Bank bonus statistics: what current checking and savings offers actually require

Last reviewed 30 September 2026 · Read from each bank's own offer page · Updated monthly. These are statistics about CardLab's tracked set of bank bonus offers, not about the whole US market. The method is at the bottom of the page, and the rows are in a CSV file so anyone can recompute them. For credit cards, see credit card rewards statistics.

The data: current offers, read from the banks' own pages

Every row was read on the issuer's official offer page on 30 September 2026. Chase's offers are Total Checking, Secure Banking, and a two-tier Savings offer.

Chase counts the window from offer enrollment, and the other banks count from account opening. The Chase, Wells Fargo and Capital One rows also name what does not count as a direct deposit, in each bank's own post: Chase Total Checking, Wells Fargo, Capital One 360 and Citi. Chase Secure Banking has its own checklist in second-chance checking and bank bonuses. Chase Savings is compared with checking in savings bonus versus checking bonus and bridging cash between two bank bonuses.

Recently ended

Listed through 30 September 2026. Check Huntington's current page for any newer offer. Huntington's terms are kept in Huntington checking bonus requirements. Both Huntington rows are excluded from the statistics below.

Bank of America was checked and has no row. Its personal fee schedule and product pages publish no personal-checking cash bonus, and the only bonus page CardLab cites is a business offer. The reasoning is in Bank of America checking: fee or bonus.

How big are bank bonuses right now?

The median bonus across the seven tiers is $250, and the mean is $253.57. The range is $100, Chase Savings tier 1, to $400, Chase Total Checking. ^{1 3} The median sits at Capital One's $250, with three tiers below it and three above, because n = 7 puts the middle tier at the fourth value. Counting Chase Savings once, at its top tier, gives six offers with a median of $287.50. A bonus is a return on cash you commit, not a free payment. The bank bonus ROI calculator prices a specific offer, and is a bank bonus worth it walks the arithmetic.

How much do you have to deposit?

Across the six tiers with a dollar test, the median required deposit is $2,000. Across the four direct-deposit tiers, it is $1,000. The two numbers differ because the tests measure different things. A direct-deposit test counts money that passes through the account, such as payroll. A new-money test holds cash in place for months. Chase Secure Banking has no dollar test, so it is left out of both medians. ² What counts as a direct deposit compares what each bank excludes.

How many require direct deposit?

Four of the seven tiers, 57%, require direct or qualifying electronic deposits. Counting Chase Savings once, four of six offers, 67%, do. The routes with no direct deposit in this set are Chase Secure Banking, with 10 qualifying transactions in 60 days ², and Chase Savings, with $5,000 or $10,000 of new money ³. That answers the search for a checking bonus with no direct deposit, and the trade-off is either activity or parked cash. Savings bonus versus checking bonus covers the savings route.

How long does it take to qualify?

The median time to finish the requirements is 90 days, in a range of 60 to 90. The median activity window is 75 days, in a range of 30 to 90. Payout comes afterward, and the lag differs by bank.

• Chase pays within 15 days of the requirements being complete. ¹
• Wells Fargo pays within 30 calendar days. ⁴
• Capital One assesses the bonus after day 75, which can take up to 60 days, so within 135 days of opening. ⁵
• Citi credits the bonus between the 90th and 120th calendar day after opening. ⁶

Why the bonus has not posted and pending versus posted deposits cover the delays.

Bonus per thousand dollars required

The median across the six tiers with a dollar test is $179.17 per $1,000. The direct-deposit tiers run from $108.33, Citi, to $400, Chase Total Checking, with a median of $287.50. Chase's savings tiers pay $20 per $1,000 held, $100 on $5,000 and $200 on $10,000. ³ Held for 90 days, that is about 8.1% annualised simple, before tax and fees, which is our arithmetic from Chase's own amounts. The two test types are not equivalent. Direct-deposit money usually passes through the account, while new money is parked, so the per-thousand figure for one is not a return on the other.

Monthly fees and deadlines

Five of the six offers carry a monthly fee that can be waived, from $4.95 to $15. ^{1 2 3 4 6} Capital One 360 says it has no monthly fees. ⁵ A fee waiver is not a bonus requirement, and Bank of America checking: fee or bonus shows how easy it is to mix them up. Among the four issuers, Wells Fargo ends on 10/13/2026 ⁴, Chase on 10/14/2026 ¹, and Citi on 10/26/2026 ⁶. Capital One's page states no end date. ⁵ What if you miss a bank bonus deadline covers the case where the date passes first.

Taxes, in one paragraph

Chase, Capital One and Huntington say the bonus is reported on Form 1099-INT. ^{1 5 7} Wells Fargo says it will report the bonus as income. ⁴ Citi's rendered offer text does not state a form. ⁶ That is what the issuers say, and this page gives no tax advice. Do you pay taxes on bank bonuses and the bank bonus tax calculator go further.

Methodology

1. Scope: every bank bonus offer that a CardLab blog post covers, read from the issuer's own offer page on the review date.
2. Set: Chase (Total Checking, Secure Banking, Savings), Wells Fargo, Capital One 360, Citi, and Huntington.
3. Not the market: this is CardLab's tracked set, not the whole US market, and card welcome offers are excluded.
4. Unit: one row per bonus tier, meaning a single bonus amount with a single requirement.
5. Chase Savings: it has two tiers, and offer-level figures count it once, at its top tier.
6. Inclusion: the offer is open on the review date, and its amount and requirement are readable on the official page.
7. Excluded: ended offers are listed and excluded, and anything we could not open on the official page is excluded (none was this month).
8. Required deposit: the stated dollar threshold, meaning the direct-deposit total or the new money.
9. Capital One: it counts as $1,000, from two deposits of $500 each. ⁵
10. Chase Secure Banking: it has no dollar test, so it is excluded from the deposit and per-thousand figures.
11. Direct-deposit requirement: yes if the bonus requires direct deposits or the issuer's qualifying electronic deposits or Enhanced Direct Deposits, and no for transaction-count and new-money tests.
12. Days to qualify: the day the last requirement can be completed, taking the later of the activity window and the stated hold.
13. Clocks: they start where the issuer says, at enrollment for Chase and at account opening for the others.
14. Bonus per thousand dollars: the bonus divided by the required deposit, times 1,000, and the two test types are not equivalent.
15. Median: the middle value, or the average of the two middle values when the count is even, rounded to cents.
16. Recompute: the rows are in the CSV file, and every figure is a plain median, mean, minimum or maximum over them.
17. Review cadence: a full re-read on the first business day of each month, plus a refresh when a listed offer ends or changes.
18. Each refresh: it re-opens every official page, moves ended rows to the recently ended table, and updates the date at the top.