Shopping around for a new savings account? Banks are offering some attractive bonuses to new customers, but don’t be fooled. The rewards are only worth it for a minority of savers.
“Account bonuses are really just marketing budgets disguised as perks….If you're financially disciplined, these offers can be an easy win, but the trick is to stay intentional,” says Rachel Lawrence, Head of Advice and Planning at Monarch.
She’s right, of course. Taglines claiming that you can earn hundreds of dollars just by opening a new account sound exciting, until you read the fine print. Some offers require you to deposit thousands of dollars to qualify, while others won’t even offer you a bonus unless you open both a savings and a checking account.
“Treat it like a freelance project,” says Lawrence. “Track the offer’s requirements (direct deposits, minimum balances, timelines) and set reminders to reassess once the bonus hits.”
Sound like a lot of work? It’s tedious—but that’s what we’re here to help with. Let’s take a look at the breakdown of February’s top savings account bonuses.
Best combo bonus: Chase Total Checking & Savings
- Maximum reward: $900
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Required qualifying activity:
- Open both checking and savings.
- Set up direct deposit to checking account (no minimum requirement)
- Deposit $15,000 in new money to savings account
- Minimum balance to avoid monthly fee: $300 for savings, $1,500 for checking
- APY on balance: 0.01% on savings, N/A for checking
If I hadn’t recently taken advantage of this offer when it was only $600, I’d sign up for this in a heartbeat. Opening the accounts takes only a few minutes, then you’ll need to set up direct deposit on the checking account. If you want to make sure to avoid monthly fees, just make sure you arrange the total to be at least $500 per month.
For the savings account, you’ll need to deposit at least $15,000 of new money within 30 days. I had a little trouble with this part, as my external bank would only allow me to transfer $5,000 at a time. But once those transactions are completed, there’s no further action required.
Chase states that the bonus will be paid out within 15 days of the qualifying activity being met, and this held true in my experience. For me though, the low interest rate on savings—and complete lack thereof on checking—meant these weren’t accounts I wanted to keep in the long run, and I closed them not long after.
Just be careful not to move too much money away from this account without doing your due diligence; if you cancel the direct deposits and/or let the balance on either account get too low, both accounts will charge a monthly fee until you close them or meet the qualifications to waive them again.
Best interest rates: SoFi Bank Checking & Savings
- Maximum reward: $300
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Required qualifying activity:
- Open both checking and savings accounts
- Set up direct deposit of at least $5,000 to checking account within 25 days
- Minimum balance to avoid monthly fee: N/A—no monthly fees
- APY on balance: 3.80% on savings and 0.50% on checking
SoFi has one of the best ongoing deals around. Like Chase, you must open both a checking and a savings account—but these ones are both interest-bearing, and significantly so! The 3.80% APY on the high-yield savings accounts is one of the best we’ve seen lately, and the 0.50% APY on checking is quite respectable.
Perhaps the biggest hurdle to obtaining this bonus is the short amount of time to meet the qualifying activity: You must be able to direct deposit $5,000 in a pretty short time frame. The clock doesn’t start ticking until your first dollar is direct deposited, and you must meet the $5,000 within 25 days.
If you’re paid biweekly, that means you have to see at least $2,500 per paycheck to qualify. Paid monthly, and you’ll have to get the $5,000 all at once (unless you have multiple direct deposits, of course). Fail to hit this threshold and you’ll only receive a $50 bonus instead of $300.
And these accounts are well worth keeping after the bonus hits your account; if the interest rates don’t convince you, the lack of monthly fees, no minimum balance requirement, and the ability to get your paychecks two days early just might.
Biggest welcome bonus: Wells Fargo Bank Way2Save
- Maximum reward: $525
- Required qualifying activity: $25,000
- Minimum balance to avoid monthly fee: $300
- APY on balance: 0.01%
There’s a hefty $525 reward offer from Wells Fargo, and I added it to this list purely because of the size of the welcome bonus—but it’s probably not the one I’d choose to chase. The bonus requires a whopping $25,000 deposit of new money within 30 days to qualify, which you then have to leave in the account for 90 days. That’s a measly 2% return on your investment, followed by a paltry 0.01% APY on future earnings.
If you’re completely sold on being a Wells Fargo customer, this is the best savings offer you’ll find there. But if not, I encourage you to take a look at some of the other options on this list.
Great for automated savings: TD Bank Simple Savings
- Maximum reward: $200
- Required qualifying activity: $10,000
- Minimum balance to avoid monthly fee: $300
- APY on balance: 0.02%
TD Bank’s Simple Savings account offers some great automated savings tools that can help new savers build up their funds. However, the steep direct deposit requirement of $10,000 and shockingly low APY make it clear that’s not the audience they’re targeting. Plus, you have to keep your funds in the account for 90 days to qualify.
This bonus might be worth it if you have nothing else for that ten grand to do, but you’d earn twice as much by sticking that money in a 90-day CD at over 4% interest.
Smallest required direct deposit: Alliant Credit Union High Rate Savings
- Maximum reward: $100
- Required qualifying activity: $1,200
- Minimum balance to avoid monthly fee: N/A, just sign up for eStatements
- APY on balance: 3.10% (with $100 avg. daily balance)
If you’re brand new to saving and don’t have the large sums required by other banks on your list, the welcome offer from Alliant Credit Union may be a good fit for you. There’s no direct deposit requirement here; instead, you simply have to deposit $100 per month into the account. As long as you leave those funds alone and maintain a $100 average daily balance, you’ll earn a 3.10% APY—which is far higher than much of the competition.
It’ll take a full year to earn the reward here, though: Customers must make that $100 monthly contribution for 12 consecutive months before earning the bonus. For established savers, this one isn’t worth the effort.
Make sure you get the most out of your savings
Lawrence reminds savers to be cautious.
“The phrase ‘free money’ should always raise an eyebrow,” she says. “Think of account bonuses as low-effort side gigs, not passive income. The real trap is hidden fees or tying up cash you might need in a pinch.”
Her advice is to be selective—not all bonuses are worth the time, stay organized—use a spreadsheet or app to track requirements and closing timelines, and not to get too greedy—there’s a difference between being opportunistic and burning bridges with banks you may need in the future.
“And lastly, remember: banks are never truly “giving” you anything,” she says. “They’re playing the long game. Make sure you’re playing yours, too.”
