Wells Fargo Promotions: Including Nationwide $400 New Checking Account Bonus (January 2021)

Editor's Note: As of August 1st, 2020, this offer is no longer available on WalletHacks.com. We will update this post whenever this offer returns – until then, our post on the best bank bonuses and promotions has other offers that might interest you or click here to sign up for our email newsletter and get notified of new bank promotions.

Banks need accounts. You need more cash.

How about getting a $400 sign up bonus to make a Wells Fargo Everyday Checking account your main bank account?

That's right, Wells Fargo will give you money for opening an account. Open an account and within 90 days, receive a total of $4,000 or more in qualifying direct deposits into the new checking account within 90 days from account opening. It's reported as interest, so you'll owe taxes on it, but that's a nice little bonus to switch banks.

This looks similar to other high dollar bank promotions. Check them out after reading through this article.

Definitely worth a look if you're in a state where the offer qualifies (there are a few restrictions, listed below) but you can apply online so you're not even required to change out of your jammies to visit a branch!

Read on to figure out how you sign up for the offer as well as how long it takes to see the bonus. I’ve also compiled other Wells Fargo bonuses and promotions you can take advantage of below the $400 bonus review.

Here's another offer worth checking out:

Bank of America $100 New Checking Account Bonus

Bank of America will give you a $100 cash bonus if you open a new account by June 30th, 2021 and receive at least 2 qualifying direct deposits of $250 or more within the first 90 days. The monthly fee is easy to get waived.

Learn more about this offer

How Do I Get My $400 Bonus from Wells Fargo

This is what you need to do to get the Wells Fargo $400 Checking Account Bonus are:

• Open an Everyday Checking account online (from this webpage only) by 7/31/2020.
• Make a minimum opening deposit of $25 to fund your account.
• Next, receive a total of $4,000 or more in qualifying direct deposits into the new checking account within 90 days from account opening (the “qualification period”).

After the 90 day qualification period, you'll see the $400 bonus deposited into your account within 30 days if you met all the offer requirements.

Click below on the green “Learn More” button to open your account:

Learn More

You cannot be an existing Wells Fargo consumer customer and you are limited to one bonus per customer per 12 months. You also cannot be an employee of Wells Fargo. If you don't qualify for Everyday Checking but can get an Opportunity Checking account, this offer still applies.

In the past, Wells Fargo paired this with another offer of $250 for their savings account. For the time being, it looks like that part of the deal has been removed.

For comparison purposes, the promotional requirements for the Savings Account were:

• Open an eligible savings account online by the promotional deadline.
• Make a minimum opening deposit of $25 to fund your account.
• Within 10 days, deposit at least $15,000 in new money and maintain a minimum daily balance of at least $15,000 for 90 days from account opening.

The only other restriction (which is no longer applicable now) was that you must go to a branch to open your savings account. You'd have to go to the promotional website, fill out the form to have Wells Fargo email you a promotional code, and visit a local branch to complete the process.

In-Branch Sign Up Coupon Code

If you want to open your account in a branch or simply don't like opening bank accounts online, you can get a promotional code emailed to you.

Click the orange button above and on that next page, you want to click on Open In-Branch (I drew the green box to show you where it is. It won't have a green box on the actual page and the page may look a little different with different pictures) and enter your name, email, and ZIP code to get a promotional code via email:

Then check your email for the code and you can go to the nearest branch.

Avoid Checking Account Fees

The account has a $10 monthly service fee. You can avoid it quite easily.

To get the fee waived, you need to do only one of the following each “fee period” (statement period):

• 10+ posted debit card purchases/payments from this checking account. This does not include transactions at an ATM.
• Qualifying direct deposits totaling $500 or more.
• Maintain a $1,500 minimum daily balance.
• A linked Wells Fargo Campus ATM or Campus Debit Card.

The fee is also waived if you, as the primary account owner, are between 17 and 24 years old.

Take Advange of Account Perks

The account itself is pretty standard for a checking account.

They do promote three features that are quite rare:

• You can turn off your debit card in the event you lose it, so it's not an outright closure unless you're 100% sure you've lost it. If you are 100% sure, you need to report it stolen. If you've misplaced it (say at a bar or something) and you know where it is, you can disable it until you get it back.
• Access ATMs without your card by requesting a one-time access code via the app.
• Overdraft Rewind lets you avoid an overdraft fee if you overdraft your account but receive a direct deposit the following day that replaces the amount you overdrew by.

>> Related: Here's how to find your Wells Fargo routing number

How Does This Offer Compare?

Wells Fargo has one of the better offers at this moment. $400 is simply much higher than any of the other banks and Wells Fargo has a huge geographic footprint so almost everyone qualifies for it.

By comparison, Chase offers a pretty solid promotion right now too. You can get up to $350 by opening a Chase Total Checking Account and a Chase Savings Account. To get the bonus, you have to set up a direct deposit to the checking and transfer in a lot of new cash to the savings account. It's a harder bonus to get and the sum is smaller, so it's comparable but not better.

Citi has a bonus tied strictly to the transfer of new money. Open an account and you can get $700 if you transfer in at least $50,000 of new money. If you have a big slug of cash and need a place to put it, this bonus is a great way to pick up some easy money. The time requirements on this offer are higher – you need to keep the balance for 60 days and the bonus is deposited within 90 days after that. That's half a year – but no direct deposit requirement.

Make sure to review this guide on bank account bonuses to ensure you know what to watch for when it comes to these types of offers.

Other Wells Fargo Bonuses & Promotions

The banking offer is just the beginning if you don't have any Wells Fargo accounts. You can get a cash bonus on their credit cards too.

Wells Fargo Visa: $150 Cash Bonus

Wells Fargo offers some solid cashback credit cards with generous new account bonuses.

Get $150 when you open a Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa Card and spend $500 in purchases in the first three months of account opening. The card offers unlimited 1.5% cash back credit card on all purchases and has $0 annual fee.

$150 bonus plus 1.5% is a great start. It's 25% better than your standard cashback card – plus it is cold hard cash, not points you have to convert. There is also a Intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers (there is a balance transfer fee)

(learn more about the card overall here)

Learn more about this card (and others)

Wells Fargo Propel American Express: 20,000 Bonus Points

If you're in the market for an American Express card that will give you 20,000 Bonus Points after just in spend in the , then give the Wells Fargo Propel American Express Card some consideration.

It gives you 3X points for eating out and ordering in, 3X points for gas stations, rideshares, and transit, and 3X points for travel (flights, hotels, homestays, and car rentals). 1X points on everything else. It also has no annual fee.

Learn more about this card (and others)

Worth a look if you want to go full Wells Fargo or just need to up your cashback credit card game.

Wells Fargo $400 Bonus

9

Product Rating

9.0/10

Strengths

• Very high dollar amount bonus ($400)
• Nationwide geographic footprint
• Easy bonus requirements

Weaknesses

• Direct deposit required (but low amount)