Update 9/17/26:
- Reminder that this offer is still around.
- The terms now explicitly allow the bonus on both new and existing Merrill accounts.
- Apparently you don’t even have to open a new account; can just enroll and then increase your existing balance. For example, if you have $500k in Merrill and you add $500k, you’ll be eligible for the $500k bonus tier and you’ll keep the full $1M in the account for 90 days. (There is a 24 week look-back period, so if you pulled out $10k from the account in the past 24 weeks, you’ll have to add $510,000 in order to get the $500k tier bonus.)
- Separate note: the terms are not clear whether you can do this more than once per lifetime. Readers have had success doing it again after 12 months.
The Offer
Direct Link to offer| another link
- Open a new Merrill Edge account with promo code 1000BR and transfer between $20,00 and $250,000 in assets to get the following bonus tiers:
- Transfer $250,000 or more and get a $1,000 bonus (standard is $600)
- Transfer $100,000 or more and get a $400 bonus (standard is $250)
- Transfer $50,000 or more and get a $200 bonus (standard is $150)
- Transfer $20,000 or more and get a $100 bonus (this is the standard)
- To be eligible, you must have an open BofA checking account and must be enrolled in BofA Rewards within 90 days of funding.
There are also higher tier bonuses available via a Merrill agent.
The Fine Print
- Offer valid for new and existing individual Merrill IRAs or Cash Management Accounts (CMA).
- Cash bonus offers, in the aggregate, are limited to one CMA and one IRA per accountholder.
- Eligible Merrill IRAs are limited to Traditional, Roth, and owner-only SEP IRA. The Merrill IRA or CMA may be a Merrill Edge Self-Directed account, Merrill Edge Advisory Account, Merrill Guided Investing account or Merrill Guided Investing with Advisor account.
- You may be eligible for a different or better offer. Please contact us for more information.
- This offer does not apply to business/corporate accounts, investment club accounts, partnership accounts and certain fiduciary accounts held with Merrill, or to any types of accounts (including IRAs or CMAs) held with other business units of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (MLPF&S).
- Merrill reserves the right to change or cancel this offer at any time, without notice. This offer may not be used as an inducement to sell any kind of insurance, including annuities.
- You must have the qualifying balance 90 days after funding.
- Must fund your account within 45 days with funds originating outside Bank of America and MLPF&S. Funds cannot originate from 401(k) accounts administered by MLPF&S.
- For purposes of this offer, qualifying net new assets are calculated by adding total incoming assets or transfers (including cash, securities and/or margin debit balance transfers) from external accounts, and subtracting assets withdrawn or transferred out of the account within the preceding 52 weeks.
- Your one-time cash reward will be deposited into your IRA or CMA within two weeks following the end of the
18090 day period. If your account is enrolled in an investment advisory program, such as Merrill Edge Advisory Account, Merrill Guided Investing or Merrill Guided Investing with an Advisor, any cash reward deposited into your account will be subject to the program fee and other terms of the investment advisory program. - The value of this reward you receive may constitute taxable income. In addition, Merrill may issue an Internal Revenue Service Form 1099 (or other appropriate form) to you that reflects the value of this reward. Please consult your tax advisor, as Bank of America Corporation and its affiliates and associates do not provide tax advice.
Our Verdict
The standard Merrill Edge offer is to get between $100-$600; with this offer it’s $100-$1,000. It’s been a really long time since we’ve seen this offer publicly (I believe it was end of 2016); since then we’ve seen similar offers targeted to those who attended a specific expo or a slightly worse $900 offer. This one looks like an ordinary public offer with a public landing page which anyone can do by entering the promo code.
Truth be told, Merrill agents might always be able to apply this $1,000 offer manually, but it’s easier to do when it’s a public online offer and you don’t have to make requests.
There’s also a separate secret Merrill bonus with differing tiers and some higher tiers, if you want to transfer more.
There are lots of brokerage bonuses, but an additional reason a lot of us are interested in using Merrill Edge is due to their Preferred Rewards structure which can give you a regular 2.62% earnings on all spend and other nice earning opportunities. The 2.62% rate works both on the Premium Rewards card and on the Travel Rewards card. Keep in mind, you do need also a Bank of America checking account to qualify for Preferred Rewards.
Please do you own research or ask your financial advisers before making a change in your investment plans. It won’t be right for everyone, plus there are tax implications if not done properly (you need to ‘transfer in kind’ to avoid taxation event). We’ll add this to our List of Best Brokerage Bonuses.
Post History:
- Update 5/4/24: Available again
- Update 10/15/23: $750 bonus link here
- Update 7/29/23: There are also higher tier bonuses available via a Merrill agent. Details here.
- Update 9/22/22: Offer is back to $1,000 at this link. Valid through 5/26/23. For Preferred Rewards members only; you must enroll as Preferred Rewards within 90 days of funding in order to be eligible for the increased bonus amounts.
- Update 5/27/22: The $1,000 offer isn’t around anymore, but there’s a new offer at this link for up to $750 when using promo code 750ME. Might be worth waiting for the $900 or $1,000 offers to come back; this is still better than the standard $600 offer. Interestingly they added a lower tier of $50 bonus with $5,000 invested and they also increased the next tier bonus for $20,000 from $100 to $125. They also lowered the investment period to 24 weeks instead of 52. (ht Chase-ing UR Points)
- Update 1/15/22: Deal is back and valid until May 22, 2022. (Some other tier details changed slightly as well, updated below. Seems to only need 90 days now, not 180.)
The terms say “account”, not all accounts.
You don’t have to hold assets for 90 days. You have to hold until the end 90 days after account opening (starting with at least day 45).
Payout DP: 6/14 – account opened 6/15 – funded 50k from BoA checking account (part of new deposit that cleared on the 15th) 9/21 – $200 bonus posted
Huh? I’m not sure why you’d think they’d mean 90 days from opening the account… but it’s what it sounds like: the latter.
I realize now that there may not be a need to hold $250K for 90 days…However, I am not sure how to interpret step 4 in the terms: You must enroll by entering the offer code in the online application during account opening or by providing it when speaking with a Merrill Financial Solutions Advisor at 888.637.3343 or at select Bank of America ® financial centers. You are solely responsible for enrolling or asking to be enrolled in the offer. Fund your account with at least $20,000 in qualifying net new assets within 45 days of account opening. Assets transferred from other accounts at MLPF&S, Bank of America Private Bank, or 401(k) accounts administered by MLPF&S do not count towards qualifying net new assets. You must be enrolled in BofA Rewards™ as of 90 days from meeting the funding criteria described in Step 2. After 90 days from meeting the funding criteria described in Step 2, your cash reward will be determined by the qualifying net new assets in your account(irrespective of any losses or gains due to trading or market volatility) as follows….. “ After 90 days from meeting the funding criteria described in Step 2,” Does that mean 90 days from opening the account or 90 days from when the account was funded with at least $20,000?
An , I now see some discussions about potential options avoiding the 90 day hold. Has anyone actually tried any of those options and received the bonus?
Moved $1.5M for 2% on this up to $40k bonus? https://www.doctorofcredit.com/webull-2-brokerage-bonus-13-month-hold/
My beef with ML: certain ETFs that I like, e.g., BOXX, Calamos buffer funds, are on their restricted list.
Did a bit of research on this now: from what I’m reading, it seems this can be done once every 12 months, though the terms don’t state that clearly. When I did this one time last year, a banker told me to open a new Merrill account. But this year I’m hearing from a different Merrill banker that I can keep the same old account and just add funds.
I did this at the same time as doing the ML offer for $1000. The rep while making my advanced relationship checking account did the code for the checking bonus. It worked!
I called a regular number and asked for the preferred rewards line I think. While you have the platinum honors status the minimum balance requirement is waived too. The pattern I figured I can do is ACAT in the required amount every 1yr to 1yr3mo and then call to lock in status for another 1+year and then move stock out again.
Did an in-kind transfer of just over $250K of my Roth IRA at Fidelity to Merrill to take advantage of the $1K bonus. Transfers happened through March, with the dust settling on the final one on 5/28/26. 8/17/26: $1K bonus posted
While you can supposedly use an existing BoA account to move money into the ML account, it still needs to be new money.
Has anyone done the BOA $100-$500 checking offer and THEN this ML offer? thanks
Has anyone done the BOA $100-$500 checking offer and THEN this ML offer? thanks!
Not at all. That was why I kept arguing for the missing $200.
Lin If the value on the ACATS settlement date minus the amount you transferred out brought it below 100k, that would explain things… I generally don’t imagine it was miscalculated if it was automated.
No. I transferred some cash out but made sure it was still $100K. ML just tried to screw me over $200.
Lin Did the end-of-day value drop below 100k the day the assets settled in the account? Or anything else that might’ve affected the amount of net new assets counted?
Even though I ACATSed $100K, I received only $200 for bonus in early Feb. After trying a few months to dispute this, a manager just called to say hey I’ve been churning (this is my third time) but I’ll get the owed $200 bonus. WTF. You bet, I’ll sure churn again just that now I’ve been put off by an extra 5.5 months.
In practice many people do one per year despite that language.
Your bonus credit date of 6/8/26 is inconsistent with your funding completion date of 3/13/26. If you completed funding on 3/13/26, then your 90-day maintenance period would have ended on 6/11/26. But your bonus was credited on 6/8/26, three days before the end of your 90-day maintenance period.
If you’re using an existing account for the current bonus offer, how long to you have to wait since the last Merrill Edge bonus posted to that account to be eligible for the current bonus offer? The terms, “ Offer valid for new and existing individual Merrill IRAs or Cash Management Accounts (CMA),” suggest the offer might be churnable. But the terms, “ Your one-time cash reward will be credited to your IRA or CMA within two weeks following the end of the 90-day period,” suggest this offer is NOT churnable.
Is this offer churnable? Per terms, “ Your one-time cash reward will be credited to your IRA or CMA within two weeks following the end of the 90-day period.” The words “one-time cash reward” suggest that this offer is not churnable, yet some posts say it is churnable once every 12 months.
No idea if you’ll see this, almost 6 years later, but commenting just in case. The terms say: Eligible Merrill IRAs are limited to Traditional, Roth, and owner-only SEP IRA Rollover IRA is not included in that list, but really a Rollover IRA is a different wrapper on a traditional IRA so maybe that’s why it’s not listed out separately. Do you know if the terms you had at the time had the same language/list?
Updated the promo code, thx
I think it would work for existing customers if you open a second Merrill investment account and apply the promo code
With the new 1000BR, it now says new or existing accounts. Anyone try it?
Thanks for the DP An Helpful.
Celia 🔗 Rep told me using the personal checking as a conduit was fine, but I ended up doing a transfer of assets instead.