Santander Bank pays you 20$ per month ... irregardless of the amount u have there.
20$ a month is 240$ a year which in turn means that considering a 2% interest rate it means its good for a 12k savings account.
even if you have 24000 dollars it would mean a 1% interest rate.
Better yet, open another account under your partners name and now you have 480 dollars a year.
As you say, they pay you $20 a month regardless (generally speaking, irregardless is not accepted as an actual word) of how much you have on deposit with them. So why would you keep any money in that account?
In order to get the $20 bonus, you need to do two things: have direct deposits totaling at least $1500 per month, and pay two bills through their bill pay.
So I deposit part of my paycheck in here every month, transfer out $1496 of it, and pay two credit cards for $2 each. Then when I receive the $20 bonus, I transfer that out too.
There is absolutely no reason to have any money on deposit in that account (aside from when it is sitting there waiting to be transferred). This account is actually a bad place for the OP to part his/her money because the OP can hold the money on deposit at say Ally, and still get the Santander bonus.
I didnt state to keep the money there. I was just saying that for example even if his total assets are lets say 14k somewhere, those 20 dollars per month would represent1.7% return in that case.
What you descibed is exactly what I do ... although i do have more accounts with them since i work inside their structure so my mortgage is with them - I get 1% off discount on the interest rate and Heloc
I don't understand why you keep calculating a return of $20/(assets held somewhere). It makes no sense. Your return from Santander has nothing to do with assets held at Santander or anywhere else.
In the most extreme example, suppose one has no assets. One could get paid $1500/month to the Santander account and spend every penny on payday to get an infinite (okay technically undefined - you can fix this by spending $1499.99) percent return (because your daily average balance is zero (or 0.01 with the fix), whereas your gain is $20). This would be the most "optimal" case by your metric because you're getting the best return. It goes without saying that this is highly illogical.
You said in your original post you said it would mean a 2% or 1% interest rate. Interest rates only apply if you actually have assets held at a certain institution. Santander does not require this at all.
EDIT:
The reason I'm pressing you on this MrSal is that the Santander account, while a great account, does not actually answer the OP's question. The OP is looking for the bank account that will give the best return for his/her money. The OP could open the Santander account and earn the $20/month, but that return has nothing to do with the OP's savings and the OP still stands to make money by depositing his/her funds in a bank account such as Ally, GE, Barclays, or numerous other online only banks or rewards checking accounts.
