topic Re: Opened a Chase account in Personal Finance

Opened a Chase account

sid33 — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 03:59:52 GMT

Today was the breaking point! One more “open an account and get free money” flyer in the mailbox. I was tired of Chase waving $$ in front of my face. So, I grabbed the DW and we headed to the Chase right around the corner from the house. The process was quite simple. They even gave me the “ Premier Plus” Checking without the required minimum $15k balance since I am a veteran. So I setup a direct deposit and soon I will have an extra $300! (minus taxes at the end of the year) My main banking will stay with Navy for now.

This will also allow me to build a relationship with them I case I want to app for one of their cards in the future.

Re: Opened a Chase account

DaveInAZ — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 13:48:11 GMT

Yeah. I got one in the snailmail box yesterday and am thinking about it. $300 is a pretty nice bank bonus, I just hate moving my direct deposit, and so does my employer. I don't have it with me, but I thought the $15k balance was to get an additional $200 for savings, the checking has no minimum balance for the $300 bonus, just the DD requirement.

Re: Opened a Chase account

sid33 — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 14:40:31 GMT

I hear you. I'm lucky in the fact that I can set-up serveral DD of my paycheck, and I can change them at any time. If I didn't have that capability then I probably wouldn't have done it.

Re: Opened a Chase account

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 16:15:44 GMT

@DaveInAZ wrote:
Yeah. I got one in the snailmail box yesterday and am thinking about it. $300 is a pretty nice bank bonus, I just hate moving my direct deposit, and so does my employer. I don't have it with me, but I thought the $15k balance was to get an additional $200 for savings, the checking has no minimum balance for the $300 bonus, just the DD requirement.

Premier Plus Checking is $15k to avoid $25/mo service charge. Waived with military ID. I took the Total Checking bonus when I opened my account because it was a much lower minimum, and after getting the bonus I converted to College Checking to drop the minimum altogether.

Great move OP, enjoy the bonus!

Re: Opened a Chase account

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 23:58:00 GMT

I open a Chase Checking and Savings each year and close them about 7 months later. That's $500/year. This year I added a Chase Business Checking ($300) to the mix. That's $800 for a half hour visit in-branch.

Chase is a bit odd in that they don't have any problem with people churning their bank account bonuses. Discover, by way of contrast, will only give you one bonus for each type of account during your life. Thus with Discover it's a nice plan to wait until they are offering the bonus at its highest historic rate.

Re: Opened a Chase account

sid33 — Sat, 13 Jan 2018 01:11:29 GMT

Wow, I didn't know they would let you do it more than once. That's good to know. Open one every year in November for some extra Chrismas money! I'll have my son write them a thank you card for paying for his presents this year.

Re: Opened a Chase account

DaveInAZ — Sat, 13 Jan 2018 21:44:06 GMT

sid33 wrote:
I hear you. I'm lucky in the fact that I can set-up serveral DD of my paycheck, and I can change them at any time. If I didn't have that capability then I probably wouldn't have done it.

Wow, that's the way to go! My employer is the local county and in addition to having to mail the payroll department a form & voided check they added a policy last year that the first pay after charging DD is a printed check they mail to you. And it's a "business" check, as wide as a sheet of paper, too big to work on a mobile app, so I have to go to a branch to deposit it. So, a royal PITA to change direct deposit, on purpose.

EDIT - Just checked my mailer, it is for the Total checking w/$300 bonus, so no $15k deposit/balance needed. Ok county payroll, here I come . . .

Re: Opened a Chase account

Anonymous — Sun, 14 Jan 2018 06:14:53 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

Chase is a bit odd in that they don't have any problem with people churning their bank account bonuses. Discover, by way of contrast, will only give you one bonus for each type of account during your life. Thus with Discover it's a nice plan to wait until they are offering the bonus at its highest historic rate.

I wouldn't go that far. I usually get flagged by Early Warning system if I try to open an account online. I have to go into a branch and somehow I'm able to open the account.

Re: Opened a Chase account

Anonymous — Sun, 14 Jan 2018 14:20:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Chase is a bit odd in that they don't have any problem with people churning their bank account bonuses. Discover, by way of contrast, will only give you one bonus for each type of account during your life. Thus with Discover it's a nice plan to wait until they are offering the bonus at its highest historic rate.
I wouldn't go that far. I usually get flagged by Early Warning system if I try to open an account online. I have to go into a branch and somehow I'm able to open the account.

I am unsure what you mean by "I wouldn't go that far." You wouldn't go as far as to say that Chase lets people get their bonus once a year? Or you wouldn't go as far as to say that Discover only lets you do it once?

I'm confused! :-)

Re: Opened a Chase account

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 14:13:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Chase is a bit odd in that they don't have any problem with people churning their bank account bonuses. Discover, by way of contrast, will only give you one bonus for each type of account during your life. Thus with Discover it's a nice plan to wait until they are offering the bonus at its highest historic rate.
I wouldn't go that far. I usually get flagged by Early Warning system if I try to open an account online. I have to go into a branch and somehow I'm able to open the account.
I am unsure what you mean by "I wouldn't go that far." You wouldn't go as far as to say that Chase lets people get their bonus once a year? Or you wouldn't go as far as to say that Discover only lets you do it once?

I'm confused! :-)

It means there is a point where Chase will say "enough" with account churning, because Early Warning Systems (owned by Chase and others) will flag you.

Re: Opened a Chase account

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 13:28:14 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Chase is a bit odd in that they don't have any problem with people churning their bank account bonuses. Discover, by way of contrast, will only give you one bonus for each type of account during your life. Thus with Discover it's a nice plan to wait until they are offering the bonus at its highest historic rate.
I wouldn't go that far. I usually get flagged by Early Warning system if I try to open an account online. I have to go into a branch and somehow I'm able to open the account.
I am unsure what you mean by "I wouldn't go that far." You wouldn't go as far as to say that Chase lets people get their bonus once a year? Or you wouldn't go as far as to say that Discover only lets you do it once?

I'm confused! :-)
It means there is a point where Chase will say "enough" with account churning, because Early Warning Systems (owned by Chase and others) will flag you.

Between EWS and Chex I can see why people have a hard time getting a new checking account after others have been closed in the red... Crazy stuff how much information is on these reports...

Re: Opened a Chase account

DaveInAZ — Wed, 17 Jan 2018 22:26:28 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Chase is a bit odd in that they don't have any problem with people churning their bank account bonuses. Discover, by way of contrast, will only give you one bonus for each type of account during your life. Thus with Discover it's a nice plan to wait until they are offering the bonus at its highest historic rate.
I wouldn't go that far. I usually get flagged by Early Warning system if I try to open an account online. I have to go into a branch and somehow I'm able to open the account.
I am unsure what you mean by "I wouldn't go that far." You wouldn't go as far as to say that Chase lets people get their bonus once a year? Or you wouldn't go as far as to say that Discover only lets you do it once?

I'm confused! :-)
It means there is a point where Chase will say "enough" with account churning, because Early Warning Systems (owned by Chase and others) will flag you.
Between EWS and Chex I can see why people have a hard time getting a new checking account after others have been closed in the red... Crazy stuff how much information is on these reports...

FYI for others, Bank of America, BB&T, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo & Capital One own EWS.

I opened & closed accounts with BoA, Chase, US Bank & Wells Fargo over the past couple of years for bonuses, no problem. I've also opened accounts at 5 credit unions the past couple of years, 1 for bonus, the others for their credit offerings - car loan, Home Equity & CC; I still have 3 of the CU accounts. I pulled my Chex report last year, all clean, haven't bothered with EWS, but I've never an overdraft or even a returned item from a deposit.

I walked into my local Chase branch yesterday, same branch where I opened & closed and account in 2015 for a new account bonus, and opened a Total Checking account in minutes with my mailer coupon for $300 bonus. I'm moving a direct deposit to Chase since the account has to be open at least 6 months to not forfeit the bonus, I might even stick with them for awhile - I stuck with BoA for a year & a half until I got tired of them. Wells Fargo is the only one where I "dined & dashed", closing the account shortly after I got the bonus since the dummies forgot to include a time limit for closing the account without penalty or bonus forfeit. I hate Wells Fargo with a well earned passion.

Re: Opened a Chase account

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 08:22:56 GMT

Can you buy one of those Chase total checking $300 bonus coupons on ebay and bring it to a branch? Or does Chase keep a list of who qualifies (based on address) so those who didn't get mailed a coupon don't qualify?

Re: Opened a Chase account

DaveInAZ — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 13:17:58 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Can you buy one of those Chase total checking $300 bonus coupons on ebay and bring it to a branch? Or does Chase keep a list of who qualifies (based on address) so those who didn't get mailed a coupon don't qualify?

Check Doctor of Credit, the posting for the Chase bonus may be a couple pages back now, but they have a link to the Chase URL where you can input your email address and they email you a coupon. I have a problem accessing DoC on my home internet or I'd post it, the Chase url, linking to DoC is frowned upon. Chase doesn't keep a list of names & addresses, I'm pretty sure my mailer said "resident", but each code is unique.

Re: Opened a Chase account

sid33 — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 20:17:57 GMT

My mailer just had "Resident". It was for the Total check, but if you are Military/Veteran they will upgrade it to the Premier Plus and wave the minimum balance requirement.

Re: Opened a Chase account

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 23:34:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

Chase is a bit odd in that they don't have any problem with people churning their bank account bonuses. Discover, by way of contrast, will only give you one bonus for each type of account during your life. Thus with Discover it's a nice plan to wait until they are offering the bonus at its highest historic rate.
I wouldn't go that far. I usually get flagged by Early Warning system if I try to open an account online. I have to go into a branch and somehow I'm able to open the account.
I am unsure what you mean by "I wouldn't go that far." You wouldn't go as far as to say that Chase lets people get their bonus once a year? Or you wouldn't go as far as to say that Discover only lets you do it once?

I'm confused! :-)
It means there is a point where Chase will say "enough" with account churning, because Early Warning Systems (owned by Chase and others) will flag you.

You may be right, of course, but I doubt it. The Chase Checking/Savings accounts are well known as the best bank accounts for churners (meaning opening them, getting the bonus, and closing them -- every year). Many people have been churning these for years and years. I am kinda late to the game.

The fine print for the offer specifies that you are ineligible if you have closed your Chase savings or checking in the last 90 days. 90 days! That's an incredibly liberal window. It's basically giving a massive green light to churners. You can open, get the bonus, close in 6 months, wait 90 days, and do it all again year after year -- and many people do just that.

Contrast that, as I mentioned earlier, with the fine print Discover includes, which specifies that you can only get the bonus once in your life. Chase could write their offer that way, but they don't, because for some reason they judge that they get something out of having people churn. They may be right -- I have three Chase credit cards and no Discover cards.

PS. Even if Chase didn't have a special relationship to EWS, I don't think they'd need it to identify churners of their deposit accounts. It's easy for Chase to create an internal database of all its past customers and what accounts they have opened and closed. I could set that up for them in MS Access it's so easy! I'd be surprised if they don't have something like that. But for some reason they don't use it to prevent churning of bank accounts or cards.