Chase $100-$200 Savings Bonus

One clarification: I believe the assumption that the flat $900 checking bonus has no DD requirement is not correct. According to the Chase $900 bonus terms, the requirements are: 1. Open a new Chase Total Checking® account and set up direct deposit within 90 days of offer enrollment 2. Deposit a total of $15,000 or more in new money, not limited to direct deposit, within 30 days of offer enrollment 3. Maintain that balance for 90 days from offer enrollment So for the $900 checking offer, the direct deposit requirement and the $15K balance hold requirement both apply to the checking account itself. There is no separate savings component involved in that offer. I think this is probably where our difference in interpretation came from. One other point: the “APY equivalent” numbers being used here are not technically APY. They are simple annualized return calculations, closer to APR-style math. Since there is no compounding over the 60- or 90-day hold period, calling it APY is not quite accurate I think. For my own situation, I am doing the flat Checking $900 + Savings $200 offer. Even at around a 17% guaranteed annualized return, I agree that it is still very worthwhile. I was mainly trying to understand where your calculation and my interpretation diverged, rather than arguing that the flat offer is a bad deal. 😉

Excellent point, but let’s be clear that there’s no DD component for the flat $900 checking bonus; it’s just a hold. So that’s not an apples-to-apples comparison either. But I take your point; let’s assume someone could do the DD and the hold, and is just trying to maximize their returns. Here are the existing bonuses: $300 DD + $600 for $15K for 60 days $400 DD $900 + $200 for $25K for 60 days (combining these since we don’t know if either or both would be extended to do them consecutively rather than concurrently) In this scenario, you can make $400 without any holds. So we’re left with: $500 for $15K for 60 days = 20.28% APY equivalent $700 for $25K for 60 days = 17.03% APY equivalent. So you’re absolutely right that the combo bonus wins. (For me, even a 17% guaranteed return is worth it, but it’s good to have the clearest possible picture, and I thank you for engaging and helping to correct my faulty assumptions.)

I think the issue is that you’re mixing two different attribution methods. If you exclude the $300 checking/DD component from the combo offer because it can be earned separately, then you need to exclude the same $300 checking/DD component from the flat checking offer as well. Otherwise the comparison becomes: a) Combo: $600 / $15K / 60 days b) Flat checking + savings: $1,100 / $25K / 60 days But that is not apples-to-apples, because the first calculation excludes the checking/DD value while the second includes it. Using consistent treatment, there are two reasonable ways to compare them: 1. Total package return: a) Combo: $900 for $15K for 60 days = 36.5% annualized b) Flat checking + savings: $1,100 for $25K for 60 days = 26.8% annualized 2. Hold-only incremental return, excluding the $300 checking/DD bonus from both: a) Combo: $600 for $15K for 60 days = 24.3% annualized b) Flat checking + savings: $800 for $25K for 60 days = 19.5% annualized Either way, the combo offer comes out ahead. I understand the point that the combo’s extra $400 is contingent on earning the checking bonus. But the flat $900 checking bonus is also contingent on satisfying both the DD requirement and the $15K hold requirement. So if the $300 DD/checking component is removed from one side, it should be removed from the other side too.

I don’t really get your logic. You can do the $300 DD bonus by itself without any hold period. It’s true that the $400 extra is predicated on completing the $300 DD bonus, but that’s irrelevant to the question of calculating APY-equivalent on the hold, since the bonus for the HOLD is $600. That’s the relevant metric If I’m trying to figure out which is a better overall deal for holding money. (If you really want to minmax, you’d have to ALSO calculate what return you’d get from the $300 DD portion of the combo bonus, since that pays out very quickly. But there’s nothing you could do with $300 that would get anywhere near moving the needle.)

I also did the $900 checking + savings bonus in the previous round, so I completely understand why you prefer the traditional approach of doing the $900 checking + savings bonus every two years. It is a proven method, and it is much easier to track and manage. That said, the current new offer allows you to earn a $900 bonus from checking alone, and the additional $200 savings bonus is for a different product from checking. Because of that, I don’t think the savings bonus would be affected by Chase’s churning rule that limits new account opening-related bonuses to once every two years. I understand that the $900 checking bonus is harder to track because there is no bonus tracker. However, you can confirm the offer terms through SM, and there are already plenty of DPs regarding what counts as DD, so I am not too worried about that. As for the possibility of a larger combined bonus, since I am already at the point where it has been two years since my previous checking + savings bonus and I am due to churn again, I think it makes more sense to go for the $900 checking bonus plus the additional savings bonus now. There is no guarantee that a flat savings bonus of $200 or more will come out soon, and even if a larger combined bonus appears later, it would only be irrelevant for the next two years for people who are currently working on the $900 checking bonus.

Sure does, although then you’re relying on the expiration being extended; you can’t go back to the $900 combo if you only did the savings first. Given the possibility of one or the other of the flat bonuses disappearing, I’d definitely do the flat checking $900 first, so that you don’t lose out on anything; if the savings is extended, that’s gravy.

It would still be tricky since there is still 2 year rule in the T&C clearly: You can receive only one new savings account opening related bonus every two years from the last coupon enrollment date and only one bonus per account. Therefore doing small bonuses would delay the possibilities of doing a combined big bonus later. Regardless now the bonus from Chase becomes much less cleaner and there are so many versions and possible conflicts between each other. Personally I would keep the old fashion to do the $900 checking+savings every 2 years, that is the easiest to track and handle. There could be higher bonuses by playing new tricks but probably reversely leads to lower average return on investment as well.

If doing separate checking and saving bonuses, does it mean accounts can be opened individually anytime, meaning each account will have their own 24 month clock?

I understand your point. However, regarding the $600 combo checking/savings bonus you mentioned, the extra $400 is a bonus that can only be received if you also qualify for the checking account bonus. So, I believe that the $300 checking bonus should naturally be included in the comparison.

Since you can get the $300 for doing a quick DD into the checking, I was only counting the hold bonus as worth $600. That’s what generates the numbers that make the two flat bonuses slightly better than the combo bonus.

Yup. Not worth the trouble. If their savings rate was like Live Oak or Marcus, this would be a no brainer.

Yeah high yield checking accounts at credit unions with obvious terms and limits.

Yes. Yes. However, since it has to be deposited as new money, you’ll need to transfer the funds to another bank first and then transfer them back to Chase.

A correction is needed here. 1. Combo checking/savings bonus: $900 for $15K for 60 days = 36.5% APR . 2. Flat Checking bonus of $900 + Flat Savings bonus of $200: $1,100 for $25K for 60 days = 26.8% APR .

There’s also a Chase $900 Checking Bonus available right now. If you pair it with this Savings $200 bonus, you could get a total of $1,100 in bonuses — though compared to the combined $900 Checking/Savings promotion, this requires an additional $10,000 deposit.

The slightly better offer is the $900 checking bonus which only requires one account but with the same requirements

Not forgetting that at all. They haven’t had a savings bonus only in a long while and it used to be $100 for $10000. Plenty of cash doing nothing but sitting in an HYSA.

Well you’re forgetting opportunity cost. That $10,000 could easily be used to fund a more lucrative account. Not to mention that signing up for this would make you ineligible for any better offers that Chase might offer. At least in the near future.

80 bucks is still 80 bucks. Nothing to sneeze at if you were just planning to stick it in an HYSA/MMF anyways.

Depends on your tax rate maybe. I am at 12% so I’d be able to net over $100 as long as I schedule it to stay under 70 days.

delete. edited original post.

This promotion requires a $10,000 deposit , not $20,000.

mark It’s 10k needed for the $200 bonus and can probably do for closer to 2 months.

Think it only needs to stay in there for 2 months (days 30-90) and it takes 2 minutes to schedule deposits and withdrawals. I use Marcus so losing out on 4.5% for like 62 days (~$80). $120 extra is worth the few minutes.