topic Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses in Personal Finance

Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

randomguy1 — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 16:38:53 GMT

I am currently thinking about moving my different savings accounts around to get sign up bonuses. Currently I have a decent amount of savings in Alliant and am planning to move it to Discover Savings to get their sign up bonus. It looks like the bonus will be paid by the beginning of October, no account has zero monthly fees, and I don't need to hold it there longer than that. Are there any downsides to this other than the labor required to shuffle around accounts?

I recently opened a Chase checking account to build my relationship with them to get into the Chase CC UR ecosystem but plan on keeping the money there. When the Discover Savings account returns it's SUP, I am considering to to move it to Chase. The Chase bonus is a bit more strict as you need to have the money in the account for 6 months or you return your SUP. Downside to Chase, is the interest rate is terrible on their basic savings but I plan on moving the money out the 6 months back to my Alliant or another high yield savings (unless I'm chasing another SUP).

tldr;chasing sign-up bonuses, are there any downsides? I need to be liquid in the next year or so, have stocks, and 401k/IRA retirement accounts.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

Remedios — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 17:02:51 GMT

Downside is that depending on how many you open, you may not be in position to do so again for a while.

Chase will report opening and closing to EWS. Other large banks that use it will eventually say no because after you do this a few times, the purpose becomes obvious. Some are willing to tolerate it, others are not.

For ones that use Chex, get enough inquries and you'll hear NO a lot, especially from CUs.

Again, they are not stupid. Bonuses are great, but losing money is not so great for them

So, slow down the rate at which you're planning to do this.

Or conversely, just go for it and see what happens. Data points are always appreciated.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

randomguy1 — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 17:19:38 GMT

Good to know, thanks. Perhaps if I leave a bit of money on each account and not close them it should be okay? Or will they still flag that I’m opening so many accounts.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

Remedios — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 17:49:12 GMT

Best is to pace yourself. Maybe two a year. If you leave a little bit, you'll end up paying fees as most of those accounts have requirements such as maintaining x amount, direct deposit etc in order to waive the fee. If you pay fees, there goes your bonus.

You can keep going till you get your first no, but also you need to be aware that at that point, you'll have to wait quite a bit

Chex retains inq for a long time, but most lenders are concerned with last year or two

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

iced — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 19:07:27 GMT

I’d also run the numbers versus just leaving that money parked in a decent savings accounts. You’ll typically find that the return works out to only hundreds of dollars per year over interest leaving it parked, with the aforementioned risks of being labeled a churner.

Personally, hundreds of dollars for the extra time, effort and risk is not even remotely worth it to me. Only you can answer if it’s worth it to you.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

randomguy1 — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 19:23:35 GMT

The Chase Savings is $200 plus $100 if you do both the checking and savings. 6 months @ 2.00% is about $173. So $300-173. Worth it? Maybe not as much as I initially thought. Chase Savings requires a daily balance of $300 to avoid fees (easy) or an automatic transfer from checking to saving once a month (easy/minimum $25). Chase Checking, I am keeping regardless requires $500 monthly direct deposit (already done) or minimum daily balance of $300 or more.

However, the Discover is a month or so turnaround is while not a no brainer, a much better gain for a month of money movement. Zero fees with the Discover card.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

coldfusion — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 19:39:11 GMT

One big limiting factor to churning bank accounts is that so many banks are sensitive to new accounts as reported by Chexsystems. In some cases 3-4 accounts opened over the last 12 months will trigger a denial.

In some cases if you're applying in-branch at a local bank they may override but in most cases a denial won't be reconsidered.

In some cases you'll be able to open an account online but upon manual review within a few days the account will be closed and your deposit returned.

It can be fun but it isn't a lucrative endeavor.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

Remedios — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 19:51:25 GMT

Not to mention future denials over "previous unsatisfactory relationship"

Also, you're rebuilding, with only 8 months history. Dont burn bridges over $300 before you've even walked on them.

UW at US Bank had my EWS report available during recon for my first card with them, and it was my only saving grace as I seldom open checking/savings accounts, so while my CR looks like I might be ready to rob the world, at least that one was clean as a whistle.

I think you've made up your mind already so good luck!

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

randomguy1 — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 20:08:23 GMT

Definitely good points. Wanted to ask before I started churning multiple accounts. Thank you for your advice. For Chase, I have mentioned I want to establish a relationship with them. Based on this knowledge, if I do open a savings account, it would be safer to leave the money in there in the long term.

FWIW, In the last 20 years, I have been with Wells Fargo and opened with Alliant as a savings last year.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

OmarR — Tue, 03 Sep 2019 20:43:15 GMT

I think this is DaveinAZ's current cup of tea, maybe he will chime in soon!!

As for me, it has also become my latest interest. So far, for me:

Regions Bank - $400

Chase Bank - $600 (Currently in the works)

Citibank - $500 (Planned for later this month)

Fifth Third - $500 (Planned for Oct)

I do agree I am taking the risk that all the other posters have mentioned. Other than Chase, I have no intentions of having any kind of relationship with any of the banks that I churn. As with Chase, that does happen to be in 2nd player mode, and she(DW) will probably keep that account active for herself.

My current list takes me into Jan 2020, and than I will see what the new year brings me. Maybe some denials? We'll see!!!

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

SEAlifer — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 03:55:40 GMT

@randomguy1 wrote:
I am currently thinking about moving my different savings accounts around to get sign up bonuses. Currently I have a decent amount of savings in Alliant and am planning to move it to Discover Savings to get their sign up bonus. It looks like the bonus will be paid by the beginning of October, no account has zero monthly fees, and I don't need to hold it there longer than that. Are there any downsides to this other than the labor required to shuffle around accounts?

I recently opened a Chase checking account to build my relationship with them to get into the Chase CC UR ecosystem but plan on keeping the money there. When the Discover Savings account returns it's SUP, I am considering to to move it to Chase. The Chase bonus is a bit more strict as you need to have the money in the account for 6 months or you return your SUP. Downside to Chase, is the interest rate is terrible on their basic savings but I plan on moving the money out the 6 months back to my Alliant or another high yield savings (unless I'm chasing another SUP).

tldr;chasing sign-up bonuses, are there any downsides? I need to be liquid in the next year or so, have stocks, and 401k/IRA retirement accounts.

This year I also got into this a bit but was surprised by it. I was getting added as an AU on my partner's account and the banker was like "...and you're signing up for a checking account first." I was kinda taken aback because she just stated it as a given but then she slid me a piece of paper that said if I signed up for checking, got like $1000 direct deposited and kept it open for 6 months I'd get $300. I figured, why the hell not? It's easy to do in my work's system and it was basically free $$$. So this year I got $200 for opening a Chase account, which I was gonna do anyway b/c I wanted their CCs, $300 for opening a BofA account and $300 from Key Bank. I keep getting targeted ads for more but like you I was wondering how often I could do it before they would catch on. I mean, if they want me to do it, why not? In November I'll have hit the 6 month mark on one account and may do it one more time before year end. Only downside is you have to report it as income on your taxes.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

randomguy1 — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 04:33:44 GMT

Thanks for your input. I feel as it’s a bit unfair we can’t compare products without getting potentially dinged for it. I mean we are literally loaning them tens of thousands of dollars if not more.

Regarding that, a bit concerned about Discover’s Bank. There’s been already about 5-6 times in 2 days that I’ve tried to make changes on the app or online and Discover tells me to try again as they are experiencing difficulties. When this happens, I try the same actions on my browser and get the same error. Needless to say, the customer experience isn’t too good. We will see if this is just a bad weekend for them or a somewhat normal thing.

As bad as a rep Wells gets, I have never had a customer service or technical issue with them. They were great with my mortgage as well. B of A was terrible with my mortgage and I didn’t like them as a bank when I had them before Wells. That was over two decades ago, but they always seemed very cold and not too friendly. Wells where I lived at the time (SoCal) was like a breath of fresh air. Young and friendly employees.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

SEAlifer — Wed, 04 Sep 2019 04:38:27 GMT

@randomguy1 wrote:
Thanks for your input. I feel as it’s a bit unfair we can’t compare products without getting potentially dinged for it. I mean we are literally loaning them tens of thousands of dollars if not more.

Regarding that, a bit concerned about Discover’s Bank. There’s been already about 5-6 times in 2 days that I’ve tried to make changes on the app or online and Discover tells me to try again as they are experiencing difficulties. When this happens, I try the same actions on my browser and get the same error. Needless to say, the customer experience isn’t too good. We will see if this is just a bad weekend for them or a somewhat normal thing.

As bad as a rep Wells gets, I have never had a customer service or technical issue with them. They were great with my mortgage as well. B of A was terrible with my mortgage and I didn’t like them as a bank when I had them before Wells. That was over two decades ago, but they always seemed very cold and not too friendly. Wells where I lived at the time (SoCal) was like a breath of fresh air. Young and friendly employees.

Personally I've had no problems with Discover but just as a CC customer. Wells Fargo regularly gave me issues when I was young, poor and living abroad but I had to use them because my folks could put money in my account and I could withdraw it with a fee from where I was studying. BofA also was terrible to my mom when I was growing up and we fell on hard times. Like they were just rude and refused to forgive an overdraft fee that would have meant a lot at that time. But as an adult, whatever, I'll use them for free money and then walk away. I don't owe them anything, they owe me.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 11:08:15 GMT

I missed one for $250 for parking $500 for 60 days in 5/3. What was that $500 on 5/3? Mine was targeted mailer.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

randomguy1 — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 12:24:48 GMT

I missed the US Bank one. Would like that one to build a relationship. BofA needs to have a larger bonus as well.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

OmarR — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 17:23:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I missed one for $250 for parking $500 for 60 days in 5/3. What was that $500 on 5/3? Mine was targeted mailer.

Same deal, but you have to park $15,000 for 60 days.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 18:16:33 GMT

I kicked myself in the butt for missing that. I had the expiration date wrong in my mind.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

randomguy1 — Tue, 24 Sep 2019 18:33:18 GMT

I track everything in this template I found on Reddit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/9430cv/churning_tracker_spreadsheet_template/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

My Chase bonus posted today. Dang it was quick! Opened on 8/30, took some time for DD to hit as it only happened last Thursday.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Oct 2019 19:59:46 GMT

I move around and travel a lot, so I like to have a national bank. Brick and mortars still have there usefulness. I've got checking & savings at BoA, Citi; checking with Chase; checking with WF and savings and money market with local CU. I've had BoA the longest. They are a PITA but they have branches everywhere from SC to SoCal points in between. I opened the Chase checking in 2015 to build a relationship. I have CSP and Freedom with them now. Citi and Wells Fargo opened a year ago to have some diversity incase I needed to close accounts.

I signed up for a 2.36% Citi Accelerated savings this summer. I was going to put that money in Ally but this APY was greater. Since July the rate has dropped to 2.21% then 2.05% (email this morning). So it's prolly going to get closed in the next six months and moved to CU savings or Ally. Citi then had a intro APY 2% for 3 months with a cap of $2500 interest paid. So in August, I put a chunk of change in there too but I missed read the print. It wasn't 2% per month it was 2% APY for 3 months (then dropping to .005% APY). So instead of getting $2500 at the end of this month, I will be getting $240, then moving that money somewhere else.

Like the others say, doctor of credit is your friend. I also didn't know about EWS and chexsystems so this was an informative thread.

Re: Churning Bank accounts for sign-up bonuses

randomguy1 — Fri, 18 Oct 2019 07:41:54 GMT

Varo, Chime, and SoFi are the easiest bonuses I have ever made. No credit pull and bonus posted in days. Make sure you get a referral as you both make extra money as well. Chase and Discover have good ones as well.

I've done these so far. HSBC and BofA business are probably my next ones. After I open the BofA account, I will app for the Alaska Airlines Business CC a few months after although I already do have a Merrill Edge investment account.

Bank	Opened	Close After	Closed	Re-eligible	Bonus	Bonus Expected	Bonus Post
Chase Checking	8/30/2019	2/30/2019		2 years	$300.00	9/28/2019	9/26/2019
Discover Savings	9/2/2019	anytime			$200.00	9/12/2019	9/12/2019
Chase Business Checking	9/6/2019	3/6/2019		2 years	$300.00	11/23/2019
Citibank Checking and Savings	9/9/2019			180 days	$500.00	11/20/2019-2/20/2020
Capital One 360 Checking	9/22/2019	n/a			$25.00	11/12/2019
SoFi Money	9/24/2019	n/a			$50.00	9/26/2019	9/26/2019
SoFi Invest	9/24/2019	n/a			$25 stock	9/26/2019	9/27/2019
Incredible Bank	9/25/2019	01/08/2019			$175.00	01/08/2019
Chime	9/26/2019				$50.00	09/30/2019	9/30/2019
Regions Bank	9/30/2019	3/30/19			$200.00	01/30/2019
Varo	10/1/2019				$100.00	10/3/2019	10/3/2019
Robinhood	10/1/2019				Free Stock	10/1/2019	10/1/2019