Checking Bonuses

[wick]

Hi Everybody,

Since discovering the power of sign up bonuses early last year I have been systematically applying for new credit cards for miles, cash etc. A recent post here mentioned a sign up bonus for a checking account. I hadn't  heard of this before and have never opened checking account (Still using the same no fee student checking account from high school).

Does anyone have a strategy for signing up for these offers? Is there a list of them somewhere that I might find? What are your stategies? Particularly, how do you handle the direct diposit? I'm a little concerned about how I might look to my boss changing my direct deposit info every few months. Maybe this concern is baseless, what are your thoughts.

Thanks!!!

[Paul der Krake]

Direct deposit: change your direct deposit at work, or find a way to trigger the deposit requirement by doing a ACH transfer from another account. There's more guesswork involved in the second approach.

Unless you work for a small company, your direct deposit habits should never show up on your boss' radar. Many companies even have a self-service portal were you can do it without any human interaction.

[MoseyingAlong]

DoctorofCredit.com has a great list of bank account and credit card bonus offerings. They update monthly and go into all the details. I'd start there.

HTH

[Dicey]

Check with 2birds1stone. He's a pro at this and very helpful.

[wick]

Direct deposit: change your direct deposit at work, or find a way to trigger the deposit requirement by doing a ACH transfer from another account. There's more guesswork involved in the second approach.

Unless you work for a small company, your direct deposit habits should never show up on your boss' radar. Many companies even have a self-service portal were you can do it without any human interaction.

Hey Paul,

Unfortunately, I do work for a small company. My boss and the bookkeeper have desks directly next to one another.

[wick]

Dicey, Moseyingalong,

Thanks so much!

[neo von retorch]

I've only done one of these (WF), but as was pointed out, there are pages that report what methods work for "direct deposit." In my case, a PayPal transfer works just fine for WF, and I got the bonus a couple days after my PayPal transfer!

[bacchi]

Vanguard transfers sometimes work, too.

[Heroes821]

Since I don't see this mentioned yet, be aware that unlike credit card rewards you will get a 1099 tax form for this money and it is Taxable Income.

[NinetyFour]

Another recommendation for the Doctor Of Credit site.  Sign up for the weekly e-mail.  He does thorough reviews of offers.  Great stuff.

[wick]

Since I don't see this mentioned yet, be aware that unlike credit card rewards you will get a 1099 tax form for this money and it is Taxable Income.

Thanks for the heads up on that! Was not aware of it!

[wick]

Another recommendation for the Doctor Of Credit site.  Sign up for the weekly e-mail.  He does thorough reviews of offers.  Great stuff.

Just signed up!

[wick]

Thanks so much everybody. You've been so helpful!