To attract new customers, many banks are now offering lucrative cash bonuses, anywhere from $100 to $2,000, for simply moving money into their various savings and checking accounts
There will be hoops to jump through
The first thing to know is that these deals come with caveats. To get the bonus, you may need to move over thousands (and sometimes tens of thousands) of dollars and leave it there for a certain amount of time, hold or make consistent deposits for several months or even years, keep a minimum amount in the account and/or get direct deposit. “If you miss the requirements, you went through all that hard work for nothing,” explains Brian Schmehil, managing director of wealth management at the Mather Group.
“The opportunity cost to earn a few hundred dollars versus going through the hassle to set-up everything with a new bank just usually isn’t worth their time,” Caleb Pepperday, a certified financial planner at JFS Wealth Advisors in Pittsburgh, says.