Banks need accounts. You need more cash.
How about getting a $300 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 $1,000 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 $300 bonus review.
💰 Get $300, $700, or $1,500 from a Citi Priority Account Today!
Citi Priority is offering $300, $700, or $1,500 when you open a Citi Priority Account by 7/17/2022.
Then, within 20 days of opening your account, deposit New-to-Citi funds and keep it there for 60 days after the 21st day. The bonus is based on the amount you transfer.
This is a limited time offer so don’t wait!
Wells Fargo $300 Checking Account Bonus Summary
- What you get: $300 cash bonus
- Who qualifies: Nationwide
- Where to open: Online or in-branch
- How to get it:
- Open a Wells Fargo Everyday Checking account,
- Make a minimum opening deposit of $25 to fund your account,
- Next, receive a total of $1,000 or more in qualifying direct deposits into the new checking account within 90 days from account opening (the “qualification period”),
- Collect $300 after the qualification period!
- When does it expire: 7/15/2022
Table of Contents
- How to Earn the $300 Bonus?
- Who Is Eligible for this Bonus?
- Does Wells Fargo Really Give You $300?
- How to Get an In-Branch Sign Up Coupon Code
- How to Avoid Checking Account Fees?
- Take Advantage of These Account Perks
- Wells Fargo $1,000 Business Checking Offer
- How Does This Offer Compare?
- Wells Fargo Credit Card Bonuses
- Frequently asked questions
How to Earn the $300 Bonus?
This is what you need to do to earn the $300 Bonus:
- Open an Everyday Checking account online or in a branch by 7/15/2022.
- Make a minimum opening deposit of $25 to fund your account.
- Next, receive a total of $1,000 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 $300 bonus deposited into your account within 30 days if you met all the offer requirements.
Click the green Learn More button below to find out more:
Learn more about the Wells Fargo offer
We’ve had readers run into problems with Wells Fargo because they referenced Wallet Hacks as the source of the promotion. We are not offering this bonus, Wells Fargo is (the link above goes to their website). If you are asked, tell them you saw it on the Wells Fargo website (the link is above!) because that’s where it’s live. We are simply the messengers!
Who Is Eligible for this Bonus?
New checking customers are eligible and all consumer checking accounts are eligible. There does not appear to be a geographic restriction.
If you don’t qualify for Everyday Checking but can get an Opportunity Checking account, this offer still applies.
The following people are NOT eligible:
- Current consumer checking account customer (if you only have a business or mortgage account, it appears you are eligible)
- You have received a bonus for opening a Wells Fargo consumer checking account within the past 12 months
- Wells Fargo employees
Does Wells Fargo Really Give You $300?
Yes, Wells Fargo will give you $300 because they’re trying to get new customers and this welcome bonus is a nice little carrot. This is one of the simplest bonuses to get and you only need to open it with $25 and receive a total of $1,000 or more in qualifying direct deposits into the new checking account within 90 days from account opening.
They can afford to do this because it’s like any other kind of marketing. They can buy ads or they can simply offer a promotion and rely on word of mouth to get people’s attention. You found this $300 offer today and they didn’t have to pay for an ad right? 🙂
How to Get an 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 slightly and enter your name, email, and ZIP code to get a promotional code via email:
Once you click “Get My Code” you will be redirected to a page with your unique code, it looks like this:
You will also get an email with the subject “Your $200 bonus offer code is here” with the code in the body of the email. Then you just go to the nearest branch and open the account.
NOTE: You do NOT have to open the account in person. You can do it entirely online.
Learn more about the Wells Fargo offer
How to 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):
- $500 minimum daily balance
- $500 or more in total qualifying direct deposits
- Primary account owner is 17-24 years old. (When the primary account owner reaches the age of 25, age can no longer be used to avoid the monthly service fee.)
- Linked to a Wells Fargo Campus ATM or Campus Debit Card.
Check the full details when you click through to the promotional page.
Take Advantage of These 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
Wells Fargo $1,000 Business Checking Offer
I just received a mailing for a new Wells Fargo $1,000 bonus offer (delivered June 4th, 2022).
If you run a business, Wells Fargo offers a $1,000 bonus when you open a new business checking account by 7/22/2022. Then, have at least $20,000 ending daily balance in that account on the 30th calendar day and the 60th calendar day after account opening.
The mailer had an bonus offer code of MJNS32. It says you have to provide the bonus offer code but it doesn’t say bring in the mailing though.
(for what it’s worth, earlier in 2022, the bonus offer was for $1,500 when you had at least $15,000 ending daily balance)
You must visit a branch to get this offer.
Here’s the offer letter, click for full size images:
How Does This Offer Compare?
Wells Fargo has one of the better offers at this moment. $300 is simply much higher than any of the other banks and Wells Fargo has a huge geographic footprint so almost everyone qualifies for it.
Here are how a few other offers stack up:
⭐Citi Priority Account – $300, $700, or $1,500
Citi Priority is offering $300, $700, or $1,500 bonus when you open an account by 7/17/2022. Then, within 20 days of opening your account, deposit at least $15,000 in New-to-Citi funds and keep it there for 60 days after the 21st day. The bonus amount is based on how much you can transfer but the lowest tier starts at $15,000.
Discover Online Savings Account – $150 or $200
Discover Bank is offering a $150 or $200 bonus when you open your first Discover Online Savings Account with the promotion code WH622 and deposit at least $15,000 into the account within 30 days. You get $150 if you deposit $15,000 or more and $200 if you deposit $25,000.
Chase Total Checking® – $200
Chase Bank will give you $200 when you open a Total Checking account and set up direct deposit within 90 days. There is a $12 monthly fee that is waivable with a monthly direct deposit of just $500, so no gotchas on this deal!
SoFi Money – up to $300
SoFi Money will give you up to $300 if you open an account and make direct deposits of at least $1,000. The bonus will be based on the total amount of those direct deposits in a 30-day evaluation period.
HSBC Premier Checking – $450
HSBC has an offer where you can get $450 for eligible new customers who open an HSBC Premier checking account and make recurring monthly qualifying direct deposits of at least $5,000 for 3 consecutive months.
Huntington Bank – up to $300
If you are a resident of Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, West Virginia, or Wisconsin then you could get up to $300 from Huntington Bank for opening a new checking account. There are several checking accounts that qualify but they’re great offers if you live in their geographic region.
TD Bank – $300 or $150
TD bank has two bank offers for checking accounts and both are fairly easy to attain. For example, get $300 when you open a TD Beyond Checking account and receive direct deposits of $2,500 or more within 60 days of opening your account.
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.
Wells Fargo Credit Card Bonuses
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, though the bonus is a bit lower than our best credit card sign up bonuses.
Wells Fargo Active Cash Card – $200
The Wells Fargo Active Cash Card is offering a very easy to accomplish bonus – get $200 after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
This card is also making a great case for being your everyday card too since it offers unlimited 2% cash rewards on purchases with no limit!
Best of all, $0 annual fee.
Worth a look if you want to go full Wells Fargo or just need to up your cashback credit card game.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, new Wells Fargo customers can get $300 when they open a new account with $25 and receive a total of $1,000 or more in qualifying direct deposits into the new checking account within 90 days from account opening.
Once you open your account and satisfy the requirements, you will receive the cash deposited into your accounts within 30 days.
Yes, Wells Fargo frequently offers promotions for new customers and you can check this page for the latest available bonuses and promotions.
Wells Fargo $300 Bonus
Strengths
- Very high dollar amount bonus ($400)
- Nationwide geographic footprint
- Easy bonus requirements
Weaknesses
- Direct deposit required (but low amount)
Antwan Choice says
Hey Jim quick question, what do you mean by “it is reported as interest so you’ll pay taxes”? Taxes on what?
The money that you get in this promotion is considered interest income so you’ll owe ordinary income taxes on that amount.
Michelle says
Do you know an estimate of the tax rate or how much the taxes could be on the bonus?
The tax rate would be your ordinary income tax rates, which you can look up on our page about the federal tax brackets.
Jacky says
So I received the bonus last June but I closed my account last October, do I need to wait until October to open a new account and get the bonus or I could do it now in June?
I’d call the bank to find out, I’m not sure what their requirements are for a “new customer.”
Sandra says
I understand that to avoid checking account fees I must keep a $500 minimum daily balance in my account, but how much ARE the actual fees if my account falls below $500?
As of February 2022, the monthly service fee is $10. You can avoid it by having $500+ in qualifying direct deposit too.
Diane Davolio says
It’s nice to have the research done and presented in an easy to understand format so I that can choose the course that’s best for me to deposit my money and earn more at the same time. Thank you Mr. Wang!
Laurel Sather says
Just an FYI, I opened a Wells Fargo Everyday checking account at a local branch on March 28, 2022. I was emailed this code using the steps provided on this site, but they did not honor it When I opened my account. The banker at Wells Fargo said that because this bonus offer came from a 3rd party site and not directly from Wells Fargo that it was not legitimate.
But you didn’t get the code from our site, you got it from Wells Fargo directly when you click through the link. Their explanation is fraudulent, you visited a Wells Fargo website to get the code in the first place.
Laurel Sather says
I do understand what you are saying now. It should not have been denied by the WF banker. Yesterday I contacted an associate from another local branch and she is looking into this. She is requesting to see the email I received that contained the promo code (which expired 3/31/22). But unfortunately for me, it is nowhere to be found.