How to bridge cash between two bank bonuses

Two bonuses feel like one pot of money used twice. They are one pot of money only when the calendars do not overlap. If they overlap, they are two pots.

Add the holds that share a calendar

Suppose offer A needs $5,000 left in place and offer B needs $10,000 left in place over the same month. The cash committed that month is $15,000, not $10,000. If you move the $5,000 into B, A fails. Is a bank bonus worth it should be run on the combined parked cash, not on each banner in isolation. The ROI calculator takes one offer at a time. Add the results yourself when the days overlap.

Chase checking and Chase savings do not share a trick

Chase Total Checking's public bonus is a direct-deposit test: $1,000 within 90 days of enrollment. ² It does not, on that page, require a large parked balance. ² Chase's savings offer is a different shape: new money deposited within 30 days of enrollment, with the bonus determined on day 30, then that new money maintained for 90 days from enrollment. ¹ The savings cash has to stay. The checking test wants payroll, not a transfer from the savings account. Chase excludes external transfers, and a transfer between your own new accounts is the wrong tool for the checking definition. ² Savings bonus vs checking bonus compares those shapes.

Payroll is not a bridge for a balance

Multiple bank bonuses at the same time explains a split paycheck. That solves two direct-deposit tests. It does not fund two minimum balances. If both offers are payroll-only, your constraint is the employer's split and the calendar, rather than a second parked balance. Switch direct deposit without missing a paycheck keeps the bills paid while you do it.

The date you may reuse the cash

You may move a balance when that offer's maintain period has ended and any early-close rule allows it. Chase's savings page says maintain the new money for 90 days from enrollment. ¹ Leaving on day 60 to fund another bank misses that sentence. What a clawback window is covers offers that add a close restriction after the maintain days end. Put both end dates in the bank bonus tracker before you open the second account.

A simple order

1. Write each offer's deposit test and its maintain test on one line.
2. Mark the days they overlap.
3. Add the balances that overlap.
4. If the sum is more cash than you can leave alone, do not open the second account yet.
5. When the first maintain period ends, then the same dollars can become the second offer's new money, if that second offer allows money that came from another bank.