A bank bonus tracker that follows the offer, not the banner
Last reviewed
A bank bonus tracker holds the four dates and one definition that decide whether a sign-up bonus actually pays: what the bank counts as a qualifying deposit, how much must arrive, the window it must arrive in and the day that window starts, how long the bank then takes to pay, and the date before which closing the account forfeits the bonus. Those facts live in the offer's own terms page, they differ between banks, and missing any one of them is the usual reason a bonus never posts.
Why bonuses are missed on definitions, not on effort
Almost nobody loses a bank bonus by failing to move money. They lose it because the money they moved was not the kind the bank counts. Most offers require a direct deposit, and most offers define that term narrowly: an electronic credit arriving through the ACH network from an employer, a pension or a government benefit. A transfer you start yourself from another bank, a Zelle payment, a mobile cheque deposit and an ATM deposit are excluded almost everywhere.
The second most common failure is a window measured from a different day than the person assumed. Some offers count from the day the account is opened, some from the day the offer is claimed, and some from the end of the calendar month of opening. The same deposit lands inside the window under one reading and outside it under another.
Both failures are invisible until the payout period runs out, which is often 60 or 90 days after the deposit. By then the account is open, the cash is parked, and the only remaining question is which condition was not met.
The eight lines that decide the outcome
A bonus offer can be read in a couple of minutes if you know which lines matter. These eight carry the whole result, and a tracker is worth using only if it holds all of them rather than the headline figure.
- How the bank defines a qualifying deposit - the exact wording, not the marketing summary.
- The amount required, and whether it must arrive in one credit or may accumulate.
- The length of the window, and the day the bank starts counting it.
- The payout period: how long after the condition is met before the bonus is credited.
- The monthly maintenance fee and the conditions that waive it, since an unwaived fee comes straight off the bonus.
- The early-close window, counted from the opening date, during which closing forfeits the bonus or triggers a fee.
- Who is excluded - usually existing customers, and people who held an account or took a bonus within a stated number of months.
- The expiry date of the offer itself, which is the one deadline that runs before you open anything.
A bonus is a return on parked cash, not a free payment
The headline figure is not the thing to compare. What a bonus really pays is a return on the cash it forces you to commit, over the days it stays committed, after the fees you cannot waive and the tax you will owe.
A $300 bonus on $15,000 held for 180 days is a 4.1% annualised return, which is roughly what a savings account pays for the same money with none of the conditions. A $300 bonus that only requires payroll to arrive parks nothing at all, and is better read as $2.50 a day of committed attention. Those two offers carry the same number on the banner and are not remotely the same offer.
Tax is the other half. A cash bonus for opening or funding a deposit account is interest income, taxed at your ordinary marginal rate in the year it is credited, and reported on Form 1099-INT once your interest from that bank reaches $10. Compare offers on the after-tax figure, which is the only one you keep.
What CardLab tracks, and what it takes no money to say
CardLab lists checking and savings sign-up bonuses read from each bank's own offer page. Every one carries the deposit definition, the window and the day it starts, the payout period and any early-close window, each shown beside the verbatim sentence it was read from and the date it was read - the same provenance rule every reward rate in the card catalog has to survive.
Bonuses you are chasing go into a tracker that counts the deadlines for you: the day the deposit window closes, the day the payout is due, and the first day it is safe to close the account. The ranking orders them by what the parked cash actually returns rather than by the size of the banner figure.
CardLab takes no referral commission from any bank. No offer is ranked or shown higher for payment, which is worth stating plainly because almost every other page comparing bank bonuses is paid per account opened.
Reading the list and its terms is free, along with one tracked bonus. Tracking several and ranking them by return is part of CardLab Pro. It is an auto-renewable subscription: 3 days free, then $4.99 per month or $39.99 per year, and you can cancel anytime in the App Store.
How to judge a bank bonus tracker
The tests below apply to any tracker, and to any site that lists bonuses. The answers are CardLab's, and each is checkable on the page it links to.
Does it get paid when you open an account?
CardLab does not. It takes no referral commission from any bank, so no offer is ranked or shown higher for payment. The app is funded by what people pay for it.
Where did the terms come from?
Each figure is read from the bank's own offer page and stored with the verbatim sentence it came from and the date it was read, rather than summarised from a comparison site.
Does it hold the deposit definition, or just the amount?
It holds the definition. The amount is the easy half; whether your deposit is the kind the bank counts is the half that decides whether the bonus posts.
Does it know the first safe day to close?
It counts the early-close window from the opening date where the offer prints one. Where the offer prints no window, that is stated as unknown rather than guessed - the bank is the only one who can name it.
Does it rank by return or by headline?
By return on the cash the offer makes you park, over the days it stays parked. The ROI and tax calculators on this site run the same arithmetic, free and without sign-up.
What does it ask for to get started?
No account, no email, no sign-in and no bank connection. Bonuses you track stay on your device by default.
Free and with no sign-up: turn an offer's own terms into an annualised return on the cash it makes you park, then check what tax leaves.
Common questions
What counts as a direct deposit for a bank bonus?
A direct deposit, for a bank bonus, is an electronic credit that the offer's own terms name as qualifying - usually payroll, pension or government benefits sent through the ACH network. Transfers you start yourself, Zelle, mobile cheque deposits and ATM deposits are excluded almost everywhere. The definition is written into each offer, so read that page rather than the bank's general help article.
Is a bank bonus worth it?
Judge it as a return on the cash it makes you park, over the days it keeps that cash committed, after the fees you cannot waive. A $300 bonus on $15,000 held for 180 days is a 4.1% annualised return, which barely beats a 4% savings account. The same $300 for payroll alone parks nothing and is simply a few minutes of setup.
Why has my bank bonus not posted yet?
Almost always one of four conditions written into the offer: the deposit was not the kind the bank counts, the total fell short, the window was measured from a different day than you assumed, or the payout period has not run out yet. Check those four in that order before you call, because the bank will check them in the same order.
Can I close the account after getting the bonus?
Yes, once the bonus has posted and any early-close window the offer prints has passed. The two conditions are separate: banks commonly require the account to be open when the bonus is paid, and some offers add a period after opening during which closing forfeits the bonus or costs a fee. Read your own offer for both dates.
Do you pay taxes on bank bonuses?
Yes. A cash bonus for opening or funding a deposit account is treated as interest, taxable in the year it becomes available to you. The bank normally reports it on Form 1099-INT once your interest for the year reaches $10, and you must report it even if no form arrives. Compare offers on the after-tax figure.
Does opening bank accounts for bonuses hurt your credit?
Opening a checking or savings account does not affect your credit score, because deposit accounts are not reported to the credit bureaus. Banks do consult checking account reporting companies such as ChexSystems, which record unpaid overdrafts, accounts the bank closed and suspected fraud. Opening accounts for bonuses is absent from that list; an unpaid fee left behind at closing is on it.
Does CardLab need my bank login to track a bonus?
No. You tell it which offer you are chasing and the dates come from the offer terms, which CardLab already holds. There is no bank connection, no account and no sign-in, and what you track stays on your device unless you turn on iCloud sync to your own iCloud.