Author Topic: is it worth it for $500  (Read 7029 times)

doneby35

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is it worth it for $500
« on: January 11, 2017, 11:54:43 AM »
Would you go through the trouble of closing your existing checking/savings accounts and opening a checking/savings account with another bank if they were offering $500?
Most of my bills get paid through autopay which makes use of my account number so I would have to change all of that. Would you do it for $500?

neophyte

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2017, 11:57:47 AM »
Why close the existing accounts?

I've set up new checking accounts before in order to get the sign up bonus. I just channel money into the new account, transfer into my old account, and don't worry about changing any of the autopay settings.

tarheeldan

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2017, 11:58:16 AM »
It can't take more than 1hr of work, so $500/hr+ for your effort. You can keep the old ones open too.

erutio

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2017, 11:59:52 AM »
Why close the existing accounts?

I've set up new checking accounts before in order to get the sign up bonus. I just channel money into the new account, transfer into my old account, and don't worry about changing any of the autopay settings.
Good advice.
As for as would you do it, if the entire process took 30 minutes, then that's a $1000/hr rate.  Is there anything else that you do that brings in that much?

doneby35

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2017, 12:29:13 PM »
If I transfer money into the new account, i would have to deposit $15,000 (meaning my ER savings) there for 90 days and I would have to set up direct deposit (meaning my paychecks will go there) in order to get the $500.
Isn't there a fee associated with transferring money from one bank to another?

catccc

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2017, 12:38:41 PM »
I do this kind of stuff frequently.  Someone tried to tell me it was unethical to open an account for the bonus.  But the wells fargo account I currently have I opened because of a bonus over a decade ago.  And I'm just now planning to switch to one that I just got a bonus from.  So sometimes it works out that I leave the account open.  IMO, they are enticing me to try them out by offering the bonus.  Sometimes I end up staying with them.  What bank is this, btw?  I'm always on the lookout for a good bonus...

nobody123

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2017, 12:40:03 PM »
I don't close existing accounts when I open accounts for sign-up bonuses.  I just open the new account and have them pull the minimum amount from my existing savings.  If there is a direct deposit requirement, I find out the minimum amount and have my work just split my paycheck deposit among my old and new account.  Right now, my paycheck is split between my checking at one bank, a savings account at an online savings bank, and a $1 direct deposit to a savings account at a traditional bank to keep it from going dormant.  I can go onto our HR website and have my check split up to 9 ways, hopefully it is that easy for you.

There usually isn't a fee to transfer money between banks unless you pay to have it expedited.  You might run into an issue with savings accounts because most of them limit the number of withdrawals per month you're allowed before charging a fee.

honeybbq

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2017, 12:55:51 PM »
No; I like simplicity and $500 isn't enough for me to want to mix it up and go through the hassle.

doneby35

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2017, 01:02:26 PM »
The bank is chase by the way, not sure if it applies to everyone or just someone who just purchased a new house (my case).
I don't have an ethical problem with it, after all we're talking about switching from one big bank to another. I'm pretty sure I'm going to do it, $500 would be nice, I just don't want to complicate things, so I think it would be easier to just close the existing one and make the few calls required to change account settings for auto payments and direct deposit.

If I tell them that I'm closing my account and they ask me why, i tell them about the offer, I wonder if they would match it or something, that would be cool too.

catccc

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2017, 01:38:39 PM »
Ah, I've looked at the chase bonuses before.  I think they have something like $300 available for the general public, but you have to open the account in branch for the $300 offer, I think.  there aren't any close enough to me.  Good luck with getting your free $$!

2Birds1Stone

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2017, 01:40:17 PM »
Yes, I churn bank account bonuses and since September I have made ~$2,500 from various Savings/Checking account bonuses. It takes a minimal amount of time and it's a significant amount of money.....

.....heck I've paid for a whole year of my cell phone, car insurance, and gas just from 6 months of this "churning".

Davids

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #11 on: January 11, 2017, 02:41:50 PM »
For a $500.00 bonus absolutely. And you do not need to close your other accounts to do it, just follow the necessary rules for the new bank whether it is a certain amount of bills paid from account per month or withdrawls, very easy to do. I have done this a few times and then once I got my bonus and met the minimum time frames to avoid any early closing fees would close the account.

khangaroo

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2017, 02:48:45 PM »
Be sure to read the fine print as some of these offers make you make 10 transactions/month on your debit card or something like that.

I was looking into doing this and then I was like f it, it's too much work. Also, my current bi-weekly financial process is a well-oiled machine so this would just add an extra inconvenience of changing my direct deposit, auto-pay, and whatnot. The # of transactions was the killer for me so definitely read the fine pint before you open the account.

JLee

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2017, 03:02:49 PM »
I'd do the checking account for $300 (I did for $200 or $250 and still use chase now), but $200 is not enough to tie up $15k for 90 days. I'd much rather have it in an index fund.

nobody123

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #14 on: January 12, 2017, 08:09:06 AM »
IIRC, the Chase offers require you to keep the account open for some period of time (6 mos.?) after they pay the bonus, otherwise they take it back.  They pay essentially zero on their savings account, so make sure the bonus makes up for the lost interest vs. an online savings account.

Ryland

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #15 on: January 12, 2017, 12:08:43 PM »
Definitely done this before, and made $300 with maybe 1 hour of work.

Highly recommend reading the fine print before pulling the trigger. Often times they want you to link you direct deposits to the account and fund it with a minimum before you qualify for the promotion deal.

Well worth it if you've covered all your bases and it fits!

I'm a red panda

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #16 on: January 12, 2017, 12:28:42 PM »

Isn't there a fee associated with transferring money from one bank to another?

Not one I've ever paid. We regularly transfer to from one bank to another.  We use a credit union for ATMs and then a non-local bank for a higher interest rate

kpd905

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #17 on: January 12, 2017, 12:54:51 PM »
I do this all the time. As others have said, you don't need to close your existing account.  I keep one checking open forever, and the others only stay open as long as I need to for the bonus.

I have signed up for 5 checking accounts in the last month between my wife and I.
« Last Edit: January 12, 2017, 01:05:54 PM by kpd905 »

HPstache

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #18 on: January 12, 2017, 01:00:19 PM »
Sounds like you got the Chase bank offer

renata ricotta

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #19 on: January 12, 2017, 02:45:43 PM »
I'd do the checking account for $300 (I did for $200 or $250 and still use chase now), but $200 is not enough to tie up $15k for 90 days. I'd much rather have it in an index fund.

Yeah, that's exactly what I did. The math worked out for the checking account, but not for the savings account. My husband got a new job so we just set up his direct deposit to go into the chase account, then a day or two after his check hit transferred the $ to our regular checking account and proceeded as normal. You could easily set this up to be an automatic transfer to make it even more convenient. After the six months hit, we closed the account and went back to our regular checking account.

seattlecyclone

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #20 on: January 12, 2017, 04:03:05 PM »
I'd do the checking account for $300 (I did for $200 or $250 and still use chase now), but $200 is not enough to tie up $15k for 90 days. I'd much rather have it in an index fund.

I just opened a Chase checking account for the $300 bonus but passed on the $200 savings account bonus for this exact reason.

Guesl982374

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #21 on: January 16, 2017, 11:44:46 AM »
Would you go through the trouble of closing your existing checking/savings accounts and opening a checking/savings account with another bank if they were offering $500?
Most of my bills get paid through autopay which makes use of my account number so I would have to change all of that. Would you do it for $500?

Depends on where I was in my journey to FI. Where I am today (>50% of the way through with $500K-$1M in assets) not worth the hassle, if I was just starting out (<$25K) I would probably do it.

marty998

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #22 on: January 16, 2017, 01:50:32 PM »
I'd do the checking account for $300 (I did for $200 or $250 and still use chase now), but $200 is not enough to tie up $15k for 90 days. I'd much rather have it in an index fund.

I just opened a Chase checking account for the $300 bonus but passed on the $200 savings account bonus for this exact reason.

You guys made the choice to give up a guaranteed 5.3% annualised return?

I haven't accounted for taxes (which changes things obviously), but I would take 5.3%.

westtoeast

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #23 on: January 16, 2017, 02:23:23 PM »
I had an offer from Chase, but it required a DIRECT deposit in order to get the bonus. So just transferring over some of my money wouldn't do the trick. I would have to change my direct deposit account at work (which can take over a month to get processed) and then change it back after I got the bonus.

Other offers I've seen have the same policy. Am I somehow not seeing offers that you can just open by putting money in?

renata ricotta

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #24 on: January 16, 2017, 02:53:36 PM »
I'd do the checking account for $300 (I did for $200 or $250 and still use chase now), but $200 is not enough to tie up $15k for 90 days. I'd much rather have it in an index fund.

I just opened a Chase checking account for the $300 bonus but passed on the $200 savings account bonus for this exact reason.


You guys made the choice to give up a guaranteed 5.3% annualised return?

I haven't accounted for taxes (which changes things obviously), but I would take 5.3%.

It's not a HUGE difference true, but I'd rather invest $15,000 today than $15,200 in 90 days, yes.  First, my operating assumption is that the market will return ~6-7% over the long-term.  Second, time-in-market is the cornerstone of my investing strategy; I get all investable dollars into the market today, and yesterday would have been better. 

Furthermore, since this is my general practice for all my money, I don't tend to have $15,000 sitting around at any given time to stick in a savings account (any savings account).  So, I'd either have to sell an invested asset (which I generally try to avoid at all costs, not the least because it would trigger a taxable event) or I'd have to spend 2-3 pay periods amassing $15k in cash before I take advantage of the checking account offer (meaning that I'm missing even more than 90 days in the market for that money).

kingxiaodi

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #25 on: January 16, 2017, 03:17:03 PM »
I had an offer from Chase, but it required a DIRECT deposit in order to get the bonus. So just transferring over some of my money wouldn't do the trick. I would have to change my direct deposit account at work (which can take over a month to get processed) and then change it back after I got the bonus.

Other offers I've seen have the same policy. Am I somehow not seeing offers that you can just open by putting money in?

As I understand it, many banks use an outdated system that can't tell the difference between a bank-to-bank transfer and a DD. Unfortunately, Chase seems to have caught on and upgraded, so B2B won't work there.

B2B transfers do still work at other banks, though. I recently (Nov 2016) completed an offer at TD Bank requiring DD by transferring funds from another bank. I've found the linked site to be a great help in finding these deals and explaining what works to complete them.

JLee

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #26 on: January 16, 2017, 03:20:43 PM »
I'd do the checking account for $300 (I did for $200 or $250 and still use chase now), but $200 is not enough to tie up $15k for 90 days. I'd much rather have it in an index fund.

I just opened a Chase checking account for the $300 bonus but passed on the $200 savings account bonus for this exact reason.

You guys made the choice to give up a guaranteed 5.3% annualised return?

I haven't accounted for taxes (which changes things obviously), but I would take 5.3%.
Yes, because I don't have $15k liquid at any given time.  I would have to save $15k at an interest rate of nearly 0% until I got there.

Edit: Ha, also basically everything bridget said.

seattlecyclone

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #27 on: January 16, 2017, 03:50:49 PM »
I'd do the checking account for $300 (I did for $200 or $250 and still use chase now), but $200 is not enough to tie up $15k for 90 days. I'd much rather have it in an index fund.

I just opened a Chase checking account for the $300 bonus but passed on the $200 savings account bonus for this exact reason.

You guys made the choice to give up a guaranteed 5.3% annualised return?

I haven't accounted for taxes (which changes things obviously), but I would take 5.3%.
Yes, because I don't have $15k liquid at any given time.  I would have to save $15k at an interest rate of nearly 0% until I got there.

Edit: Ha, also basically everything bridget said.

+1. It's not just the 90 days the money is in the savings account, but also the time the money spends accumulating in my checking account until I get $15k to put into the savings account, and also the time after 90 days are up before I get around to going in and closing the account. Those things reduce the 5.3% down to a lower level, and taxes on the interest income lower it further.

Bottom line is that $300 to change my direct deposit settings for one paycheck and tie up $1,500 is a compelling enough offer for me to bite, but $200 to tie up $15,000 isn't. Your mileage may vary.

arebelspy

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #28 on: January 25, 2017, 06:29:19 PM »
I wouldn't if it required me to close the old accounts in this hypothetical.

I have done this in the past where I could keep the old accounts and just close the new one after six months.

I don't bother any longer, personally (just like I no longer bother with 0% CC transfers with $0 fee just for the float), but could see maybe doing it again one day.  Much more hassle than churning, and less lucrative, and ties up more cash.  Meh.

That's based on my current situation though.  If you are hustling to make extra though, could be well worth it.  :)
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DaMa

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Re: is it worth it for $500
« Reply #29 on: January 25, 2017, 08:44:53 PM »
I did this last year.  I didn't close my usual accounts.  I just deposited the minimum in the Chase accounts, and then changed my work direct deposit to $250 biweekly to Chase and the rest to my usual.  I then transferred the $500 every month to my usual.  I didn't change any bill payments to Chase.

Getting the Chase accounts closed was a bit of a pain, though.  Reminded me why I hate Chase.  :-)