Bank of America is one of the largest banks in the United States and chances are you have a branch just around the corner.
While headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Bank of America has approximately 4,600 retail branch locations and almost 16,000 automated teller machines sprinkled throughout the country. I did a quick search on their location tools and found 50 results within 12.7 miles! (many were ATMs, but still quite a sizable footprint)
Bank of America is the second-largest bank behind JPMorgan Chase – and today you can find out how they will give you money to open an account with them.
Bank of America has two cash offers:
- For new customers – Bank of America will give you $100
- For existing customers (maybe) – Bank of America will give you $300
We’ll discuss both:
Table of Contents
Promotions For New Customers to Bank of America — $100
If you are not a customer of Bank of America at all, the offer is not as generous (though not all existing customers are offered the account bonus listed above). Their public nationwide offer is for $100 and to get it, you need to open a new checking account on their offer page.
Three Bank of America Checking accounts qualify for this bonus:
- Bank of America Advantage SafeBalance Banking® – $25 opening deposit, $4.95 monthly fee waived for eligible students or enrolees of Preferred Rewards
- Bank of America Advantage Plus Banking® – $100 opening deposit, $12 monthly fee waived with direct deposit or daily balance requirements, etc.
- Bank of America Advantage Relationship Banking® – $100 opening deposit, $25 monthly fee waived with direct deposit or daily balance requirements, etc.
Open the account and set up and receive at least 2 qualifying direct deposits of $250 or more into that account within the first 90 days of opening and you’ll get your bonus. Confirm the monthly fee waiver rules for each (they can change from when this is published) but they are relatively easy to satisfy.
Don’t forget, the Bank of America promotional offer code is DOC100CIS. If you click through the links on this site, the code will be entered automatically for you.
Learn more about this offer
(Offer expires June 30th, 2021)
Existing Non-Checking Customers — $300
If you already have an account with Bank of America, such as a credit card, but you don’t have a personal checking account, log in.
On the right-hand side of the screen, you’ll see an “Activity Center.” When you click on Special Offers & Deals, you may see the following offer.
“*This exclusive offer is only for select Bank of America® customers who don’t already have a personal checking account with us and who received an email or direct communication from Bank of America.”
The richest one we’ve seen is where you:
- Open a Bank of America Core Checking or Interest Checking account, and,
- Set up a qualifying direct deposit totaling $4,000 or more within the first 90 days of opening your account to get the $300 bonus.
The terms will be similar though the dollar amounts may vary based on what they’ve decided to offer you.
One key point to remember is that both accounts have monthly maintenance fees. These can be waived if you meet other qualifications such as a minimum daily balance or maintaining that direct deposit. The bonus money will be reported as income as a 1099-MISC.
To get this offer, you need to log into your existing Bank of America account and look in the Activity Center menu. If you don’t see it, it’s no longer available.
McAfee® LiveSafe™ 12-Month Subscription for Free
If you are an existing Bank of America customer, you can get McAfee® LiveSafe™ for 12 months absolutely free when you sign up for the service here. McAfee LiveSafe is an antivirus and security suite for your computer that protects PCs, Macs, phones, and tablets – it can also secure your Wifi when you use public networks.
It is structured as a 12-month trial period that will be renewed after the end of the year. You will have to cancel by calling 866-622-3911 or you will be billed. The service is normally $119.99 per year and their public first-year promotion is for only $39.99 (you get it free from Bank of America).
How Does This Compare?
If you’re an existing customer and qualify, the $300 bonus is strong. We maintain a list of bank bonus offers and there are very few offers that are as generous as the $300 (with such easy requirements). Since you already have an existing relationship with Bank of America, it makes the maintenance of the account very easy since you have a login already.
If you’re not a customer, the $100 bonus not bad but not as good as some others.
Chase has its Total Checking offer of $200 with very easy requirements too. Just open an account, set up a direct deposit within 60 days, and you’ll get the bonus in 10 days. The fee is waived if you have monthly direct deposits of at least $500 or you keep a minimum daily balance of $1,500. Those are both very easy requirements to satisfy. You can pair a Chase Savings account too for an extra $150, though that requires $10,000 in new money.
So as you can see, the public offer from Bank of America is OK. Other banks both have similar large geographic footprints (Chase is bigger) so you aren’t getting anything extra by going with Bank of America.
Before you take advantage of this or any other bank offer, review this guide on bank account bonuses to make sure you know what to watch out for.
DOC100CIS is the promotion code you must enter to get the $100 bonus for opening a new Bank of America checking account.
The code gives you $100 for opening a new Bank of America checking account.
There are three checking accounts and the fees vary from $4.95 a month to $25 a month. They can be waived if you set up a direct deposit or maintain a high enough daily balance.
Bank of America $300 Cash Bonus
Strengths
- $300 for existing customers, $100 for new customers
- Wide geographic footprint
- Relatively easy bonus requirements
- Museums on Us program
Weaknesses
- Lower bonus for non-customers
- Accounts pay no or little interest
- Monthly maintenance fees (that can be easily avoided)
MC says
Is it 4000 qualifying deposit in one transaction or can multiple (most salary account are biweekly and not sure how many get 4000 in a biweekly after all deductions)
Jim Wang says
I believe it is a total of $4,000 or more within 90 days, not a single $4,000 deposit within that time frame. Since it is a targeted offer (and I’m already an existing customer), I can’t confirm the terms by looking at it myself. If you’re worried, call the bank and they can give you an “official” answer.
Knicki says
It’s $4000 total; so, if you get paid monthly, $1334 per month would satisfy the requirement.
Brett says
Not for me—–BofA denied me the credit as multiple agents told me it had to be a single $4000 deposit. I had $2000 go in twice a month for 7 months and was told that didn’t qualify. I canceled the DD and pulled my money and then was hit with the $12 monthly. Fortunatley they refunded it and now closed the account.
MH says
I opened a new credit card account on Feb 7. I was told if I charge $3000 within 90 days I will receive $300 reward in my account as a promotion. My 90 days are ending this week. Is it true that they have extended the 90 days limit to spend $3000 because of the coronavirus pandemic? I was told that they have given people more time to spend to receive the award since they realize people will not be able to spend as usual. Can you confirm what the extension period is?
Jim Wang says
You have to call the bank directly and ask.
Glad says
I was considering reopening my checking account with Bank of America when I saw this offer. I had not been targeted but I called for an appointment and showed them the link for the $400 bonus offer on my iPad. They gave it to me with no problem.
Jim Wang says
That’s great to know!
jessica says
At the time I opened a checking account with BOA there was a promotion for a $300 bonus for new members who had direct deposits of 4k within 90 days. I was advised that this bonus would be deposited within 60 days after the requirement was met. I was wondering how long that generally takes? Like is that usually done relatively quick or would it be towards the end of that 60 days?
Jim Wang says
Usually it’s closer to the end but you have to check the terms of the promotion, it’ll usually say when they deposit it.
Albert says
I completed the $4K deposit eligibility requirement for the $300 bonus. An amount of $228 was deposited in BOFA account. This is amount is less than the promoted $300. What are the reasons for the reduced bonus amount?
No pre-signup, upfront disclosure or explanation given.
Jim Wang says
I would contact them and find out why the amount was so odd – perhaps they withheld some for taxes?
Miranda says
When can I close this account with no penalty? I have full filled the $4000 deposit requirement and received my $300 bonus already. I don’t need the account and rather not have it, but I don’t want to be penalized for closing the account too soon…
Jim Wang says
There doesn’t appear to be an early account closure fee but you could call Bank of America directly to find out, they’ll be able to tell you.