When is a bank bonus not worth taking?
Skip a bank bonus when you cannot produce the deposit it defines, when fees you will pay consume the cash, or when you need that cash before you can close. A $300 bonus minus a $12 monthly fee for six months with no waiver is $228 before tax. The same $300 on $15,000 held 180 days is a thin return beside a savings rate. CardLab does not open the account.
The worth-it question has a formula. The not-worth-it question is the list of inputs that make the formula lose. Is a bank bonus worth it is the formula. These are the cases that fail it.
You cannot meet the deposit definition
If your cash will arrive as a transfer, Zelle, Venmo, or a mobile deposit, Chase and Wells Fargo do not treat that as the qualifying credit. The bonus is then $0, and any monthly fee is a cost with no offset. Read what counts as a direct deposit before you apply. A bonus you will miss is not a small bonus. It is an account you did not need.
The fee is real
A $300 bonus minus a $12 monthly fee for six months, with no waiver you will hit, is $228. If the waiver requires a direct deposit you will not send, do not enter the fee as zero in the ROI calculator. Bank of America's public personal schedule, on the day we read it, was a fee waiver rather than a cash bonus. That case is in Bank of America: bonus or fee waiver.
The cash earns more if you leave it
A $300 bonus on $15,000 held 180 days is 300 / 15,000 x 365 / 180, about 4.1% annualised. If your savings rate is already near that, and the account is otherwise useless, you took a chore for a few dollars. Checking bonus or high-yield savings does this comparison without the drama. Savings account bonus vs checking bonus is the other fork, when both are bonuses and the hold shapes differ.
You may need the money, or the close date is unknown
What a clawback window is says a missing window is unknown, not zero. If tuition, a move, or a tax payment needs those dollars on a date you cannot slip, do not park them in an offer you cannot exit. Tax shrinks the rest: interest is taxed in the year it becomes available. 1 Run the tax calculator before you call the banner take-home.
The account may be declined, or the report is dirty
The CFPB says an unpaid negative balance after a bank-closed account is a reason checking-account reports deny the next application. 2 Applying for a bonus you will be denied for spends the afternoon and can add another inquiry to that file. Clear the old fee, read the report, then decide. Second-chance checking and bank bonuses is the path if the bonus product is not the product you can open.
Common questions
Is a payroll-only bonus ever a skip?
Yes, if you cannot redirect payroll inside the window, or if moving it will bounce bills. The bonus can be large per day and still be the wrong month. If payroll already qualifies and the fee is waived, the skip case is weaker.
Should I skip because the bonus is taxable?
Not by itself. Tax reduces it. It does not set it to zero. A $300 bonus at a 22% federal rate leaves $234 before state tax and fees. Compare that leftover, not the headline.
What if the early-close rule is missing?
Treat the end date as unknown. If you need the cash on a fixed day, an unknown hold is a reason to skip or to get the bank's answer in writing first. Do not assume you can close on payout day.
Sources
CardLab tracks the cards you hold and the bonuses you are chasing, with every rate read from the issuer's own page.
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