Bank bonus ROI calculator
Last reviewed · figures computed by the same engine the app runs
A bank bonus ROI calculator turns the offer's own terms - the bonus, the cash you must park, the deposit window, the payout period and any early-close window - into an annualised return on that cash. A $300.00 bonus on $15,000.00 held for 180 days returns 4.1% a year, which is the number to compare with a savings rate.
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CardLab's own arithmetic from the numbers you typed. Nothing leaves your browser.
How the number is worked out
Committed days are the longest of three periods the offer prints: the deposit window plus the payout period, the balance hold, and the early-close window. Money is committed until the last of them ends, whichever the banner emphasises.
Fees before payout are the monthly fee times the months committed, when the page prints a fee and no waiver you will meet. A waived fee is treated as waived, and the calculator says so rather than charging it silently.
The annualised return is the net bonus divided by the parked cash, scaled by 365 over the committed days. A payroll-only offer parks no cash, so it reports net per committed day instead of an infinite return.
The savings comparison is what the same cash earns in a savings account over the same days. A bonus that loses to that figure is a bonus you paid for.
Common questions
Is a $300 bank bonus worth it?
It depends on what it locks up. $300.00 for $15,000.00 held 90 days, with a 180-day early-close window, returns 4.1% a year on that cash and beats a 4.00% savings account by $4.11 over the same period. The same $300.00 for payroll alone parks nothing, so it is $2.50 a day for the 120 days you are committed.
Why does the early-close window count as committed time?
Because closing inside it forfeits the bonus or costs a fee, so the cash or the payroll is effectively committed until it passes, even if the bonus posted earlier. Where an offer prints no window, the calculator uses zero and the page tells you to ask the bank, since a missing number is not the same as none.
Is the bonus taxed?
Yes, as interest, in the year it posts. This calculator states the return before tax so you can apply your own marginal rate; the bank bonus tax calculator does that arithmetic.