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:
- 2015: $1,175 (no post)
- 2016: $2,850 (summary)
- 2017: $3,700 (summary)
- 2018: $2,725 (summary)
- 2019: $1,000 (summary)
- 2020: $800 (summary)
- 2021: $3,600 (this post)
Drum roll please… Here are the 13 new accounts I opened in 2021:
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!
2018 $2,100
2019 $8,675
2020 $5,450
2021 $9,000
Hi Charles, wow, those are impressive numbers! What were you biggest winners in 2021?
How do you manage to get your direct deposit to new accounts?
Hi Rahulk, I can easily switch my direct deposits with work to be split into several different accounts.
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)
Hi Charles, thanks for sharing your successes and 2 fails. I hope the remaining pending account bonuses post soon. Happy holidays!
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
Dang, that is impressive! $19k in a single year, that beats my 7 year combined total.
Davis,
Nicely done!
I plan on checking out these different accounts. There are many of these that I have never heard of.
Congrats!