I recently received offers from both Chase and Bank of America…“Open a free checking account, and we’ll give you $100!”
The terms are a little different: Chase requires a $100 initial deposit and either direct deposit or 5 debit card purchases; BoA wants a $250 deposit, a single debit card use, and two on-line bill payments within 30 days. The accounts have to stay open for a couple of months, but I can’t see any other strings attached. I have to take the time to fill out the forms, and I expect a flurry of junk mail, but other than that, I don’t see a downside.
Except for having to pay taxes on the $200 (I assume the money will generate 1099s), it seems like free money. My friend said, “Hey both those banks got bailout money from the government, it’s yours anyway!”
I think I’ll go for it. When they start charging fees or require a minimum balance on the accounts, I’ll just close the suckers.
I opened one at ING online bank for a hundred. Closed the account maybe a year later unused.
Also at Netbank I got a hundred, which is now gone, but I used that account a little, because it had free bill pay. But then I got a local WAMU account with free bill pay. Only since Wells Fargo bought them out that may change to a fee system
Yeah, if you have a bank that charges for debit transactions, cancel that shit NOW. I’ve never heard of this, aside from the occasional store charging for them, and then it’s usually only for being under a certain amount, and can always be avoided by using the debit card as a “credit” transaction (ie, signing it instead of inputting your PIN.)
And charging for online bill pay seems kind of “scammy” to me, as well. I’ve never been charged for that in the banks I’ve had, either.
I haven’t got the debit card yet, but there was no mention of debit transaction fees–to the account holder. I would guess there is some kind of fee to the merchant, though.
In 2004, I got a $75 Visa gift card for opening a WaMu free checking account–and they sent me a 1099. I spent all the money in the account and eventually closed it a couple of years later. When I was opening my Chase account this weekend, I was reminded the Chase took over WaMu…they still had my old account info in their system. That got a raised eyebrow from the teller, and a suppressed snicker from me.
smee goan, I’ve asked you before to stay on topic; your penchant for cryptic utterances can make it difficult to tell whether you’re on topic or not. This is a community that values clear communication, so please make more of an effort to spell out what it is that you’re trying to say.
