$3,000+ in Cash Earned from Bank Account Bonuses over 1.5 Years

Previously I’ve talked about how lucrative bank account bonuses can be. This is something I have gotten into over the past year and a half in my journey toward financial independence, in addition to other profitable “side hustles.”

I was preparing everything to do my taxes earlier this week and noticed that I have quite a few 1099-INT forms for 2016. This made me realize that I have signed up for quite a few new bank accounts in the past year and a half and have made a decent amount of money from them. I keep a very detailed record for each account I sign up for, including: date of account opening, bonus amount, requirements for bonus, requirements to avoid fees, early account termination fees (if applicable), date bonus was received, and the date the account was closed. I signed up for my first bank account bonus in October 2015 which was a Discover checking account with a $50 bonus. Below I will list all of the accounts I’ve signed up for as well as the amount of the bonuses received. At the end I will add them all up, and we’ll see how much I was able to earn over the past year and a half.

2015

• Discover checking- $50
• CitiGold checking account- 40,000 Citi points (redeemed for $400 in gift cards)
• Santander Bank- $20/month for 17 months that account was open. – $340
• Discover savings- $100
• U.S. Bank checking- $125
• TD Bank checking- $150
• Wells Fargo checking- $100
• First Tennessee Bank checking- $250

2016

• Suntrust checking- $200
• Northpointe Bank checking- $50
• Amalgamated Bank checking- $150
• TIAA Cref savings- $100
• PNC Bank checking- $300
• Capitol One Money Market- $100

2017

• Bank of America checking- $300
• M&T Bank checking- $400

Total in past 1.5 years: $3,115

All of these bonuses had different requirements, some easier than others. Usually the higher bonuses involve more difficult requirements but not always. Many required some sort of direct deposit, but often transfers from another bank will work to meet that requirement which is easy enough. When I added all of these bonuses up I was surprised to see that this is an average of a little over $2000/year in additional income! This number will be less from this point forward most likely since there is usually a 12 month waiting period after you close each account before you are eligible for the bonus for opening the same account again, and some only allow one bonus per person ever. This $3,115 is in addition to all of the bonuses that I have earned from credit cards, brokerage accounts, and referrals over the past year and a half. When I started looking into sign up bonuses, I would have never thought I would end up making a decent side income with it, but it has turned out to be fairly lucrative. If you have never looked into sign up bonuses on bank accounts, I encourage you to check it out! I owe much of my success to the Doctor of Credit blog. Here is a great place to start the search for bank bonuses.