have a great day everyone!


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9 thoughts on “How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2021?

  1. Charles

    Keep in mind the results are 2 player and one business.

    Business accounts:
    Huntington $750
    Chase $300
    BMO Harris $500
    B of A $500
    Brex Cash $1,100

    Personal accounts:
    Huntington $500 x 2
    Capital One $400
    Fifth Third $250 x 2
    US Bank $400
    Discover Savings $200 x 2
    Central Bank $350
    Associated $500
    Midland States $250 x 2
    Monifi $275 x 2
    Tastyworks $500 x 2
    Fidelity $100 x 2
    Go2Bank $50

    Total: $9,000

    Pending:
    Citibank $400 x 2
    Amex Bus. $300
    Kabbage Bus. $300
    US Bank Bus. $300
    Tradestation $150 x 2
    Wells Fargo $200 x 2
    Go2Bank $50
    Jefferson Bank $250
    Chase $225 x 2

    Pending Total: $3,150

    Fails:
    Regions Bank $200 x2 (Promo code fail due to incorrect code secondary to a computer hack)
    Central Bank $250 (Tried to get bonus despite one per household rule)

    Reply
  2. Davis

    1st United $200
    Abra $19
    Air Academy $110
    Albert $217
    All of Us $111
    Alt $35
    Axos $315
    Bakkt $99
    Bank of America $100
    Bank of the West $250
    BBVA $103
    Bitflyer $15
    Bitmo $13
    Bitstamp $30
    BlockFI $24
    Boro $6
    Brinks $20
    CakeDefi $44
    Cash App $137
    Celsius $602
    Chase $750
    Cheese $90
    CIT $42
    Citi $1,170
    Citizens Equity First $25
    Coinbase $86
    Coinlist $13
    Concreit $255
    DCU $50
    Delta Community $149
    Diamond App $27
    Door $2
    Dough $4
    Ent $200
    ErisX $510
    Fairwinds $520
    Fidelity $200
    First Commerce $300
    First Tech $500
    Firstrade $18
    Gatsby $23
    Gemini $10
    GO2Bank $100
    Groundfloor $1,080
    H-E-B $10
    HappyNest $25
    Hodlnaut $40
    HSBC $300
    Idaho Central $50
    Invstr $5
    Kabbage $300
    KeyBank $275
    LBS $100
    Lili $442
    M1 Finance $45
    Makara $25
    Marcus $100
    Midland States $250
    MoneyLion $3
    Moomoo $69
    Mountain West $30
    Mos $6
    MyConstant $29
    Nadex $1,186
    Navy Federal $40
    Nearside $266
    Nexo $42
    NorthOne $100
    OKCoin $631
    One $236
    onJuno $125
    Outlet $7
    Oxygen $105
    Parked $13
    Pentagon Federal $95
    Pennsylvania State Employees $270
    Plynk $120
    Podercard $10
    Point $492
    Porte $100
    Public $54
    PrizePool $20
    Radius $60
    Redstone $300
    Revolut $512
    Robinhood $193
    Sable $80
    SoFi $961
    Southland $200
    Spiral $50
    Step $6
    StreetBeat $41
    Strike $6
    Sunflower Bank $200
    Tastyworks $172
    Technology $100
    Titan $9
    Tornado $62
    TradeStation $100
    TradeUp $242
    Varo $100
    Voyager $60
    Washington Federal $100
    WeBull $66
    Wescom $500
    Western Union $23
    Wise $19
    Wolfpack $1
    Yieldstreet $400
    Yotta $4
    ZenGo $41
    Sum $19,197

    Reply
    1. Charles

      Davis,
      Nicely done!
      I plan on checking out these different accounts. There are many of these that I have never heard of.
      Congrats!

      Reply

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