Details
Published: Tuesday, 01 September 2020 23:05
Hits: 902

Best CD accounts

 

CDs are fixed term investment. CD is "Certificate of Deposit". It has a fixed term, and you can withdraw your money only at maturity. For premature withdrawal, you have to pay a heavy penalty (usually 6 months of interest). CD aren't generally the best investment. You will lose money over long term as CD always pay you less than inflation.

Opening CD :

There are 3 places to open CD:

  1. Banks: Traditional banks will advertise their CD rates everywhere. Bigger banks (Chase, Bank of America, Citi, etc) usually offer the lowest CD rates, while smaller banks (local banks, etc) offer the highest rates.
  2. Credit Unions: Since Credit Unions are "Not for profit", they are able to offer higher rates than banks. However, you need to wualify to be a member. Generally the area you live in has multiple credit unions, and you may qualify to be a member of at least couple of those.
  3. Brokerage firms: These are your regular brokerage firms (Charles Schwab, Ameritrade, etc) that you open your stock account with. Most of the brokerage firms allow you to buy or sell CD on their website.

Bank/CU CD:

Things to watch out for is that bank/CU should not have any membership requirement, should not require you to open any additional account (like a savings or checking account), and should not do a hard credit inquiry. Remember that CDs are little risky in the sense that if you forget to close your CD at maturity, and if the bank renews your CD at end of your maturity (usually 15 days grace period), then you are in trouble. If you try to close your CD after the grace period, they will deduct interest from your previous term of CD also (basically penalizing you on a CD that has already matured), effectively resulting in very low interest rate for the earlier matured CD. Many online banks will not even inform you, nor close the CD automatically. They want you to forget about CD maturity date. So, do not open too many CDs. Open few and remain under $250K limit per CD (after interest). Everytime you open/close a CD, you lose interest of about 15 days, since banks send you check on maturity, then you will cash it out and then deposit it in another bank. So, if your CD term is for < 1 year, you lose 5% of interest. So, try to shoot for a CD term between 1 yr and 3 yr. Ladder the CDs so that you have at least 1 CD maturing every 6 months.

Broker CD:

Best place to get CDs is thru your brokerage firm. I would just stay away from Bank and CU CDs, unless they are offering a much higher rate than CDs from brokerage firms. Brokerage firms offer CDs at least 0.5% higher than most of the banks/CU. Look in "Bonds, Money Market and CD" section for more details.

 

Conclusion: Tons of banks, Credit Union, Brokerage firms offer CDs that offer close to 0%. Whenever Fed rates are close to 0%, CDs will give you abysmal return. I always wondered who buys these 0.01%or 0.1% CDs. You should never chase CD returns. If you have to buy a CD, buy it via your brokerage firms (known as brokered CD). Apart from CD, also look at bonds and bond ETF being offered (look in the "Bonds, Money Market and CD"  section). They may offer you higher returns, though they carry little more risk than CDs (as CDs are FDIC insured). If CD don't give you over 3% in interest rate, just stick to savings/checking accounts and bank bonuses. Also never go for more than a year for a CD, no matter what the rate is, as stock markets will always give higher rate than CD when invested for a couple of years (guaranteed by the Fed).

 

Best CD rates:

I'll put some CD deals here on this page. However, as I said before, CDs are not your best investment, and only serve to protect your money short term. So, shop around before you commit to a particular CD.

 

 

 

2023: Best CD rate is 5%(Jan), 5.35%(Mar) for 2023:

 

 

2022: Best CD rate is 4% (Oct), 5%(Nov) for 2022:

 

 

2021: All CD rates were abysmal. Better to stick to Savings/Kasasa Checking accounts and bank bonuses.

 

 

2020: All CD rates were abysmal. Better to stick to Savings/Kasasa Checking accounts and bank bonuses.

 

 

2019: Best CD rate was 3.5% for 2019.

  • 3.5% - hyperian bank 19 month CD (nationwide). 1% over treasury rate as of Mar 1st, 2019. Best CD rate offered so far since 2018. Can open an IRA CD too. website: https://www.hyperionbank.com/home/personal/savings/cds. Expired March, 2019.
  • 3% - 19 month CD (requires membership, cost about $35). https://www.hfcu.org/rates.html. expired July, 2019
  • 3.21% - 30 month step jumbo CD (min $100K). requires membership (join cancer society for $10 to become a member), but is available to anyone nationwide. It's the best CD as of now. (updated Aug 15, 2019, still going Nov 1, 2019): This may last for a while when I talked to the rep. It does have a hard pull for credit. https://www.kfcu.org/rates/
  • 3.25% - 36 month CD. requires membership ($10 to join for anyone), and is open to anyone nationwide. 24 month CD is at 3%. This CD has been going on for a long time. https://www.psecu.com/banking/certificates
  • 3% - 36 month CD - an OK rate - https://www.macfcu.org/become-a-member/rates/
  • 3.75% - Navy Federal IRA 40 month CD. This is only for IRA a/c, and comes with $100 bonus. However, you will need to become a member, which is not easy as it requires someone from Navy to give their details to you. website: https://www.navyfederal.org/savings-season-2019/save-money.php. Reason I included IRA CD is because bonds are very expensive right now. Any good rating bond mutual funds are struggling to give you a yield of even 2.5% (which is federal funds rate or 1 month Treasury Bill). Bond funds also charge a lot higher fees, basically wiping out any interest. Stocks are in uncharted territory(at more than 100% of GDP for 5 years in a row), so this CD might be the best option, if you qualify.
  • 3.15% - united bank 19 month Flex CD. (nationwide) - 0.4% over treasury rate
  • 3.0% - 13 month CD for residents of Texas only. Requires checking a/c too. website: www.acutx.org . Might want to wait for a better option.
  • 3.25% - 19 month truwest credit union (only for residents of Texas and Arizona). https://truwest.org. Will need to open a savings a/c in addition to CD. Best option so far.
  • 3.15% - Home loan bank 19 month e-CD (nationwide). Expired August, 2018.
  • Misc banks - Main street bank, tons of other banks with regional availability only. offer keeps on coming and going. Not consistent.

 

 

Details
Published: Tuesday, 01 September 2020 23:00
Hits: 2427

Best Bank Bonus:

You should never open any bank account, unless you are getting a one time bonus of at least $300. Banks give offers for opening both checking and savings accounts. It's not worth the trouble of opening/closing the account, and then paying 25% tax on that amount, all of that for measly $200 or so. I would say my threshold is  >$500 in bonus for bank paying it directly or > $300 in bonus via any shopping portal. We are limited to ~10 bank a/c a year (due to chex sensitivity that many banks have). That would get us closer to our goal of $5K/yr in bank bonuses, w/o jeopardizing our next year's bonuses. 

Usually I'm a big fan of bank bonus, as you can get a lot more effective interest by getting bank bonus instead of chasing yields. However, many of these bank bonus offers require you to deposit handsome amount (avg $10K) in bank and leave it for 6 months or so, while giving you almost nothing in interest. If you are not getting an effective rate of over 5% with the bank bonus (or getting a bonus of over $300), I do not even consider it worth your time and money opening and closing bank accounts. Bank bonus deals are most beneficial when fed interest rates are close to 0%. This link shows all bank bonus offers and is updated daily: https://www.hustlermoneyblog.com/best-bank-promotions/

Here are some regular ongoing bank account offers that are available most of the times. Their offer amounts vary, but the offers will be there at least couple of months every year. These are available nationwide, don't have too many requirements, and as such are easy to do.

  • Chase: Chase has been known to give $300 bonus for savings account and $300 bonus for checking account, provided you open both of them together. this offer is available most of the times, so you should be able to claim this offer at least once every two years, one for yourself, and one for your spouse for a total of $1200. Requires you to deposit $15K or so in savings account. Still OK, as you get over 5% return, if you close a/c just after 6 months. Wait for this particular offer to pop up, and don't bite on any other inferior offer. This offer is still going on as of Aug-Dec, 2019.
    • UPDATED 2023:  As of 2023, this offer has been $900 per person instead of $600, still going on (see details in deals section below)
    • Referral link => In case you are not able to get a better offer, you can use my referral link below for opening checking/savings a/c. I do get $50 per referral, but not sure if you get the highest offers via using my link. Always call and confirm that you are getting the best offer via this link too. If not, then just go with the public offer with the best bonus.
    • Other Checking/brokerage offer => This offer is there most of the times. Chase also has "Chase Private client Checking a/c" offer where you get $3K for having $500K+ in combined deposits across personal savings, personal checking and "JPM Wealth management non retirement a/c". Depositing $500K of money in checking or savings a/c is a loss as they pay 0.01%. The only way to make money is to open a "Brokerage a/c" by meeting a financial advisor at Chase Bank, and opeing "chase private advisor client a/c". More details about this a/c on the link => https://www.chase.com/personal/investments/advisor. The brokerage a/c opened will still be similar or same as this a/c, but it's can't be opened online via this as it can't be opened as a self managed a/c: https://www.chase.com/personal/investments/offers-700. This self managed "You invest a/c" in the link usually has $700 bonus for opening, and I believe you can still avail this $700 offer, but just managed by "private client advisor" (Tell the advisor about this promo). Too much work, to make sure you get both $3K bonus and $700 bonus. 
  • Bank of America: They have Checking account offer of $300. Usually they are targeted, and I've gotten them couple of times. However they are not that common for general public. I guess they send this offer to you if you have a credit card with them, and meet their internal criteria.
  • Wells Fargo: I had very rarely seen any offer from Wells Fargo (really stingy bank). However last 2 or 3 years, they have upped the ante and up until June 2020, offered $400 bonus for opening checking account. Every year, you will find $200 offer for opening their accounts. Wait for at least $300 bonus offer before jumping in.
  • Citi: Never ever open a bank account here. You will have to fight for the rest of your life to get your bonus. Even after providing proof, they don't respond. Still if you want to proceed, here are the details => They will usually send you targeted "60K thank you points" bonus, if you have credit card with them. This offer is better than their cash offer, as points are not interest, and so no 1099 is sent out. However, they still require you to deposit decent amount (anywhere from $10K to 50K).
  • Capital One: Capital One is known to give around $50 offer on their checking/savings accounts from time to time (once a year). But since 2018, I haven't seen any offer in that range. Bite on Capital One offers only when they are $500 or so, since looks like they would disqualify you for the bonus, if you held that particular account anytime in the last 3 years or so. Read the fine print, and make sure you would qualify for the bonus before you jump in.
  • American Express: They are right there with Discover in offering a very good customer service and a good yield. Their offers are generally targeted, and are sent out if you have a credit card with them. They send lower offers initially. Don't bite on those, wait for better offers. I've gotten offer for $350 on new savings account, after depositing $25K with an APY of 2.2% in September, 2022.
  • Discover: Discover Bank is from same Discover credit card company. They are one of the best in credit card and banking. However, their checking/savings bonus are once per lifetime, so once you have taken advantage of the bonus, you are done. They used to offer $200-$300 offers in the past, so bite only when you get that kind of amount. I haven't seen anything decent in the last few years, since 2018.

Besides these 4 large banks (and Capital One, etc), many other smaller bank give you bonuses too. Sometimes these are available nationwide, but most of the times regional banks limit these offers to particular region. I'll list any such offers on the Deals page of the website

Below are few banks which offer you $250 or more for opening accounts with direct deposit, and with no other qualifying activities. Most of these offers are listed under deals section too:

NOTE: Read thru the "Bank account" section to find out more details on bank accounts and how you can maximize your return. You may not always have to do a real direct deposit. Also, not all banks consider Bank bonus as Interest income. Some consider it as MISC income. All these details are there in previous section.

 

 

 

National Bank Deals (from 2025 onwards):

 

These are national bank deals, that are available for everyone. I used to have these deals in separate section before 2025, but will now have it in this section. For deals before 2025, see in section "Deals until 2024" later below. These deals seem to come and go, or the bonus amounts keeps changing. So, keep checking as I may not have updated the details.

  • 10/01/2025 (Wells Fargo): Wells Fargo Bank Offer upped to $425 (from $400) for opening Checking a/c. Highest from Wells Fargo so far. However $3K in DD is now required, same as last time with $400 offer. 12 months should have passed from last bonus for you to be eligible for this bonus. Expires Nov 18, 2025.  Link from original post => Wells Fargo Offer
  • 09/24/2025 (CIT): CIT bank is offering $300 for $50K in deposit in platinum savings a/c (NOT checking a/c) for new and existing members. No hold period, so you can move money in and out in 5-10 days. Basically free $300.
  • 09/12/2025 (Magnify): Magnify Financial is offering $500 (-$10 for membership) for doing DD along with few basic activities. Might get pulled early as it's relatively easy money, so lots of applications might come in.
  • 09/09/2025 (BMO Harris): BMO Harris Bank Offer increased to $1000 for opening a relationship Checking a/c. DD of $20K+ within 90 days. Has a mailer language, but should work based on previous comments. Best offer so far. Link is => www.bmo.com/1000fall . The code is =>  BMOP-10124X-CHKRCDM. Has monthly fee of $25 but can be avoided with min of $10K daily balance in prior month. Expires Jan 28, 2026. Link from original post => BMO Offer
  • 09/09/2025 (Etrade): Etrade has $300 checking a/c bonus with 2 DD of $1500+. Lousy bonus, and lots of datapoints where they denied bonus based on the account not being used regularly in good faith (i.e need to show that this is your regular a/c with lots of activities). I'll pass on this, unless you are desperate. Expires Dec 31, 2025.
  • 08/25/25 (HSBC): HSBC Premier checking a/c bonus. The last bonus was in 2020, so a lot of DP are very old, and hence not reliable on what counts as DD. There's a $200 Swagbucks CB offer too. Not really worth it for HSBC bonus, may be for SB offer, you may do it, but $200 is too low :( . Expires Sept 30, 2025
  • 08/20/25 (Bank Of America): Bank of America $500 checking a/c bonus for doing DD of $10K+ within 3 months. You should have closed your account more than 12 months back. Expires 01/31/2026.
  • 08/20/25 (Alliance CU): UPDATED: $200 CB offer is back from rakuten. Might expire soon. savings offer of $100 still there. However, no CB for that as of now.
  • 07/18/2025 (Onpath CU): Very high interest rate of 7% on 1st 10K. It's a Kasasa a/c which usually pay high interest rates for doing monthly activities (see in bank a/c section for details on kasasa). Requirements are => login every month, sign up for paperless statements and do 15 debit card transactions of $10+ every month. Not worth doing in my opinion, as you can get 5% APY with any bank, extra 2% interest is meager $200 every year with too much work (spend $1800 every year, which is just too much). Only reason for listing it is since it has $300 in referral bonuses.
  • 07/07/2025 (Chase):  Chase offer for $900 bonus has been getting extended since 2022. See in chase offers below from 07/20/2022. There's also Teen and College student offer for $125, which has no minimum a/c requirement.
  • 07/07/2025 (Ally Bank): Ally Bank Checking a/c has $200 with promo code: Get200. Need to do DD of $2K+ for 3 consecutive months. Use Ally Savings Referral offer for $100 to open savings a/c first, then open checking a/c to get a total of $300. Pretty lousy offer, but Ally has pretty stingy offers to start with. Last time it had an offer was in 2023. Expires 08/07/2025.
  • 07/05/2025 (Sofi): Sofi offer has been live for past couple of years. Cashback keeps on changing. As of today, TCB has $350 CB. See deal from 03/01/2024 below.
  • 06/30/2025 (TBK): UPDATED 09/19/2025 => deal Nationwide now. TBK $700+ bonus in selected states (incl TX). Multiple activities reqd (all completed within 120 days of a/c opening). Min of 3 DD totaling $12K+ reqd for $500 bonus. Same as last few times, though bonus is lot higher now. Expires Sept 26, 2025,
  • 06/28/2025 (Raisin): I'm listing it separately since it's applicable with Raisin, irrespective of any bank you choose. $50K gets you $500 bonus (updated offer of $1K bonus with $100K) + $150 bonus from TCB. See more details under "live Oak Bank" offer below.
    • Link =>  https://www.doctorofcredit.com/raisin-up-to-200-savings-bonus-referral-savebetter/
    • Good news is that Raisin doesn't use Chex, so no hit to your chex score.
    • UPDATE 09/2025 => Referral bonus is upped to $250 and looks to be stackable with CB from TCB (based on comments). So, milk it while you can !!
      • My Referral Code => If you want to do something nice to me, use my referral code "kailasha069717" instead of code "EASY" (without the double quotes) in the page where you enter promo code. You still go thru TCB for $150 CB, and still get your "up to $1K" bonus (depending on the tier). So, there's nothing for you to lose using my referral. There's some risk of TCB CB not tracking, but based on DoC comments, it looks reasonably safe. 
    • UPDATE 08/2025 => Bonus amount is upped to $1K for $100K deposit with code EASY. However, you can use my referral code above instead of EASY, and still get the same bonus.
    • UPDATE 05/23/2025 => TopCashBack has $150 CB (increased from $100)  for opening a Raisin a/c and $10K deposit within 21 days. Some comments indicate that this offer is not tracking on TCB portal. Will expire soon, since CB is high.
    • UPDATE 05/02/2025 => TopCashBack has $100 CB for opening a Raisin a/c. Referral amount is also doubled from $50 to $100, but using cashback portal is easier. 
  • 06/08/2025 (First Tech CU): First Tech FCU bonus repeated from 12/28/24 (see below for earlier offer). Improved offer as they are $300 for savings a/c too for $20K+ deposit. Checking a/c still has $300 bonus with $5K+ DD per month required for a minimum of 3 months. $200 bonus for debit card may be worth if you manufacture purchases.
  • 05/21/2025 (Wells Fargo): Wells Fargo Bank Offer for $400 for opening a  Checking a/c. It has gone up from $325 that had been offered for last 2 yrs.  However $3K in DD is now required, instead of $1K in DD that was required previously. 12 months should have passed from last bonus for you to be eligible for this bonus. Expires July 8, 2025 Aug 19, 2025.  Link from original post => Wells Fargo Offer
  • 05/07/2025 (BMO Harris): BMO Harris Bank Offer for $600 for opening a relationship Checking a/c. Has monthly fee of $25 but can be avoided with min of $10K daily balance in prior month. Lower bonus of $400 also available. No $100 GC anymore. Keeps getting extended. It's extended to Sept 8, 2025. Link from original post => BMO Offer
  • 05/02/2025 (Truist): Truist Offer for $400 Keeps getting extended. It's extended to Oct 29, 2025. New Eligibility Date: who closed previous accounts before 5/1/24 are eligible now.
  • 05/01/2025 (US Bank): US Bank Offer for $450 Keeps getting extended. Additional CB from Swagbucks, etc. It's extended to June 26, 2025 11/20/2025.
  • 04/14/2024 (Live Oak): Live Oak Bank has $300 bonus with a new savings a/c and $20K+ in deposits by 5/16/25 and maintain for 60 days. They do pay 4.2% APY and have no Chex impact. So, $300 is really free money. Best part is that this offer keeps on coming, so you can keep on rotating the same $20K into new savings a/c, w/o closing the previous savings a/c (ppl had opened multiple savings a/c and have made $1000 opening 4-5 savings a/c. Read comments on DoC link below). 
    • Link => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/live-oak-bank-300-savings-bonus/
    • There are multiple offers thru various portals. Go for one with highest offer (No NOT use Rasin offer below with Live Oak, Open LiveOak a/c w/o the Raisin offer as Raisin offer can be availed any time with any bank):
      • Raisin: (see Raisin offer above. go with any bank with Raisin offer). They are not a bank, but basically partners with multiple banks to hold your money. They offer $250 for $25K and $500 for $50K in deposits and maintaining it for 90 days (choose Live Oak Bank as your bank to get highest rate of 4.35%). Use Promo: BOOST.  If you click thru Rakuten, you get extra $50 CB. This $50 CB is valid for just opening a Raisin a/c and funding it with min of $100. Even with CB, offer not worth it. 
  • 01/31/2025 (Bank of Hope): Bank of Hope has $388 bonus with $1000+ in DD within 90 days.
  • 01/29/2025 (Chartway FCU): Chartway FCU $300 bonus with $500 in deposits (NO DD required) + 10 debit card purchases. Opening a/c may require additional verification (selfie, etc)
  • 01/07/2025 (One Finance): One Finance (or One app) has $125 bonus ($200 bonus as of 01/27/2025) from Rakuten with $500+ in DD, One app also has offers on walmart, where you can make extra $20, $15, etc by using their checkout option. Lower bonus but pretty easy as Rakuten is reliable with offer money.
    •  Link => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/one-finance-review-get-up-to-3-apy-with-direct-deposits-25-signup-offer/
    • UPDATED 06/23/2025 => There is $300 bonus for existing and new members for doing DD of $5K+ in one month. It shows in the app (ymmv). Offer details on same DoC link above.
    • UPDATED 02/03/2025 => Bonus is now to $250. Highest so far. May not last long. Take screenshots of the offer too.
    • UPDATED 01/27/2025 => Bonus is now to $200. Definitely take advantage, as it's the highest so far. May not last long. Already expired as of 01/29/2025.
  • 01/02/2025: PSECU $300 checking bonus (Nationwide). If you live outside of Pennsylvania, you do have to join Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society (PRPS) for $20 which is paid for by PSECU, no nothing out of your pocket. 2 DD of $500+ required. There's a hard Pull, so not worth it for most of us. Expires 12/31/2025 (valid for 1 full year !!).
  • 12/30/2024: Relay Financial Bank $150 bonus (for business a/c only). $150 easy bonus if you have a business. Just deposit $100 by Jan 15, 2025 and get $150. Expires 01/15/2025.
  • 12/28/2024: Premier CU $300 bonus. Only $500 DD needed to get the bonus. It might be for Colorado State only, as people OOS are getting "under review" emails. Expires 12/31/2024
  • 12/28/2024: First Tech FCU $300 bonus. $5K+ DD per month required for a minimum of 3 months. Bonus is reliable as comments state ppl have gotten bonus in past with no issues. Still active as of 02/16/2025.

 

 

 

 

Regional Bank Deals (from 2024 onwards):

 

These are regional bank deals, that are available only in selected states or selected branches. I'll mostly be putting deals for Texas.

 

 

 

 

Deals until 2024:

 

2024:

 

 

 

10/26/2024: Open a Checking a/c at Alliant CU with $500+ DD - get $150 via rakuten => expires Nov 2, 2024 (Now $200 as of 12/27/2024) Back to $150 as of 01/06/2025

It's different than previous offer where you got $200 for opening CD and $100 for opening savings a/c. People got both last time. This is for checking a/c. Only for new customers. If you participated in previous offer, I doubt you may use this.

Checking Offer:  https://www.doctorofcredit.com/rakuten-alliant-credit-union-100-10000-checking-bonus/

01/06/2025 => Savings a/c offer is live, which pays you $100 bonus after you deposit $100 per month for 12 months. Same as what was offered before. Swagbucks/Mypoints portal gives you ~$75 in points. However, SB/MP is risky as points are never guaranteed.

Savings Offer => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/alliant-credit-union-100-ultimate-opportunity-savings-account-no-direct-deposit-required/

 

 

10/01/2024: Bank of America - $300 bonus for $2K+ in direct deposit within first 3 months (nationwide) => expires Jan 31, 2025

This offer is available nationwide and to everyone. Open the checking a/c and make $2K+ DD to get $300. This is the highest offer as their usual offer is $200. $300 is mostly targeted offer, but now it's public. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bank-america-100-checking-bonus-public-nationwide/

NOTE: There's another $500 offer for opening another checking a/c and depositing $15K in it. It's not worth it, as you lose interest worth $250. So, you are ultimately only getting $250 for opening a new a/c, which seems low.

 

 

09/25/2024: Laurel Road - $300 bonus + $20/month for $2.5K+ in direct deposit (nationwide, open to non-nurses too) => expiry unknown

This offer is available nationwide and to everyone. Open the checking a/c and make $2.5K+ DD to get $300. Then $2.5K per month to get $20/month for next 12 months. Not a great offer, as interest is basically 0. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/laurel-road-300-checking-bonus-25-per-month-available-nationwide-must-be-a-nurse/

 

 

09/10/2024: BMO Harris - $500 + $100GC for $7.5K+ in direct deposit within first 3 months (nationwide) => expires Oct 31, 2024

This offer is available nationwide 0in the past, it was only available in selected states). Open "BMO relationship account" to get $500 bonus. To get extra $100 GC, meet with a BMO banker in person or on phone.Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/il-wi-mn-in-az-fl-ks-mo-bmo-harris-350-checking-300-savings-bonus/

 

 

09/02/2024: Quorum Federal Credit Union - $300 for $1K+ in direct deposit in 60 days (nationwide) => expiry unknown

This offer is very easy money and won't last long. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/quorum-federal-credit-union-300-checking-bonus-available-nationwide/

 

 

09/01/2024: US Bank - $450 (+ ~$100 in SB) for $8K+ in direct deposit in 3 months (only in selected states) => expires Sept 26, 2024. Apr 26, 2025 June 26, 2025. Keeps getting extended

UPDATE May 2025: Requirements keep changing everytime the offer is extended. Pls check the link for latest details. Also, cashback portals may be risky now as they don't allow you to update the promo code. People are able to change promo code via chat to get both bonus, but it may be hit or miss with $450 bonus at risk.

This offer is repeat from 2023 with a lower bonus now. It's an ongoing offer, and is offered most of the times with expiry date moving forward. Last year it was for $600. You also get $100 from Swagbucks (SB) or MyPoints (MP). However SB or MP is not guaranteed, it's a hit or miss. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/u-s-bank-450-100-checking-bonus/

Simple requirement => Same as previous offer. have direct deposit setup for a total of $8K within 90 days + signup for online banking. Must use promo code 2024JUL. Leave > $1500 in there to avoid monthly fees. The qualifying checking account may be opened Nationwide. If you are in Florida, New York or some other state where it doesn't allow you to open an account (i.e Texas), open a Brokerage account first to start a relationship, and then open the checking account. Not worth it if not in your state, as opening/closing brokerage a/c requires a higher bonus than what you are getting here.

IMP: Positive change is that anti-churning language now says 12 months instead of 24 months ((can’t have had an account within the past 12 months to get the bonus). That means you can get the bonus almost every year.

 

 

08/31/2024: Farmers Insurance Federal Credit Union (FIGFCU) - $250 for $5K+ in direct deposit per month for 3 months (nationwide) => expiry unknown

This offer is available nationwide by joining ACC (no fees required). Tougher requirements. Use promo code NMHYC. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/farmers-insurance-federal-credit-union-figfcu-250-checking-bonus/

To get 5% interest on balances up to $5K, you need to have 10+ debit purchases, $1K in ACH every month and be enrolled in e-delivery. After getting the bonus, I would close this account as collecting this interest requires more work than other high yield checking a/c require you to do. There's also a savings a/c that gives 3.5% which is also not worth getting.

 

 

08/28/2024: Open a CD at Alliant CU - get $200 via rakuten => expiry unknown

There is an offer on rakten site too for $200 when opening a min 3 month CD with > $1000. Only for new customers.

Offer: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/rakuten-alliant-credit-union-open-cd-get-100-10000-back/

Separately, there’s also a $100 bonus for opening an Alliant savings account. It's not worth as it requires depositing $100 every month for 12 months to get this.

 

 

06/20/2024: Axos Bank Rewards checking account - ($125 via rakuten) + $500 for direct deposit  => expires July 31, 2024

There is an offer on swagbuks site too for $150 in SB. However, SB payouts never came from the last promo, so don't go with SB. Instead go with rakuten. If you already took advantage of previous offer for $300 this year, you are not eligible for this one (terms exclude bonus to only one per customer per year for any kind of checking account).

Offer: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/axos-bank-500-checking-bonus-150/

  1. To get $125 from rakuten:
    1. Follow the link: https://www.rakuten.com/axosbank.com
    2. Use promo code RC500. You just need to open any Bank Account to get the bonus. Minimum deposit > $250. Need to keep account opened for > 6 months
  2. To get $500 from Axos:
    1. Once you have clicked on the link, open the "Rewards checking account". with promo code RC500
    2. Set up a direct deposit of $1,500 per month and earn $100 bonus per month (up to $500).
    3. Minimum daily balance needs to be > $3K starting from day 1 (or else you will miss first month bonus). That's ok, as you will still have 5 more months to get $500.

 

 

05/06/2024: BMO Relationship Checking account - $500 for $7.5K in direct deposit  => expires Sep 9, 2024

Bonus had been $600 in the past, so not the best. Deal is nationwide now. DD needs to be done within 90 days. There's also a saving a/c promo, where you get $5/month bonus for increasing your savings balance by $200 every month for 1st 12 months. Extra $60 if you can do that every month.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/il-wi-mn-in-az-fl-ks-mo-bmo-harris-350-checking-300-savings-bonus/

NOTE:There's a $25 checking a/c fee per month. The only way to avoid is to open the month on the first of the month. They waive fees for 1st 2 months. The 3rd month, you ask them to waive the fee for you. The 4th month you downgrade the a/c to "Smart Advantage Checking" which has no fees. You should downgrade after your bonus posts. If not possible to downgrade, get your daily balance > $10K to avoid fees.

 

 

03/10/2024: Axos Bank checking and savings account - ($175 via swagbucks) + $300 for direct deposit  => expires July 31, 2024

This is an offer to bite on only if you get the $175 via Swagbucks. The terms exclude getting both bonus at the same time, but folks have gotten both in the past.

Offer: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/axos-bank-300-checking-bonus/

  1. To get $175 (17,500 SB) from swabucks.:
    1. Follow the link: https://www.swagbucks.com/?f=11&q=axos
    2. No promo code needed. You just need to open any Bank Account to get the bonus. Minimum deposit > $750. Need to keep account opened for > 6 months
    3. After opening via the link, change product type by shifting through Axos’ menu from Rewards checking to CashBack checking
  2. To get $300 from Axos:
    1. Once you have changed product type to Cashback checking, enter the code: "FREEDOM300".
    2. Even though it says "open Cashback Checking and Best Savings bundle", multiple CS have confirmed that only Checking account is needed for the bonus. Safe to open both.
    3. Set up a direct deposit of $1,000 per month and earn $100 bonus per month (up to $300)

You will know if both offers stack by the end of 30 days, when SB credits you. Make sure, SB shows as tracked, The default account that shows up via SB link "Rewards checking" is NOT eligible for $300 bonus, so be sure to change product type.

 UPDATE: Swagbucks never gave the money for any of the accounts. Reading on DoC, they denied payout to almost everyone. So, risky to go with with SB for any of these large payouts. Instead use, other cashback portals as TCB, Rakuten, etc, which are reliable.
 

 

03/01/2024: Sofi Hybrid checking and savings account - ($200 via swagbucks, $250 $350 via Rakuten) + $300 for direct deposit  => expiry unknown

This is same offer since 2022. It's there almost all the times. The bonus amount keeps varying from $400 - $500. You can look for more details in the earlier deals from Sofi.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sofi-checking-5000-direct-deposit-required/

UPDATE 10/13/2025 => Swagbucks is offering $415 which is highest ever.

UPDATE 07/05/2025 => TopCashback is offering $350 which matches highest ever for TCB. Rakuten $375 offer is expired.

UPDATE 07/02/2025 => Rakuten is again offering $375 which matches highest ever.

UPDATE 05/04/2025 => Rakuten is offering $375 when using their portal. So, total of $675 which is highest ever ($25 more than previous high).

UPDATE 08/19/2024 => Rakuten is offering $350 when using their portal. So, total of $650 which is highest ever.

UPDATE 05/06/2024 => Rakuten is offering $250 when using their portal. So, total of $550 which was highest ever.

NOTE: This account is not churnable for DD bonus. So, if you have done it once, even if you close the account, you will never get the bonus again (NOT 100% sure as some comments from May 2025 on DoC indicate ppl might have gotten the DD bonus too when churning. However, DoC list of churnable banks shows it as non churnable.). The cashback portal offer may be churnable if you go via some other shopping portal as Swagbucks, Rakuten, Mypoints, etc, where you haven't done it before. It has been confirmed via comments by someone who has done it multiple times.

By ShwantheShawn comments on 08/19/24 =>

Yes, I’ve churned it successfully from multiple portals just for the cashback from each portal. Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sofi-checking-5000-direct-deposit-required/#comment-1870471

“As for the waiting time, I’ve churned it in as short as 5-7 days after closing the previous account.” Link: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sofi-checking-5000-direct-deposit-required/#comment-1806493

Others may have done it even sooner, but I generally give it some time for the old account to be purged.

So, not worth your time, if you have already gotten the bonus in the past. Only worth it for shopping portal bonus if the bonus is large enough. As of 2025, CB bonuses are large enough, so use new portals when reopening the a/c.

 

 

02/28/2024: Truist - $400 for $500+ in direct deposit (only in selected states) => expires June 26, 2024 expires Apr 30, 2025 expires Oct 29, 2025

UPDATE 05/02/2025 => New promo code: TRUIST25DC400, extended through 10/29/25. New Eligibility Date: who closed previous accounts before 5/1/24 are eligible now. Use same link as shown below to get more details.

 

UPDATE 11/04/2024 => New promo code: DC2425TR1400, extended through 4/30/25. New Eligibility Date: who closed previous accounts before 10/31/23 are eligible now. Check latest requirements from link below (NOTE: requirements have changed to $1000+ deposit in atleast 2 DD within 120 days and no debit card transactions required. Makes it easier to qualify. Need only $500+ deposit to waive the monthly fees).

This offer is back from 2023, but now had reduced bonus of $400 compared to $500 before. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/truist-300-checking-bonus-al-ar-ga-fl-in-ky-md-ms-nc-nj-oh-pa-sc-tn-tx-va-wv-or-dc/

Requirements have changed from before => have direct deposit setup for a total of $500 (NOT $1K) AND Complete 15 debit card purchases (NEW requirement) within 90 days. Use new promo code TRUIST400DC24. Leave > $1500 in there to avoid monthly fees. The qualifying checking account must be opened in a Truist branch in one of the following states or online and have a mailing address in: AL, AR, GA, FL, IN, KY, MD, MS, NC, NJ, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV or DC.

NOTE: If you have done this bonus before in 2023, you should have closed a personal checking account with Truist on or before 2/28/23 to be eligible to participate.

See previous offer from 2023 below for more details.

TAX: Truist doesn't send out 1099-MISC tax forms, if the amount of bonus is < $600. As per comments by Matt B on this link, "they consider the bonuses as misc income so they issue 1099 MISC if you receive more than 600 in bonuses. I did the personal and business truist bonuses and I got two 1099 MISC for $400 each". Link => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/which-banks-send-out-tax-form-1099-discussion-post-for-2023-tax-forms/

 

 

01/29/2024: Elements Financial Credit Union => $400 bonus for Checking account (nationwide) => expires Mar 25, 2024 already expired in Feb 2024

First offer of 2024, and NOT too great. Limit is one per household, so spouses can't apply. Use Code: CHECK400 or you won't get the offer. Also, has $5 monthly fee, unless you keep $10K or have direct deposit. You need to have 2 real DD of > $500 by Mar 25th, 2024. They seem to be strict about real DD. After meeting the requirement of 2 Direct deposit, switch to DD of $50 or so per pay period. That way you won't lose much in interest and will avoid he $5 monthly fee. Account needs to be open for 6 months. No interest.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/elements-financial-credit-union-400-checking-bonus/

 

 

 

2023:

 

 

 

11/05/2023: Capital One - $1500 bonus for $100K+ in deposit in Savings account (nationwide) => expires Dec 6, 2023 => Still active as of 04/04/2024

You get $300 bonus on $20K deposit, $750 for $50K deposit or $1500 bonus on $100K+ deposit on their Online Savings account. This money needs to be held for 90 days. You get 4.3% APY.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/capital-one-300-1500-savings-bonus-requires-20000-100000-deposit/

So, in 4 months you get $1400 in interest + $1500 bonus = $3000 on $100K in 4 months. If you leave for 12 months, then you don't make any money, as it implies an effective APY of 6%, which you can get elsewhere (see in checking accounts)

 

 

11/05/2023: CIBC - $500 bonus for $50K+ in deposit in Savings account (nationwide) => expires Dec 19, 2023

You get $250 bonus on $25K deposit, or $500 bonus on $50K deposit on their Agility Online Savings account.This money needs to be kept until Mar 18, 2024. Enroll in e-statements too. You get 5% APY.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/cibc-200-400-online-savings-bonus-with-25000-50000-deposit-plus-1-85-apy/

So, in 4 months you get $800 in interest + $500 bonus = $1300 on $50K in 4 months. If you leave for 12 months, then you don't make any money, as it implies an effective APY of 6%, which you can get elsewhere (see in checking accounts)

There's also a $200 bonus for opening a iCan or Choice checking account (It has been higher at $300 in the past, so not sure if it's worth it). There's no DD or any other requirement for this checking account bonus.

https://us.cibc.com/en/personal/checking.html

 

 

10/20/2023: Chime - $245 $250 in SwagBucks for $200+ in direct deposit within 30 days (nationwide) => expires Oct 31, 2023 extended to Nov 30, 2023 Feb 29, 2024 Mar 31, 2024

UPDATE 12/05/2024: $300 Bonus available through TopCashback. Only 1 DD of $200 required within 30 days. SB/MP are offering $400 now, but risky. TCB has much more reliable CB than Swagbucks, and a higher offer.

UPDATE 02/22/2025: $500 bonus now on InBoxDollars. Risky though based on comments.

Churn: Chime offer is churnable as long as you do it with different CB sites, and use different email addr, and slight variation of your mailing addr (though variation of mailing addr not strictly necessary). Read the comments on DoC.

Link => https://www.topcashback.com/-chime-/

ORIGINAL OFFER: This is thru swagbucks, and NOT thru Chime directly. So, you need to have Sawgbucks account, and need to wait for 70 days after meeting the requirement to get SB.

Requirement: Download chime app. 500 SB awarded immediately on opening the account. You must have at least two (2) consecutive qualifying payroll direct deposits of at least $200 each to your Chime account to earn 24,000 SB. The first payroll direct deposit must be received within 30 days of your account signup date.  Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chime-earn-10000-swagbucks-for-opening-a-new-account-receiving-a-direct-deposit/

UPDATE: SB amount varies between 24K SB to 25K SB depending on the offer at that time. I did end up getting my Chime SB, but I had to provide extensive proof, as it didn't come automatically. It showed "tracked" and then after a month it disappeared from my tracking history. Took 1 month of back and forth emails after the 3 month period to finally get it. Read recent comments on DoC on others having similar issue. So, don't count it as slam dunk. Some People have reported getting double the SB (48500) during Jan, 2024, even though the offer was only for 24500 SB.

UPDATE 03/18/2024: $10 bonus for tipping someone $10 or more. Valid 03/18/2024 - 03/20/2024. Details => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chime-pay-10-to-anyone-get-10-back-from-chime-limit-1/

 

 

10/01/2023: Wells Fargo - $325 for $1K+ in direct deposit within 90 days (nationwide) => expires Nov 13, 2023. extended to Jan 16, 2024 Apr 9, 2024 May 21, 2024

There was similar offer in 2020 and 2022 with $400 and $300 respectively. They seem to have this once a year. Not worth waiting for $400 as the have kept on extending this deal since the start of the year. No EATF, but wait 6 months before closing. This account doesn't cost anything to keep active.

Same requirement as before => have direct deposit setup for a total of $1K within 90 days. Leave >$500 in there to avoid monthly fees. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/wells-fargo-325-checking-bonus-available-online/

Savings Account offer; There's a Savings account offer that pays you $225 for $10K in deposit for 90 days. Might as well combine this, and close both accounts together. This nets you $100 after accounting for lost interest.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/wells-fargo-225-savings-bonus-with-10000-deposit/

 

 

09/15/2023: American Express - $250 bonus for $500+ in direct deposit by Dec 10, 2023 (nationwide for Amex Credit card members only) => expires Oct 31, 2023

There has been no public offer from Amex for bank accounts, this is the first time they are doing it. So, dive in if you already have Amex Credit card and had it for more than 3 months. If you aren't a Amex Credit card holder, don't bother as by the time you become eligible, this promo will be gone.

NOTE: There's a separate $300 sign on bonus for opening Savings account, but that is targeted. Don't open Savings Account unless Amex sends you such an offer.

Same requirement as before => have direct deposit setup for a total of $500 by 10th Dec, 2023. No monthly fees to worry about. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/american-express-250-checking-bonus/

 

 

05/01/2023: UMB checking account $400 offer (only valid in select states). => expires Sept 30, 2023 (extended to Nov 30, 2023)

UMB offer is back from 2021 with a higher bonus of $400, when you open UMB value checking account, and do $2.5K+ in direct deposit within 60 days. Min opening requirement is $100, and account needs to remain open for 90 days. Takes min of 60 days for bonus to post after meeting requirements. $1500 avg balance is needed to avoid $8 monthly fees. Do NOT open the "select checking account" as it has higher requirements, yet gives you the same bonus. It's valid in only these states: Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas.

Many ACH transfers are triggering the bonus, so Direct deposit may not be absolutely needed. Try doing ACH into UMB thru other banks that you have accounts with, and see if the bonus posts. Bonus is posting pretty fast, so worth doing it. More details below:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/az-co-il-mo-ne-ok-ks-tx-umb-bank-400-checking-bonus/

UPDATE: The bank is asking people to take selfie, declining applications for no reason and more pain (NOT any more as of Oct 2023). Not worth keeping it open after getting the bonus. People are reporting getting their bonus though.

CHURNABLE: This offer is churnable, meaning you can get this offer, even if you had participated in previous offers from UMB. From one of the comments on DoC "Both P1 and P2 have received UMB bonuses in the past. I believe you can churn as long as it’s a different offer each time. - mothman69"

 

 

03/31/2023: PNC - $400 bonus for direct deposit (nationwide ??) => expires June 30, 2023 (extended to August 31, 2023) (extended to Oct 31, 2023) extended until 01/02/2024

This deal is around most of the times. The expiry date keeps getting extended. As of Apr, 2023, the expiry date is June, 2023. Same bonus and same requirements as before. Seems to be valid nationwide, though it does ask for your pincode before starting the application.

Don't go for $200 bonus, go for $400 one. Simple requirement for $400 bonus => Open "Virtual Wallet with Performance Select" and have direct deposits totaling $5K within 60 days. Chase bank, Schwab brokerage and ACH from quite a few other places counts as DD (see comments in DoC). To avoid $25 monthly fee, keep > $5K in account all the time. No early closure penalty, so close it after getting your bonus, as they pay no interest.

Details here: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/pnc-up-to-250-400-checking-bonus/

 

 

03/17/2023: TBK - $600 bonus for direct deposit + other activities (only in selected states) => expires May 27, 2023

This deal is back from 2022. Same bonus and same requirements as before.

Simple requirement for $500 bonus => have 3 direct deposits totaling $12K within 120 days. Other $100 bonus requires more activities. ACH from few other places counts as DD (see comments in DoC). Only valid in CO, IA, IL, KS & TX.

Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/co-ia-il-ks-tx-tbk-bank-600-checking-bonus/

 

 

03/03/2023: US Bank - $600 for $10K+ in direct deposit in 3 months (only in selected states) => expires Apr 11, 2023

This offer is the highest so far. Last year it was for $500. You also get $35-$50 from Swagbucks or MyPoints. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/u-s-bank-600-checking-bonus-plus-35-49-portal/

Simple requirement => have direct deposit setup for a total of $10K within 90 days + signup for online banking. Must use promo code 2023MAR. Leave > $1500 in there to avoid monthly fees. The qualifying checking account may be opened Nationwide. If you are in Florida, New York or some other state where it doesn't allow you to open an account, open a Brokerage account first to start a relationship, and then open the checking account

 

 

01/25/2023: Truist - $400 for $1K+ in direct deposit (only in selected states) => expires Apr 14, 2023, extended to July 25, 2023

This offer is back from 2022, but now had reduced bonus of $400 compared to $500 before. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/truist-300-checking-bonus-al-ar-ga-fl-in-ky-md-ms-nc-nj-oh-pa-sc-tn-tx-va-wv-or-dc/

Simple requirement => have direct deposit setup for a total of $1K within 90 days. Use promo code CHKQ123TRUIST1. Leave > $1500 in there to avoid monthly fees. The qualifying checking account must be opened in a Truist branch in one of the following states or online and have a mailing address in: AL, AR, GA, FL, IN, KY, MD, MS, NC, NJ, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV or DC.

Error: When opening the account, most people end up with Error: Unfortunately, this service is unavailable right now. Code: 1002- 1". It asks you to go to a branch. However, offer is online only, and people at branch don't know how to open it online. This error usually means something in your application didn't match their criteria. In my case, it was the address. Don't choose their suggested address, stick with your manually entered address (also be careful with Lane vs Ln,Drive vs dr, as their system seems to be matching with the exact addr that is in their database, any variation is rejected). Also, addr where you are living, should be > 2 years (even if you have lived there for < 2 year, enter that you have lived there for over 2 years). If these don't work, try some other changes. Mine went thru with Addr change after getting this error code 3 times in a row with 3 different computer/browsers.

UPDATE (May, 2023): Many are reporting getting bonus with no issues in as little as a month. Also, regular ACH from Chase, Schwab brokerage, etc are working. So, easy free money. If after doing ACH, you don't get bonus within 30 days, go with regular DD. Anyone who held an  account with Truist, BB&T/SunTrust as of 01/20/2022 is not eligible. I got mine too automatically within a month.

UPDATE (Jan, 2023): Many are reporting issues opening, getting locked out, etc, so seems risky to invest time in it.

 

 

01/13/2023: Chase Checking + Savings Account $900 offer => Expires Apr 19, 2023 Expires Jan 24, 2024 Expires Apr 17, 2024 Expires July 24, 2024 Expires Apr 16, 2025 Expires July 16, 2025 Expires 10/15/2025

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/targeted-chase-900-checking-savings-bonus/

This offer from chase is the highest ever (historically in the last 20 years), so bite on it. For you and your spouse, it's $1800 of free money. You need to get the code via email, and then use that to open the account. Get the code now, in case they run out of codes. You will have until Apr 19, 2023 to use the code. You have to click on the link on the Doc site above using Incognito mode (or private mode), else it just brings you to chase.com, which shows regular offer of $600. Don't bite on $600 offer as that's also going on in parallel (that offer is shown below under 2022).

NOTE: You can keep applying for this offer every 2 years from coupon enrollment date, provided you have closed your prior checking+savings a/c.

Acceptable forms of ID for in branch a/c opening => https://www.chase.com/content/dam/chase-ux/documents/personal/checking/acceptable-forms-of-identification.pdf

UPDATE: If you had applied for the prior bonus of $600, and you are still within 21 days since you applied, and haven't received any bonus yet, you may send "secure message" to chase (using their website) with the new $900 bonus code, and they will attach the new code. More details:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/does-chase-match-a-checking-or-savings-bonus-yes-for-21-days/

EXTENDED: This offer keeps on getting extended every time it expires (offer valid all of 2023, and still active in 2024 and 2025). As of 2025, it's been there for over 2 years. With interest rate elsewhere being 5.5%, and chase giving 0%, you effectively lose $300 in interest in 3 months, so your real profit is only $600 - Taxes. Still Not bad, since most checking + savings combo don't give you more than $600.

 Chase Teen and College accounts: Chase has another offer for teens aged 13-17 and college students aged 17+. Both give only $125 in bonus, but that's the highest that has been offered so far. Free money until kid turns 18= at which point get the regular bonus for your kids too.

 

 

 

2022:

 

 

 

10/18/2022: FNBO Checking Account + Savings Account $500 offer (selected states and zip codes only) => Expires 11/15/2022

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/co-ks-ne-ia-sd-il-tx-mo-wi-wy-fnbo-300-checking-bonus-200-savings-bonus/

This offer is for First Nantional Bank of Omaha. It is only in selected states, and in selected zip codes (zip codes where they have branches).  You get $300 from checking account + $200 from savings account. From the comments, looks like the bank isn't very reliable while applying.

 

 

10/15/2022: Bank OZK Checking Account + Savings Account $500 offer (selected states and in branch only) => Expires Nov 5, 2022

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/al-ar-ca-fl-ga-ms-nc-ny-sc-tn-tx-in-branch-ymmv-only-bank-ozk-250-checking-bonus/

This is only in selected states only, and in selected branches only. You get $450 from checking account + $50 from savings account. There is no direct link, so call your branch and confirm the offer before you drive up there. From the comments, looks like people have successfully gotten the bonus in the past.

Here's the link of he flyer from a branch location: https://imgur.com/a/Z8BfE9l

Looks like all branches have this offer, and they know about it. Both spouses can open in the same visit. Offer expires Nov 5, so get in before then.

Requirments:

Checking A/c: $5K or more in 2 or more direct deposit + a0 debit card purchases (POS) within 90 days. Need to have $2500+ daily avg balance to keep account fee free.

Savings A/c: Balalnce should be $750+ on day of bonus deposit, need ?FIXME? minimum balance to keep account fee free

Though I had never heard of this bank, it's a big bank with $25B in assets which makes it bigger than all credit unions except top 5 => https://www.depositaccounts.com/banks/bank-ozk.html

 

 

09/20/2022: Regions Bank Checking Account $450 offer (selected states only) => Expires Sept 30, 2022 => EXPIRED

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/regions-bank-400-checking-bonus-50-referral-al-ar-fl-ga-il-in-ia-ky-la-ms-mo-nc-sc-tn-tx/

This is only in selected states only, and you have to live within 50 mile footprint of a branch. You get $400 from bank + $50 from referral. The person who is referred does get $50, while not sure if the person referring gets anything. There are lots of referral links in comments section here: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/regions-bank-200250-checking-bonus-al-ar-fl-ga-il-ia-ky-la-ms-mo-nc-sc-tn-tx/

UPDATE (Sept 25, 2022): Not sure if they will honor any bonus. Customer Service reps state that you must have received this code personally delivered to you, else they won't honor it. Even though the online application allows it, bonus may be in jeopard. Will have to wait and see.

 

 

09/09/2022: Axos Bank Checking Account ~$365 offer => Expires Nov 7, 2022 => EXPIRED (as of Oct 19, 2022): 

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/axos-bank-100-checking-bonus-direct-deposit-not-required/

This offer is $300 from Axos Bank and $65 from swagbucks. Read the section on "cashback websites" to find out how swagbucks works. DD has to > $7K in any 30 day period in the first 3 months. Capital One, Charles Schwab, Sofi, etc work as DD. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/knowledge-base/list-methods-banks-count-direct-deposits/#Axos_Bank

Close after 6 months to avoid Early termination fee.

 

 

07/20/2022: Chase Checking + Savings Account $600 offer => Expires Apr 19, 2023

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-600-checking-savings-bonus/

This offer from chase was pretty standard before 2020. Now it has come back after a long time. This is the best offer from Chase (historically), so bite on it. For you and your spouse, it's $1200 of free money. You need to get the code via email, and then use that to open the account. Get the code now, in case they run out of codes.

UPDATE (10/10/2022): The above link says the offer has been extended to Jan 25, 2023, Apr 19, 2023 which is right. But the link takes you to an offer of $200 for checking and $100 for savings. Or sometimes it shows the $600 offer, but keeps on looping onto itself. So, most likely the site is getting fixed. It's always better to get the code emailed to you ahead of time.

UPDATE (01/13/2023): Use $900 offer from Chase (shown above) instead of using this. You get extra $300 with exactly the same requirements.

 

 

05/15/2022: Capital one bank 360 checking account $250 offer => Expires Jun 21, 2022

https://slickdeals.net/f/15742891-capital-one-250-checking-bonus-for-new-360-checking-customers?src=frontpage

Capital One offered up to $400 for checking account in 2020, so if you didn't take advantage of that, this might be your best bet. People who took advantage of that offer, can't apply for this offer. You need to make 2 direct deposits each of $250 or more within 75 days of account opening in order to qualify for the bonus. When opening the new account, you need to enter promo code "BONUS250" (by clicking + sign for code) or you won't get the bonus. They also have an additional requirement that you should not have had an active 360 checking account with them anytime after 1st Jan, 2019 (i.e as long you never had a Capital One 360 checking account or if you had one but closed it before 1st Jan, 2019, you would be eligible for the bonus). NOTE: Even if you had other checking or savings account with them, you would still qualify for the bonus. Be sure to close out the account as soon as you get the bonus, so that when the bonus comes next time around, you may qualify for the next bonus.  

 

 

05/02/2022: Sofi Hybrid checking and savings account - ($75 via slickdeals or $175 via swagbucks) + $300 for direct deposit  => expires May 31, 2022

This is an improved offer from last year. You now get $300 for Direct Deposit, though the direct deposit amount is larger at $5K+. Simple requirement. You can go via swagbucks which gives you 17500 points (euqiv to $175). It's as swagbuck points for which you don't get 1099 tax statement. Do a direct deposit of $5K in first 30 days, and you will get full $475 bonus (vis swabucks) or $375 bonus (via slickdeals). Interest rate is also high at 1.25% with DD (as of April, 2022). Here's the link to DD form:

https://www.sofi.com/banking-service/api/public/v1/directDepositForm

Swagbucks offer: Go with the swagbucks offer.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sofi-checking-5000-direct-deposit-required/

Make sure your Direct deposit is the first deposit in the account (don't deposit any money when opening the account). Just let the DD be the first money to hit the account. You need to hit $5K within 30 days of first DD hitting the account.

In case you don't have swagbucks, open one by clicking on my referral link below. We both get $3 (300 Swagbucks) each, when you earn at least 300 SB in first 30 days.

Referral link: https://www.swagbucks.com/p/register?rb=20277812

Slickdeals offer: Don't go with this as it's $100 lower. Also, you do have to install slickdeals extension in your browser, which isn't something which is comfortable to some people.

Details here:

https://slickdeals.net/f/15711580-sofi-checking-and-savings-open-a-new-account-w-125-or-more-in-funding-get-75-via-slickdeals-bonus-300-direct-deposit-bonus

Sofi Referral link: Below is my SoFi referral link. If you use that to open the account, both of us get $15 each. Comments on DoC say that referral stacks with Swagbucks offer above, but I've no way of confirming. I'm not even sure how can I be referred, when you open the acount using SoFi link on swagbucks portal. For now, just avoid using my referral link below, if you want to get the $175 offer from swagbucks above with no risk.

Referral link: https://sofi.app.link/RzLverWjDpbhttps://sofi.app.link/RzLverWjDpb

https://sofi.app.link/RzLverWjDpbhttps://sofi.app.link/RzLverWjDpbhttps://sofi.app.link/RzLverWjDpb

 

 

03/15/2022: TBK - $600 bonus for direct deposit + other activities (only in selected states) => expires Jun 18, 2022

Simple requirement for $500 bonus => have 3 direct deposits totalling $12K within 120 days. Other $100 bonus requires more activities. Only valid in CO, IA, IL, KS & TX.

Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/co-ia-il-ks-tx-tbk-bank-600-checking-bonus/

 

 

02/10/2022: Truist - $500 for $1K+ in direct deposit (only in selected states) => expires Apr 30, 2022

Simple requirement => have direct deposit setup for a total of $1K within 90 days. Use promo code TR1CHK22B. Leave > $1500 in there to avoid monthly fees. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/truist-500-checking-bonus-al-ar-ga-fl-in-ky-md-ms-nc-nj-oh-pa-sc-tn-tx-va-wv-or-dc/

The qualifying checking account must be opened in a Truist branch in one of the following states or online and have a mailing address in: AL, AR, GA, FL, IN, KY, MD, MS, NC, NJ, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV or DC.

 UPDATE (Mar, 2022): Many are reporting not receiving the bonus, so seems risky to invest time in it.

 

 

02/01/2022: Wells Fargo - $300 for $1K+ in direct deposit (nationwide) => expires Mar 31, 2022

Simple requirement => have direct deposit setup for a total of $1K within 90 days. Leave >$500 in there to avoid monthly fees. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/wells-fargo-300-checking-bonus-available-online/

 

 

01/16/2022: Amerant Bank - $500 for $25K+ deposit (only in TX, FL) => expires Apr 30, 2022

Simple requirement. Leave $25K in there for atleast 90 days, and have direct deposit setup. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/tx-fl-amerant-bank-250-500-checking-bonus/

Use referlive to get $50 referral bonus for both the referrer and the one referred. More details in "bank accounts" section. You don't need to have an account at Amerant to refer someone to Amerant. You just need to have registration (i.e account on referlive)

https://www.referlive.com/amerant

 

 

 

2021:

 

 

10/25/2021: Sofi Money account - ($75 via slickdeals or $175 via swagbucks) + $100 for direct deposit => expiry unknown

Simple requirement. You can go via swagbucks which gives you 17500 points (euqiv to $175). It's given as swagbuck points for which you don't get 1099 tax statement. It barely makes it to $300 threshold that I've for banking bonuses in general. It used to $125 for Direct deposit, but now is reduced to $100. Do a deposit of $1K in first 30 days, and you will get full $275 bonus or $175 bonus.

Swagbucks offer: Go with the swagbucks offer. 

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/swagbucks-signup-for-sofi-money-with-direct-deposit-get-175-plus-100-direct-deposit-bonus/

Data point suggests you do get it. Make sure your Direct deposit is the first deposit in the account (don't deposit any mney when opening the account). Just let the DD be the first money to hit the account.

Slickdeals offer: Don't go with this as it's $100 lower, and has same risk as swagbucks. Also, you do have to install slickdeals extension in your browser, which isn't something which is comfortable to some people.

Details here:

https://slickdeals.net/f/15167158-sofi-money-open-a-new-account-w-125-or-more-in-funding-get-75-via-slickdeals-bonus?src=sticky-missed

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/sofi-money-75-slickdeals-bonus-possible-75-stack/

 

 

10/22/2021: Kabbage (by Amex) $300 Checking Account (Business) Bonus offer (Nationwide) => expires 12/15/2021

Simple requirement, Get $300 after you complete a total of 5 debit card purchases within 45 days of account opening.However, a lot of readers complain about closed accounts, more verification requests, etc, etc. This account does have 1.1% APY on a checking account on up to $100K, which is high in today's environment.

Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/kabbage-by-amex-1-10-checking-account-on-balances-up-to-100000/

 NOTE: This looks to be business accounts only, as I don't see any option to proceed without providing your business details. Readers on slickdeals.net claim that you can just call yourself "sole proprietor" even if you have no business (-It is a business checking account but you can just use your social and call yourself a sole proprietor.) => looks like that works !!

https://slickdeals.net/f/15352828-300-cash-bonus-after-opening-a-kabbage-checking-account-5-debit-purchases-within-45-days

 

 

10/10/2021: Fifth third Bank $300 Checking Bonus offer (only selected states => Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia) => expires 12/31/2021

Simple requirement, Need Direct deposit of $500 or more within 60 days of account opening. Bonus is guaranteed as Fifth third is pretty good with bonuses getting posted automatically. However, limited to very few states.

Details here:

https://slickdeals.net/f/15322747-fifth-third-new-checking-account-300-bonus-after-500-direct-deposit-within-60-days?v=1

 

 

06/13/2021: Monifi $250 Checking Bonus offer => expires 06/30/2021

To receive the $250 bonus, receive 2 qualifying direct deposits of at least $1000 each within 90 days of account opening. Looks like people are getting extra $25 for manually moving $100 from Monifi’s “Spend” account to the “Save” account. It's credited as "$25 savings goal promotion". Any ACH transfer from any bank (Capital One, Schwab brokerage, Chase, etc) is counting as Direct Deposit, so no need of doing DD from your employer.

Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/monifi-250-checking-bonus-available-nationwide/

Direct link to the offer:

https://www.monifi.com/250

The link has the option for downloading app, so this promo is only valid for applying thru app. Later, you can login thru their website on desktop. There are too many issues with this bank, where transactions are not showing up, or accounts are getting closed for no reason. However, if your account remains open, then the bonus is pretty fast and is credited within couple of days. So, worth the risk.

 UPDATE: 05/16/2021 => On applying, it says that they are not accepting applications anymore. So, maybe dead.

 

 

06/06/2021: Hancock Whitney Bank $300 Checking Bonus offer (only valid in selected states). => expires 06/30/2021

To receive the $300 bonus, receive a qualifying monthly direct deposit of at least $250 by 8/31/2021. Offer is valid in LA, MS, FL, AL, & TX only. Offer is valid in selected cities of these states, so not everyone living in these states is eligible. You will know that once you enter your zipcode on the offer link below. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/targeted-la-ms-fl-al-tx-hancock-whitney-bank-300-checking-bonus/

This is the link for $300 offer to get a promo code via email, only then can you sign up:

https://www.hancockwhitney.com/communitychecking-300-2021

Looks like this is a branch only offer. Also from the comments by Tom, looks like this is a sneaky bank, and will charge you with fees wherever possible. So, learn from him, and play your game right. Deposit at least $1600 at time of account opening, and sign up for paperless statements right while in the bank. Close your bank account 7 months after account opening, and don't bring your balance to $0 before closing your account.

 

 

05/31/2021: Comerica Bank $200 and $500 offer (only valid in TX and MI). => expiry unknown

Comerica Bank has 2 offers: a $200 offer and a $500.  $200 is valid in TX only, while $500 offer is valid in MI and TX. Details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/az-mi-tx-ca-comerica-bank-200-checking-bonus/

This is the link for $200 offer:

https://www.comerica.com/campaigns/personal/access-checking-200.html

This is the link for $500 offer:

https://www.comerica.com/campaigns/personal/platinum-circle-500.html

Looks like you should be able to do both offers, but there's no data point yet. Personally, $200 is lot easier to do, since no money is tied up into it. Also, looks like you need to do real Direct Deposit to get $200. One nice thing about this bonus may be that the bonus is not treated as interest, and hence no tax form issued (based on comments on DoC website).

There's also a referral bonus going on where both parties get $50 card. Free money. If you need referral from me, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. asking for refrral, and I'll be glad to send you a link. Open the account only by using the link. Not sure how it works if the account is opened in branch. Details here:

https://www.comerica.com/personal-finance/Referlive.html

UPDATE: Application got denied online, asked to apply in branch. Applied in branch, manager knew nothing about bonus. Anyway received the bonus within 2 months from date of opening (after meeting read Direct deposit requirements). I didn't have to contact anyone.

 

 

EXPIRED: 05/01/2021: UMB checking account $300 offer (only valid in select states). => expires May 22, 2021

UMB is offering $300, when you open UMB select checking account, and do $2K in direct deposit within 60 days. It's valid in only these states: Branches are in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas.

Many ACH transfers are triggering the bonus, so Direct deposit may not be absolutely needed. Try doing ACH into UMB thru other banks that you have accounts with, and see if the bonus posts. Bonus is posting pretty fast, so worth doing it. More details below:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/az-co-il-mo-ne-ok-ks-tx-umb-bank-300-checking/

UPDATE 05/22/201: UMB is posting bonuses within a day of meeting the requirement. That's the fastest bonus I've ever seen. So, all negative comments regarding bonuses taking a long time may be an issue of the past, but not this time. ACH from other banks, brokerage, works fine for bonus (You don't need to do a DD). Look in the comments section above to find out which ACH transfers are triggering bonuses for folks.

 

 

EXPIRED: 04/01/2021: BBVA checking+savings account $250 offer (only valid in select states). PROMO code for online: SBOL2021=> expires Apr 30, 2021

BBVA Bank is offering $250 bonus on opening a checking and savings account. Checking account has a $200 bonus and requires a direct deposit of $500 or more by June 30, 2021. There's also a $50 savings account bonus if you have $1K on June 30, 2021. Both accounts need to be open for at least 1 year. The promo code for online is: SBOL2021, while for in branch it's SB2021. If you apply thru swagbucks, you get 5000 SB (redeemable for at least $50) for opening the checking account (Link: https://www.swagbucks.com/?f=11&q=bbva). However, looks like when you apply thru swagbucks, the promo code shows as invalid. So, you could not stack the $50 swagbucks offer with the $250 offer. This offer from BBVA used to be valid nationwide in the past, but this time, they are giving the bonus to residents of these 7 states only: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, and Texas. Though the bonus itself is low and is not valid nationwide, but not too many offers right now. It is churnable every 36 months, and no restrictions per household, so all members of household can apply. Note: the income is taxable. More details here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bbva-200-checking-50-savings-bonus-available-online-nationwide/

 

 

EXPIRED: 02/09/2021: US Bank Checking account $400 offer => expires Mar 31, 2021

US Bank is offering $400 bonus on opening a checking account and doing direct deposit of $4K or more in 2 or more direct deposits. A lot of people are getting error in the last step, so not sure what's going on. Also, even though the offer seems nationwide, not sure if is limited to locations where US Bank has branches. It's the best bonus for US bank and can be churned in future, so no harm applying and getting free $400 (minus tax). Note: the income is taxable. More details here:

 

2020:

 

 

EXPIRED: 11/14/2020: Capital one bank 360 checking account $400 offer => Expires Jan 26, 2021

https://slickdeals.net/f/14548025-capital-one-earn-a-400-bonus-with-360-checking?v=1

Capital One offered up to $500 for checking/savings account in the past, but I haven't seen anything anything in that range in the last 2-3 years. This may as best as it gets. You need to make 2 direct eposits totaling $1K or more within 60 days of account opening in order to qualify for the bonus. When opening the new account, you need to enter promo code "BONUS400" (by clicking + sign for code) or you won't get the bonus. They also have an additional requirement that you should not have had an active 360 checking account with them anytime after 1st Jan, 2018 (i.e as long you never had a Capital One 360 checking account or if you had one but closed it before 1st Jan, 2018, you would be eligible for the bonus). NOTE: Even if you had other checking or savings account with them, you would still qualify for the bonus. Be sure to close out the account as soon as you get the bonus, so that when the bonus comes next time around, you may qualify for the next bonus.  

This offer may be pulled earlier if too many people sign up, so I would advise to jump on it now instead of waiting. There aren't too many $400 bank offers lying around in 2020.

 

 

EXPIRED: 10/21/2020: Skyone bank checking/savings $700 offer

This is one of the best offers out there to get $700 + $25 Amazon gift card. This was the best bonus offer after a long dry spell of 6 months. Unfortunately the offer expired in just a couple of days.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/skyone-200-checking-700-savings-bonus/

 

 

EXPIRED: 06/01/2020: HSBC Offer:

  • HSBC checking account offer for $700 with direct deposit totaling $5K/per month for 6 consecutive months. Open the one with the $700 offer (3% cash back) as $475 offer (Exclusive Welcome Deposit offer) gives you much less with almost same requirements. $700 offer gives you 3% on your direct deposit amount for 6 months. You can move the cash from checking to any other savings account which gives you higher interest rate, as the bonus doesn't require you to keep that money in HSBC account.

    https://www.us.hsbc.com/checking-accounts/campaigns/premier-checking

    There's also a slickdeals offer for getting $125 thru paypal. Might as well as take advantage of this, while you are opening the checking account, so that you can move move any money in checking account to this savings a/c to get 1% interest. This $125 is non taxable as it's not interest, and not offered by hsbc. So, total bonus would be $825 minus tax, not too bad in this non existent interest rate environment.

    https://slickdeals.net/f/13983881-hsbc-direct-savings-account-earn-1-30-apy-extra-125-sd-bonus-member-fdic

    Both offers end by Jun 30, 2020.

 

 

EXPIRED: 04/17/2020: Wells Fargo Bank Offer:

  • $400 bonus with direct deposit

    https://bonusoffer.wf.com/bonusoffer

    pretty simple requirements. Make Direct deposit (thru your emplyer) of $4K or more in total in 3 months. You don't need to keep all of that money in wells fargo account. You can take out anything over $1500 ($1500 is needed to avoid the fees. But if you have direct deposit, that you don't even need that $1500 in there as there's no monthly fees for accounts having direct deposit).

 

 

EXPIRED: 04/08/2020: CIT Bank Offer:

  • CIT Savings account with $150 or $300 bonus + 1.75% APY (nationwide): updated 04/23/2020 1.55% APY. updated 05/14/2020: 1.45% updated 05/30/2020: 1.25%. The way rate is going down, it may be below 1% in next few days.

    https://cit.com/cit-bank/savings-builder-account-bonus-spring

    None of the websites show bonus anymore. Offer still valid though. When opening account, make sure the documents state this $150/$300 bonus, and save that document in your personal computer just in case.

    The bonus implies 0.6% extra APY assuming you keep $50K for a year. So, even if rates go down to 0.5%, you will still get at least 1% APY for a year, not too bad for 2020. Looks like in order to get 1.75% for all of your deposit, you need to do a monthly deposit of $100, else you get only 1.15% for your balance under $25K, and 1.75% for balance over $25K. Also their rates look consistent based on rate history, however that's changed in 2020 (i.e didn't use to be a bait and switch company, which reduces the rates immediately after getting new customers, but 2020 they are going all in). Keep $50K for about 4 months to be guaranteed a bonus.

    https://www.depositaccounts.com/banks/cit-bank.html#rates

 

 

2019:

 

 

EXPIRED 09/03/2019 => First Lubbock Bank:

    https://www.firstbanklubbock.com/home/personal/checking-savings-cds/checking => only for residents, who are within 30 miles of their branch (All in Lubbock), so it's not statewide for Texas (I was initially misinformed), so basically useless. Looks doable with $350 bonus, and 2% APY for platinum checking with only $7500 in deposit for 6 months. Even if you leave $10K for a year, you still get effective rate of 5% ($350 bonus + $200 interest). DD required to get full $350 (else you get only $280). Expires 09/03/2019.

 

 

EXPIRED 09/04/2019 => Salem Bank:

  • https://www.salemfive.com/open/ => nationwide. checking a/c with $250 bonus. Requires a hard credit pull. But has no monthly fee. Need direct deposit totaling $1500 + 50 debit card transactions. Not worth it, as many banks regularly pay $300 for new bank a/c with soft credit pull.

 

 

EXPIRED 09/04/2019 => US Bank:

  • https://www.usbank.com/content/usbank/splash/checking/checking-offer-summer19.html => available in 30 states, open easy checking a/c for $300 bonus. Requires 2 direct deposits totaling $2K or more + online banking. To waive monthly fees, just keep $1500 minimum in the account. Beware, there are lots of complaints about people not getting their bonus. Expires 09/04/2019.

 

 

EXPIRED 07/31/2019 => Simple Bank:

  • https://www.simple.com/offer-v1 => Need to open 2 a/c for $500 bonus. Need $10K in deposits, but they do pay 2.02% interest. Expires: 07/31/2019. Read a lot of negative review, where they may not finally offer the bonus at all. Not worth chasing.

 

 

Details
Published: Sunday, 30 August 2020 21:08
Hits: 720

Course 1: Neural Networks and Deep Learning.

This course introduces regression, then Neural networks. It has multiple python exercises, which should be completed. It has 4 sections:

1. Intro to Deep Learning: This is very level intro and nothing technical. Can be watched in fast mode

2. Neural Network basics: This is very important technical intro to NN. It has a example, which should be understood well. I had to repeat the lectures multiple times since there is so much material here. Most of your time in this course, should be spent on this section. You will learn a lot of new things: puthon, numpy, other python modules, regression terms, etc. So, go slow over this section. Things get easier from here on.

3. Shallow neural network: This has another example which is built using a 2 layer neural network. This example shows that 2 layer NN performs better than just plain regression.

4. Deep Neural Network: This section builds on top of 2 layer NN built above, and generalizes it to L layer NN.

 


 

Details
Published: Sunday, 30 August 2020 20:26
Hits: 2728

Credit cards:

There is nothing like a perfect credit card, that you will give you the highest cashback for all your purchases. Best credit cards keep on changing, depending on what you are planning to purchase using your credit cards. Below website lists all current offers for credit cards:

creditcards (best for having a glance, NEVER apply thru here) => https://www.creditcards.com/

DoC (all current offers shown) => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/best-current-credit-card-sign-bonuses/

ThePointsGuy (TPG): Other site showing all current offers, point maximizing and other details is TPG (look in credit card section) => https://thepointsguy.com/

 

NOTE: You will never get the best offers on creditcards.com link. The Doc and TPG links above do show good offers, which are publicly available. Some of the best offers are ones that you get via mail. However, it's always good to check above link, to see if they have anything better. Sometimes, referrals stack on top of these offers, so you or your well wisher may make extra free money.

Before we get into the offers, let's get some basics.

Processor: Credit cards are issued by banks, but they are processed by separate companies. These companies take some cut for processing credit cards. There are 4 main credit card processors.

1. Master card (MC) and VISA => MC and VISA are biggest processors, and most of the cards that you get have either MC logo or VISA logo. They are accepted everywhere, where credit cards are accepted.

3. American Express (AMEX) => Company AMEX issues it's own credit cards and processes them without using Visa or MC network. AMEX cards are not accepted everywhere as they charge higher fees (more in the range of 3% - 4%) from merchants.

4. Discover => Company Discover issues it's own credit cards and processes them without using Visa or MC network. Discover cards are not accepted everywhere as they charge higher fees (more in the range of 3% - 4%) from merchants.

Issuer: These are the large Credit card companies that issue them. You can find a lot of smaller banks also issuing credit cards with good offers. However such banks are fewer in number. Best bet is to stick with these banks, and keep on getting different credit cards with these banks.

  1. Chase => Issues both MC and VISA cards (They are using VISA for most of their cards). chase has a 24/5 rule that says that your application for chase credit card will be declined if in the last 2 year period, you have opened 5 or more credit cards with any issuer. So, make sure you meet that criteria before applying for chase credit cards. Getting declined will still ding your credit score.
  2. Citi => Issues both MC and VISA cards. They also have good offers from time to time.
  3. Bank of America (BAC) => Issues both MC and VISA cards. They offer $300 or so for new card sign up, so you can potentially make $500. These are not that useful. They rank among the lowest along with Wells Fargo card when it comes to making money. Not sure about their card churning policy either?FIXME?. Their dispute resolution policy is also not straight forward. To file a dispute for any charge on your credit card, they make you run through a lot of hoops. Credit cards like "Discover" and "chase" are much better in dispute resolution. In my opinion, all BAC cards are junk. I would avoid these BAC cards altogether.
  4. Wells Fargo Company (WFC) => Issues both MC and VISA cards. Wells Fargo cards are always inferior in terms of bonus and cashback compared to other cards. WFC cards rank the same as BAC cards, when it comes to making money off them. So, don't even bother looking at WFC cards.
  5. Capital One => Issues both MC and VISA cards. I have seen some offers from them in past. But beware that their points are worth a lot less, if you convert to cash. so, if they advertise 2% cash back in point, it's more like 1% cash back. You sign up mostly for the sign on bonus.
  6. American Express (AMEX)  => Issues AMEX cards. All Amex cards are once per lifetime per card when it comes to sign on bonus. So, once you have gotten a sign on bonus for one kind of card, you cannot get sign on bonus for it ever again, no matter when you cancelled that card. So, be careful when biting on amex card offers. They have to be the best offer yet for that card. One good perk of any amex card is that have "offers" available from time to time, which offer you some discount for purchasing from certain stores. You can log onto your amex card website, and click on "offers" to see all available offers. These offers have an expiry date, and you have to add an offer to be eligible for that offer. Every month, I see there are 1-2 offers that are lucrative. Amex is pretty prompt at issuing you bonus credit, usually in a couple of days. You should log into your amex card website atleast once a month to mkae sure you sign up for any new offers. You can find these offers on slickdeals.net too. I'll post some of these offers in "deals" section. I'll have more details below for each individual card.
    • Offers: Many of the offers on Amex cards refer to buying from specific category of merchants, department stores, supermarkets, etc. Here's a link that categorizes this (directly from Amex): https://www.americanexpress.com/us/rewards-info/retail.html
    • Annual Fees: Many Amex cards charge an annual fee. This is charged every 12 months. With American Express you get option to use the card for next 30 days even after the annual fee charged. That means, if you cancel the card within 30 days from the annual fee charge date; American Express will still refund the full annual fee. (this comed directly from Amex Chat). Very imp to cancel within 30 days.
  7. Discover => Issues Discover cards. These are a must have card, since they offer generous sign on offers, cash back, and great customer service. They can be churned every few years, so it's easy $700 to $800 every few years for every card holder. However, their biggest drawback is that they don't offer any benefits discussed below.

 

 

Benefits offered by credit cards:

Different credit cards offer different benefits. Mostly cards issued by same processor offer similar benefits no matter who is the issuer of the card, as the benefits are provided by the processor and not the issuer. As an ex, VISA cards offered by BAC and Chase will have similar benefits as they are both issued by Visa, with some exceptions. However, more expensive cards offered by Chase may offer more benefits than cheaper cards offered by Chase even though both of them are Visa. Here, extra benefits may be provided by Chase in order to lure customers into buying more expensive credit cards, which require a annual fee. We'll talk about the benefits of each of these cards individually when talking about that card. Before 2018, almost all credit card companies used to provide a lot of benefits for purchase protection, extended warranty, etc, but they are mostly all gone now. Few of the protections offered by Credit Cards are:

1. Purchase protection: They protect against any accidental damage to your product for any reason for up to a certain number of months from your purchase date. Say you spill water on your laptop, and the laptop is dead now. If you paid for this item in it's entirety with a credit card that offers this protection, then you will get your laptop fixed or replaced by the credit card company. You have to call them and file a ticket within the allowed time frame. Really helpful if you have rough kids around. You will be surprised when you break something by accident, and you get a full efund on the purchase amount !!

2. Extended Warranty: This provided extended warranty o top of standard warranty provided by the manufacturer. Since manufacturer warranty covers manufacturing related defects only, and not accidental or wear and tear damage, the same warranty with same terms is extended by the credit card. Most of the times it's an extra 1 year of warranty on top of manufacturer's warranty.

3. Auto rental collision damage coverage: Most of the credit card companies provide rental car collision insurance which covers your rental car's damage up to the value of the car (or some have a maximum limit as $50K etc). This is a really good perk to have, as then you don't need Auto car rental "collision insurance". The insurance provided by Auto rental companies is really expensive, and there is no need to pay for it. You will be covered under your credit card "rental coverage", in case of an accident. Decline the rental company's collision insurance (i.e decline CDW or collision damage waiver from the rental company) and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is secondary to your personal insurance, meaning whatever your personal auto insurance doesn't cover is covered by your credit card. However, some cards with annual fees such as Chase Sapphire, Amex etc have Collision coverage as primary, which is really good, as you don't have to worry about any deductible coming out of your pocket, and it also involves less hassle as there's only 1 Company to deal with. It also doesn't raise your premiums with your car insurance provider.

NOTE: this insurance doesn't provide liability insurance, meaning damage to other car or medical bills of people injured will still need to be covered by your regular Auto insurance. However, you anyway have liability insurance thru your regular auto insurance as that's the law in most states, so you will be covered via your own insurance company. So, decline LDW or Liability damage waiver from rental Company. Sometimes the rental Co may ask for proof of Liability damage coverage, so keep your Insurance card with you all the time. Only thing to note is that our limits for liability insurance may be at state minimum, so make sure you have enough coverage. For me, the coverage is the minimum required by state of Texas which is $30K/person and $60K per accident.

More details on Auto Rental Collision Coverage here => https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/primary-vs-secondary-car-rental-insurance-coverage/ 

4. Trip cancellation/Interruption Insurance: This benefit from credit card covers you if your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations. It wil reimburse you up to the value of the ticket, for any losses in incurred. So, if you were planning to take "trip cancellation" insurance directly thru your carrier, just decline that. Pay with your eligible credit card and you will atomatically be covered. Read the fine print though (you will need some form of Doctor's certification for illness stating that travel is not safe for you)

5. Foreign transaction fee: Most credit card companies in USA charge a foreign transaction fee, if you make a purchase in any currency other than US dollar. It's usually 3% of the transaction price (i.e price of the item you are buying). The conversion rate is usually good, as it's based on the market rate found in some financial journal (varies from card to card). In the past, the cards would make up their own conversion rates, but now the rates being tied to some "published" rates, they are no longer able to do that. So, the only money you lose is 3%, which isn't that bad, since you'll lose 1%-2% anyway if you make currency conversion yourself at a bank or some other institution. Common examples of where you see this foreign transaction fees is few ebay purchases within USA (as some of them are canadian companies and charge in canadian dollars), some groupon purchases for services in other countries, international trip to other countries, few airline tickets, etc. So, wherever possible, pay in USD to avoid this fees. There are a few cards which don't charge "foreign transaction fees", so if you do a lot of international transactions, then get those cards.

6. Liability/Dispute for charges: This is where you can dispute any charge if you aren't satisfied with the product or the service that you purchased. Depending on the card, they may offer you anywhere from 2 months to 6 months after a charge is posted to your account to dispute it. There are 2 types of disputes allowed:

  1. Unauthorized Purchases: This is where you say that never made a purchase, and somebody got your credit card number and used it to purchase something on your card. The card company will immediately cancel the card, refund you the money while they investigate the case. This usually goes much quicker in getting resolved.
  2. Unsatisfactory purchase/service: This is where you dispute the charge stating that the merchant didn't provide the product or service that was acceptable to you. With some cards you have to provide detailed notes on what happened.

With both of these disputes, credit cards give the merchant 30-60 days to respond about the charge. If they don't respond within that time frame or their response is unacceptable, then you get to keep the credit for the reversed charge. Chase is the best card to have  when disputing charges, as they put the onus of proving that the charge is legitimate on the merchant. On the contrary some cards like Disocover, Citi and Amex give customers a hard time. I had a really bad experience with Discover, where they wanted me to provide all the proof for reversing a $10 charge that was disputed. Discover rep spent hours with me trying to justify that the charge is legitimate. Eventually I ended up cancelling the card. At these times, having a good card can save your mental and financial well being. Keep a card like Chase when you are making big item purchases as airline tickets, car rental, furniture, appliances, Gift cards, etc. Small expenses for groceries, drugs, etc can go on any credit card.

6. Other benefits: There are myriad of other benefits provided by credit cards, which are  provided by almost all credit cards. Some of these benefits are: Fraud Protection. 24/7 customer service, zero liability protection, free credit scores, roadside help (for a fee, not free), travel/emergency help (for a fee, not free), etc. These benefits are so standard, that I don't even consider them benefits anymore.

 

Benefits grouped by Card processors:

Here are the general benefits from different card processors as of Dec, 2020.

1. Visa/MC: Depending on the card issuer and the type of card, extended warranty may be offered. Purchase protection also varies depending on the issuer. Chase is most lenient in this as most of their "no fees" card offer both of these benefits. In fact, Chase is the only issuer which offers all the benefits listed above on almost all of it's no fees cards on top of their excellent service for "disputed" charges. So, you should definitely make any travel or shopping related large purchase on a Chase card if you have one. Visa/MC usually charge "foreign transaction fees" on most cards, but few travel cards, don't have this fees. It varies from issuer and card type.

UPDATE 2024: Aug, 2024: Chase changed their Insurance providers to Assurant and changed some coverages: Here's the Doc article: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-moving-insurance-providers-increased-coverage/

UPDATE 2021: Feb 1st, 2021: Visa no longer offers these benefits. So, most of the Visa cards won't offer them either. With these protections gone, Visa cards are basically useless for any large purchase or for booking your next rental car.

  • Extended Warranty => No extra warranty.
  • Purchase Protection => No accidental protection
  • Auto Rental Insurance => No collision insurance. Do NOT book any rental car with Visa card assuming Visa is covering that.

EXCEPTION: Chase Visa cards are an exception, as they still offer all 3 protections above. However for rental coverage, they have lowered the max amount they cover for cars. Make sure you don't rent an expensive vehicle over $50K. Look in Chase card section.

 

2. Amex: Amex cards provide extended warranty for 1 extra year, provided the warranty doesn't exceed 5 years when combined with the original warranty that came with the product. However, this extended warranty is only offered on cards which have a annual fees. Most of the cards that have no annual fee don't offer this benefit. When it comes to purchase protection, all Amex cards offer at least 90 days of purchase protection, so it's little worse than Chase cards. It would be wise to make large appliance/electronic purchases on Chase cards instead of Amex cards. AMEX usually charge "foreign transaction fees" on most cards, but few travel cards, don't have this fees. It varies from card to card.

Amex Car rental protection: One other benefit I came to know about is optional "Auto Rental Insurance" that is offered by most Amex cards. It's not part of free benefit that you get when getting the card. You have to enroll in this plan, which costs nothing. After that everytime you rent a car, you'll be charged a flat $20 or $25 (depending on whether you chose Basic or Plus) for getting primary collision damage coverage and secondary liability coverage. This is pretty good and affordable coverage, as it covers the entire duration of rental for up to 42 days of rental in all states except Washington which is 30 days (it's NOT per day). So, it's lot cheaper than what you get from the car rental companies as they you per day. To put icing on the cake, coverage is primary for collision and secondary for liability, so it seems even better than the one offered by chase. 

Car rental protection details=> https://awardwallet.com/blog/amex-premium-car-rental-protection/

Car rental protection coverage on various cards (on amex site) => https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/features-benefits/policies/car-rental-loss-and-damage-insurance-terms.html (check your card's coverage here)

Sign up for rental coverage here => https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/insurance/premium-car-rental-protection/manage/ (My no fees Amex Everyday card provides both options => Basic and Plus to enroll in)

Benefits link (for all Amex cards and all benefits): www.americanexpress.com/benefitsguide

3. Discover: Discover cards are lowest in rank when it comes to benefits. They don't provide any purchase protection nor any extended warranty on any product that you purchase using their card. They used to provide purchase protection and extended warranty but closed it in 2018. Their claim process for "disputed charges" is not customer friendly either. This is a big bummer for Discover cards, especially when you are buying expensive items. So, my advice would be to not put any of those expensive appliances, electronics or airline tickets on discover, there are better cards for those. The only advantage that discover cards provide over most other cards, is that they have "NO foreign transaction fee". But again, Discover cards aren't accepted at all internationally, so the whole point becomes moot. I've traveled to couple of countries outside USA, and Discover card wasn't accepted at any merchant over there (except for few exceptions here and there). Just get your $600-$1000 in signup bonus + 1st year rewards  and close the card.

 

 

Risks of credit cards:

Credit cards carry risks, the biggest being missing the due date. These are some of the risks:

  • Late fees: They will not only charge a late fees of $40 on missing minimum payment by due date, but also impose very high interest rate. Your credit score will also take a hit, as it gets reported as late pament. Always setup an ACH for auto payment of full amount to avoid this.
  • Cash Advance: Cash advances are not only charged 5% fees, but also a > 20% interest. Cash Advances occurs not only when you take out cash from a credit card, but also happen in lot of upexpected places, most common being using credit cards for bank account funding. You should always set cash advance limit as $0 to avoid such fees.
  • Annual Fees: Cards with an annual fees should be closed before your card renews for next year. Most credit cards will refund you the annual fees, if you cancel the card within 30 days of renewal.
  • Foreign Transaction fees: See above. Avoid these by using a card which doesn't charge this fees.

 

How many Credit cards should you open in a year:

Credit cards do a hard pull of your credit, which results in some points getting knocked off your credit score. Also, this account opening activity remains on your credit report for 2 years. So, you have to be mindful of how many credit cards you open in a year. I've seen that 2-3 credit cards a year is the sweet spot. Your credit score remains unaffected or may even go up if you open just 2 or at most 3 credit cards a year. Remember to close your older credit cards as you open new ones. this may cause your credit score to go down a little. That's OK as it will come back up, after the new credit card has been open for a while.

Remember that some of the credit cards allow you to have that card once in a lifetime (i.e Amex cards), while some others allow you to have the same credit card every couple of years. This is called credit card churning where people open a credit card, use it for all the sign on bonus and other offers. then they close the credit card, and apply for the same credit card again after a couple of years to get the sign on bonus again. However, be careful when you apply for "once per lifetime" credit card, as you have only one chance to bite on them. Almost all credit cards offer bonus offers on the same card if you have waited long enough after the previous one, but there's always a risk when you reapply for the same card that you may not get the bonus (though different versions of same card under different names [when they re-brand the card, they give a new name to the card, and get rid of the old name) still qualify for bonus). So, get these "once in lifetime cards" only when you think they have offered their best offer.

Below link gives a short list of cards eligible for churning. It's a old post, so not all of the data points are up to date, so read thru comments too. The only cards worth churning are Amex and Chase. Both have the highest bonus offers, and good benefits with the card. BofA and Discover are next, and their bonus are pretty low, but they do have 0% APR for 2 yrs or so. However, the benefits being offered on these 2 cards are usually abysmal.

List of Card eligible for churning => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/list-of-churnable-credit-card

 

How much can you make from Credit cards:

Credit cards give you both sign up bonus as well as introductory low interest rate or high cash back on your purchases. Best cards are the ones that offer you the highest sign up bonus, because that is where you make most money. The worst credit cards are the ones that you give you 0% APR (for a year or two) which would save you may be at most $500 (assuming $10K credit balance carried for 2 yrs). There are also Balance Transfer cards that allow you to transfer balance from one card to another. These are useless cards, as you will never make more than $100 on these cards after accounting for all the interest that you save. No card will offer you very large cash back on all your purchases, so choose a card based on which one you think you can maximize the most.

My target is to make at least $500 from each credit card every year on spending $5K or less on the card. This translates to 10% cashback on  all purchases . This may seem like a very high target to shoot for, but it's easy to achieve that. This can usually happen with credit cards that offer you sign on bonus for signing up. Only spend the minimum amount on that card that is needed to earn bonus, and then move on to other credit card. Cards which have a large sign on bonus usually have an annual fees, but from time to time they waive these fees. You can safely apply for 2-3 credit cards per year. If married, your spouse can apply for 2-3 credit cards too, resulting in 4-5 credit cards per year. I would restrict to 4 credit cards a year in total if 2 of you are in this business together. Assuming you don't spend more than $25K/year on credit cards, you can easily expect to make about $2K-$3K per year in credit card bonuses among 4 credit cards. Your major purchases using credit card should be all your medical bills ($5K/year), property tax bills ($5K - $20K/year, they may charge fees), utility bills ($3K/ year), insurance bills ($2K/year), grocery bills ($5K/year), auto/gas bills ($2K/year), misc bills ($2K/year).

No matter, what credit card you get with whatever sign on bonus and with whatever % cashback, the total cashback that you can get from a credit card does not normally exceed $600 in a year. With 0% APR, you can make additional $200-$400 by putting that money on purchases in Bond ETF as SGOV or other high yield checking a/c. So, a max money making opportunity of $1K/yr. This is based on my personal experience over the last 10 years. So, we'll try to get at least $600 bonus from each credit card sign up, and additional $400 on interest saving, so that with 4 credit cards in a year (for 2 of you if you are married or living together), we can make at least $4K/year per household. Also, I never sign up for any credit card, that doesn't waive the annual fees for the first year (assuming it charges you annual fees). It's just not worth trying to make money off it. Some people are able to do it, but at that point the measly returns don't justify the labor involved. Let's keep it simple. However, these cards with annual fee also sometimes offer the best cashback (upward of 20%) even after deducting the annual fee. At that point, you should bite on (as happened in May 2025 with Chase Sapphire Preferred which is offering $1200 net with $5K in spend. See in deal section below).

UPDATE 2025: Robinhood has launched a card that pays you 3% CB on all your purchases. Even if you spend $20K on this card, you will get only $600 in a yr in CB. That's a pretty lousy offer, as you can apply for 3 credit cards and make a minimum of $600 from each for a total of $2K CB on $20K spend (not to mention additional savings from 0% APR).

 

Redemption of credit card reward points:

Most of the credit cards allow you to redeem points as cash, gift cards or travel purchase thru their portal.

  • Travel tickets: Redeeming points via their travel portal usually gives you higher redemption rate, but the prices are all jacked up on their travel portal. So, check for prices before you get lured into getting a deal on flights. "Chase travel" usually have same fares as other travel websites,  so if you have a card that pays 25% or 50% more in redemption, then it's worth it.
  • Cash: Getting outright cash for your points looks to be the easiest way to convert points to dollars, but this conversion is usually at a low rate. Some credit cards allow you to redeem at 1 cent per point (i.e Chase, Discover), so in that case it's OK, but some others penalize you heavily when converting to cash (i.e American Express).
  • Statement Credit: This option is not allowed by all cards, but more and more credit cards are doing this (Capital One, Chase do it for sure). Under this option, they allow points to be used as statement credit. You usually get conversion similar to cash, so if "Cash" is an option, then then just go with cash.
    • Pay yourself back: This is another option that is offered by Chase card on some of it's cards (i.e Freedom, etc). It's particularly beneficial as they will offer you like 10%-20% more when using it for statement credit for certain categories as grocery, department stores, etc. You just buy Visa MC at grocery store normally using your card, and then online you will see the option of applying points to that purchase. You effectively get 10%-20% more cash for your points. This is lot better than redeeming for cash, with no downside. The only downside is that you are limited to $500 of purchase or something every time the offer comes up. Most of the time they offer very lame categories as Charities, etc for which none of your transactions qualify.
  • Gift cards: Sometimes you will get much better redemption rate when converting your points to giftcards, We'll see in next section if it's worth converting points to GC.

Gift Card redemption:

You will see the option of redeeming credit card points with gift cards. I would say a big "NO". Why? Because the discount is not worth it, most of the times. They will offer a maximum of 20% discount on these gift cards. These are usually crap GC like dining places, overpriced apparel stores, etc. You can always buy these gift cards at 20% off anywhere else also. So, why lock up your money in these gift cards, when you don't know when are you going to use it? Also, see my section on "gift cards" to be aware of all the troubles that gift cards bring with them. On top of that, if these gift cards ever get hacked or have incorrect amount, the credit card company will hold no liability. They are off the hook as soon as they give you the gift card. There are people who have gotten $0 gift cards, and they fight for months with the credit card company with no resolution. Just take cash , and use it whatever way you want. You don't lose anything since you can often buy those gift cards at 20% discount at places like grocery stores, amazon, payapl, walgreens, etc.

However there are some exceptions, where these credit card companies will give you 20% off of some good GC as Lowes, CVS, Home Depot, etc. That's the time to bite on these GC. Also, some credit cards give you a lower rate when you convert rewards to cash (i.e american express). Amex gives you lot lower cash back rate on redemption, so GC are the only option. Amex usually have offers around Thanksgiving and then again around memorial day (I think, they have it no more than 2 times per year). In such cases, wait for 20% off offer on good GC, and convert all your points to GC. Home Depot GC usually come at 20% discount, so use your points on that, Always get physical GC if possible. I think they have a lower chance of being hacked (just my hunch). All my GC that have ever gotten hacked have been electronic GC (mostly ones bought from Paypal and letting them sit.

 

 

Best Credit Cards: Below are some of the best credit cards. These offers are usually available, but in separate section below, I'll list current credit card offers going on.

 

  • Discover credit card: This is one of the best cards to have. They have no annual fees. You can easily make $800+ from this card on $8K in purchases yielding you cash back of 10% or more. Their offer is the same all year round, so you can apply anytime of the year, instead of waiting for any offer. You can apply for discover card every couple of years after you close your last Discover credit card, so this is a churn able card. $800/year is the highest amount of money that you can make on any credit card in a year, so this is definitely a card you would want to have. More details here: https://www.discover.com/credit-cards
    • It used to give you $150 to $200 sign on bonus, but I haven't seen any sign on bonus in the last couple of years. Most likely because they have started matching cashback for 1st year, which more than makes up for the sign on bonus.
    • They also have 0% APR for 15 billing cycles, which assuming $6K balance on credit card for a year, which may amount to about $25-$50 in extra interest income.
    • This card gives you 1% cashback on all purchases, as well as 5% cashback each quarter on rotating categories. They will match cashback 100% for the first year. 5% rotating categories for each year are the ones where you could spend $1500 each quarter for maximum $75 cashback each quarter. So, you will net $300*2=$600 for 1st year. You can actually get match for 1st 5 quarters, so you can make $375*2=$750 on $7.5K for 1st years. This happens because they match cashback for 1 year from the date you are approved. So, unless you applied at the end of quarter or start of quarter, you can actually get 5 quarters in a year. I generally apply for discover card in middle of a quarter so that I'm guaranteed cash back match for 5 quarters. Their 5% rotating category calendar is announced every year in October for the next year. So, you can check that calendar to see if you can maximize it. I have been always been able to maximize all 4 quarters every year for maximum cashback. Below are the 5% calendars for each year:
    • 2025 calendar:
      • 1st quarter (Restaurants, Home Improvement Stores, and Select Streaming Services): Drug stores are gone for this quarter (but came back in 4th qtr). Mostly useless.
      • 2nd quarter (Grocery stores, wholesale clubs). Grocery stores are useful as you can buy GC.
      • 3rd quarter (Gas Stations/EV charging, Utilities, public transit): Same as 2nd qtr category from last yr. Gas is an OK category to use. Utilities is a useful category, introduced for 1st time on discover cards.
      • 4th quarter: (amazon.com, Drugstores). Drug stores are back. Useful to buy GC. See 2020 1st qtr for details
      2024 calendar:
      • 1st quarter (Restaurants, Drug stores): Drug stores are back. Useful to buy GC. See 2020 1st qtr for details
      • 2nd quarter (Gas Stations/EV charging, home improvement stores, public transit): Gas is an OK category to use.
      • 3rd quarter (Walmart (both store/online) and Grocery stores) => Walmart included for first time ever. May buy Amex serve GC from Walmart instore, since these are still accepted online at few places. Vanilla GC (Visa/MC) are mostly declined on online purchases.
      • 4th quarter: (amazon.com and target stores/online): Same as 2023. Useful as target $500 GC can be bought (during 10% target GC sale on Thanksgiving).
    • 2023 calendar:
      • 1st quarter (Grocery Stores, Drug stores, Streaming services): Similar to 2022 1st qtr, except Drug stores are back. See 2020 1st qtr for details
      • 2nd quarter (Wholesale Clubs, Restaurants): Useful for Wholesale Club as Sam's Club. See 2020 2nd qtr for details.
      • 3rd quarter (Gas Stations/EV charging, digital wallet purchase as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay): Useless for me as I don't use digital wallets. Gas is useful category to use. NOTE: purchases inside gas stations also count as gas purchases, so buy Gas GC inside the gas stations to use later (Circle K sells gas cards, check others on your area).
      • 4th quarter: (amazon.com and target stores/online): Useful as target $500 GC can be bought (during 10% target GC sale on Thanksgiving).
    • 2022 calendar:
      • 1st quarter (Grocery Stores, Fitness club, gym memberships): Inferior to 2020 offer for 1st quarter (Drug stores not there any more). See 2020 1st qtr for details
      • 2nd quarter (Gas stations and Target): Inferior to 2020 offer for 2nd quarter. No, warehouse clubs to make 5% money in prepaid cards. Useless for this qtr. See 2020 2nd qtr for details.
      • 3rd quarter (Restaurants and Paypal): Same as 2020 offer for 3rd quarter. See 2020 3rd qtr for details
      • 4th quarter (amazon.com and digital wallets): Inferior to 2020 offer for 4th quarter as walmart and target are excluded. See 2020 4th qtr for details
    • 2021 calendar:
      • 1st quarter (Grocery Stores, Walgreens and CVS): Same as 2020 offer for 1st quarter. See 2020 1st qtr for details
      • 2nd quarter (Gas stations, Wholesale Clubs, Streaming services): Same as 2020 offer for 2nd quarter. See 2020 2nd qtr for details
      • 3rd quarter (Restaurants and Paypal): Same as 2020 offer for 3rd quarter. See 2020 3rd qtr for details
      • 4th quarter (amazon.com, walmart.com, target.com): Same as 2020 offer for 4th quarter. See 2020 4th qtr for details
    • 2020 calendar:
      • 1st quarter (Grocery Stores, Walgreens and CVS): Use at grocery or pharmacy stores to buy Visa or Amex GC. You will lose $15 for buying 3 of these @$500 each, but you still make $60. Don't buy MC gift cards, as they are regularly hacked. Visa and AMEX are relatively safer. However, the downside with Amex cards is that they aren't accepted everywhere, so just go with Visa cards.
      • 2nd quarter (Gas stations, Wholesale Clubs, Uber and Lyft): Use at Sam's Wholesale club to buy 3 Amex GC for $1500. You will lose $15 for buying 3 of these, but you still make $60. You won't be able to use discover at Costco instore since they don't accept discover card there. But you can still use the card online at costco.com. For both Sams club and Costco, you will need have membership with them. You can get membership for free almost all the times for Sam's club (It costs $45/year for membership, and a lot of coupons or portals give you $45 GC back. Some of the times, you can actually make money by signing up for a membership, usually on swagbucks.com or groupon.com. See in shopping and deals section). For Costco, I have seen membership as low as $20 after accounting for GC, but not since August 2022.
      • 3rd quarter (Restaurants and Paypal): Use paypal checkout at walmart.com, to buy $1500 worth of physical walmart GC and get it shipped to your address. This is little risky but I haven't seen walmart GC getting hacked. Use these GC for groceries or things that you don't need warranty on. If you are buying expensive electronics at walmart, I would suggest using actual credit card, since you are better protected in terms of warranty and returns)
      • 4th quarter (amazon.com, walmart.com, target.com): Buy $300 Target GC from target.com (when it goes for 10% discount on Black Friday, you are limited to $300, attempting to buy more will get your card invalidated), buy $1230 worth of target + amazon + walmart GC depending on where you are more likely to spend.
    • You don't want to buy GC with discover cash back rewards, since you can always buy GC at 20% discount during sale. Best thing is to take cash or apply it as account credit except when they have special offers. I never cash out my rewards for cash or account credit until I close my account. That way I always have rewards in my account. I wait for good offers to pop up to use my rewards. If nothing pops up by the time of closing, I then cash them out. Never happened, as they have 20% offers at least once a year.
    • If you can find an existing discover card member, he/she can refer you, and both of you will get $50 ($100 as of June 2022, see below) extra. If you don't know anyone who can refer you, you can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., with your email addr, and I can refer you. You have to use the link on that same email addr that was sent to you by discover, else you won't get the bonus (and the referrer won't get the bonus either).
      • UPDATE: June 2022: Since the offers from Discover are getting worse each year, they are upping the referral bonus. Now they are giving $100 each to the referrer and the referred person until the end of 2023 (Initially it was until end of 2022, but looks like they extended it). So, contact me if you want to get the $100.   
    • No benefits for any purchase on this card. so, as mentioned above, do not use this card for expensive appliance or electronics purchases. Just for regular service payments, groceries, clothes, etc.

 

  • Blue Cash Preferred card from American Express: Amex regularly has pretty good offers on their credit cards. You just have to wait for the right time to bite. You can make about $1K or more on $12K in purchases in your first year. These are the highlights of this card:
    • They have $95 annual fees, which is generally waived for the 1st year. So, after the first year, you have to call them and ask them to waive the annual fees for next year. If they don't, just cancel the card, as it's not worth the $95 annual fee.
    • They also have $250 or more sign on bonus. I recently got a $300 sign on bonus (as of Aug, 2022)
    • The best part is high cash back of 6% in US super markets on up to $6K in purchases per calendar year. That amounts to $360 in rewards for that calendar year (NOT the first 12 months, but for whatever months are left in that calendar year ending on 31st Dec). So, let's say you get the card in August 2020, then you will get 6% on $6K spent from Aug 2020 to Dec 31, 2020. The 6% gets reset on 1st Jan, 2021, and now you get 6% again on your super market purchases for the rest of the year. If you cancel the card in August 2021, then you get 6% on total of $12K, and you didn't have to pay any annual fees (as you cancelled it right before renewal). Combining this $360*2 + $300 sign on bonus, you are looking at making $1K on $12K purchase. NOTE: Some online portals (thepointsguy.com, etc) claim that end and start of calendar year is your "monthly statement end date" for the month of January. That wasn't true for me. Calendar year resets on 1st Jan, so plan accordingly. 
    • They have a 0% APR for 1st 12 months. This itself can make you ~$100's in interest.
    • Benefits: As noted earlier, Amex cards are inferior to Chase in terms of benefits. Their benefits are more or less useless, except for Auto rental coverage.
      • Auto Rental collision coverage: Can provide coverage for Damage to or Theft of a Rental Vehicle in a Covered Territory when You use Your Eligible Card to reserve and pay for an Entire Rental.
      • Shoprunner: Get free 2-day shipping on eligible items at a growing network of 100+ online stores with ShopRunner. Enroll in complimentary membership as a benefit of your eligible Card. This is not really that great of a perk, as very few retailers offer Shoprunner as an option.
      • Return Protection: Your Covered Purchases can be returned to Amex if the merchant refuses to take it back, for up to 90 days from the Covered Purchase date. This is not the same as Purchase Protection provided by other Amex cards.
      • Purchase Protection: Your Covered Purchases can be covered when they're accidentally damaged or stolen for up to 90 days from the Covered Purchase date. Looks like this is still active on this card (in addition to return protection).
      • Extended Warranty: It offers 1 yr extended warranty for items having original maufacturer warranty of 5 yrs or less. It has the sameterms as original Manufacturer warranty.
      • Amex Offers: This is one the best perks of Amex cards. They will usually have $100 or more in offers every year. You have to activate the offer and then use it, in order to get credit. Since this is a card with fees, you may get better offers on this card.

       
  • Blue Cash Everyday card from American Express: This card is a mutated version of the Preferred card. It has lower benefits, but has no annual fees. You can make about $600 or more on $12K in purchases in your first year. These are the highlights of this card:
    • They have no annual fees.
    • They also have $250 or more sign on bonus. You will usually see $100 or $200 sign on offer, so don't bite on it yet until you get at least $250.
    • They have lower cash back of 3% in US super markets on up to $6K in purchases. That amounts to $180 in rewards for current year and $180 rewards for next year. As I explained in "Blue Cash Preferred Amex" card above, their cycle runs on calendar year, so you can get 3% for current year, and then 3% again next year. Max out for both years. There's no reason to cancel this card, as it has no annual fees. However, no reason to hold it either :) So, just cancel it after a year and look for churning more cards.
    • They have a 0% APR for 1st 12 or 15 months.
    • Benefits: As noted earlier, Amex cards are inferior to Chase in terms of benefits. Their benefits are more or less useless, except for Auto rental coverage.
      • Auto Rental collision coverage: Can provide coverage for Damage to or Theft of a Rental Vehicle in a Covered Territory when You use Your Eligible Card to reserve and pay for an Entire Rental.
      • Shoprunner: Get free 2-day shipping on eligible items at a growing network of 100+ online stores with ShopRunner. Enroll in complimentary membership as a benefit of your eligible Card. This is not really that great of a perk, as very few retailers offer Shoprunner as an option.
      • Purchase Protection: Your Covered Purchases can be covered when they're accidentally damaged or stolen for up to 90 days from the Covered Purchase date.
      • Amex Offers: This is one the best perks of Amex cards. They will usually have $100 or more in offers every year. You have to activate the offer and then use it, in order to get credit. Since this is a no fees card, don't expect to get too many offers on this card.

 

  • Chase Freedom Flex Card: This is a very good credit card from Chase bank. Almost everyone has it, as getting approved for this is pretty easy. There used to be the "Chase Freedom card" earlier, but Chase discontinued it, and instead started offering this new credit card, which is very similar to the older "Chase Freedom Card". This card is one of those "once in a lifetime card". So, once you apply for this card and are approved, you can never get the bonus again by churning (re applying) it. So, it's better to just keep this card forever, and never cancel it. This is one of those rare cards, that you want to keep forever, since they offer all the benefits that you usually want in a credit card. So, when you don't know which card to use when making an expensive purchase, use this card, as it will have you covered, in case something goes wrong with the purchase.These are the highlights of this card:
    • They offer $200 sign on bonus
    • 0% APR for 15 months (about $50 in interest income assuming you can put that money in bank at 1%)
    • You get 5% cashback on grocery store purchases (stores like Kroger, HEB, Randalls, etc, but NOT walmart, target, etc) on upto $12K for your first year only. This can net about $600 assuming you spend all of $12K the first year. You can buy Visa or Amex prepaid cards to meet $12K in purchases.
    • You get 5% cashback in rotating categories for each quarter, just like Discover's rotating quarterly categories. they release quarterly categories just 2 weeks before the start of the quarter, so it's little harder to plan. discover releases their quarterly categories for next year by Oct of current year, which is nice. This 5% stacks with the 5% cashback on grocery store bonus, if grocery stores are the rotating category for that quarter, for a total of 9% in cash back (as 4% extra cash back is offered, so total is 9% and NOT 10%). You can make about $300 per year here. Below are the 5% calendars for each.
    • 2025 calendar:
      • NOTE: There are surprise categories each quarter for 2025 (marked as birthday surprise), that will show up later. $1500 limit still applies to all the categories combined for that quarter.
      • 1st quarter (Grocery stores, Fitness Club,, spa, Norwegian Cruise Line): Same as last year (except NCL added). Grocery stores useful. See 2020 2nd qtr for details.
        • Surprise category from 1st March to 30th Mar => Insurance and Tax payments. NOT confirmed 100%.
      • 2nd quarter (Amazon and select streaming): Amazon might be useful for some. 
      • 3rd quarter: (Gas stations/EV charging, Live Entertainment): Useless category. Gas may be useful to some.
        • Surprise Birthday bonus category => Instacart
      • 4th quarter: (Travel, Department stores, old navy): Travel might be useful one.
        • Surprise category (december only)=> paypal. Only valid in December for 5% CB. This is useful as paypal can be used to buy GC from walmart, etc.
    • 2024 calendar:
      • 1st quarter (Grocery stores, Fitness, gym, spa memberships): Grocery stores useful. See 2020 2nd qtr for details.
      • 2nd quarter (Select hotel bookings, restaurants, amazon.com) :
      • 3rd quarter: (Gas stations/EV charging, Live Entertainment and movie theatres): same as Q3 from last year.
      • 4th quarter:  (Paypal, McDonalds, select charities): Similar to 2023, except they removed Wholesale Clubs and added MCDonalds. Paypal is the only useful one to buy Walmart GC using paypal on walmart.com.
        • UPDATE 10/01/24: Paypal has extra 5% cashback at select merchants including Walmart, BestBuy, Walgreens, etc. Save the offer on paypal.com, and you can get 10% cashback in total when using paypal. If you used the offer, and can't see it on desktop, login into paypal app, and you will see the offer there again. The offer keeps on going and coming. As of 11/08/24, the offer is live.
    • 2023 calendar:
      • 1st quarter (Grocery stores, Target, gym memberships): Grocery stores useful. See 2020 2nd qtr for details.
      • 2nd quarter (Amazon and Lowes): Amazon is offered by so many cards and so many times throughout the year, that is isn't that useful anymore. You may use Lowes to buy Visa/MC/Amex GC, or other 3rd party GC
      • 3rd quarter: (Gas stations/EV charging, Live Entertainment): Useless category. Gas may be useful to some.
      • 4th quarter: (Paypal, wholsesale clubs, select charities): Good to stock up on GC from wholesale clubs, or buy Walmart GC using paypal on walmart.com.
    • 2022 calendar:
      • 1st quarter (Grocery stores and ebay): Similar to other credit cards, use your card to buy prepaid Visa cards inside grocery stores.  ebay is useless.
      • 2nd quarter (Amazon and streaming services): Amazon is offered by so many cards and so many times throughout the year, that is isn't that useful anymore.
      • 3rd quarter: (gas stations, rental car companies, movie theatres and select live entertainment). This qtr mostly geared towards travel. Useless for people who don't plan to travel
      • 4th quarter (walmart and paypal): Same as 2020 offer for 4th quarter. See 2020 4th qtr for details
    • 2021 calendar:
      • 1st quarter (Wholesale Clubs, Internet, Cable and phone services, streaming services): New category of wholesale clubs added as compared to 2020. Use it to pay bill for your AT&T, spectrum, Tmobile, Verizon, etc. I pay the maximum amount allowed. AT&T internet service only allows you to opay a max of $300 in advance but T-mobile allows you to pay any amount in advance. So, use up all of $1500 dollars to pay in advance. There's no risk involved. If you cancel the service any time for any of these providers, you will get a check for the unused portion of your money. So, you still get the cashback. Chase card can be used inside Sam's club or online at Costco. You can use it to buy physical Amex cards at Sam's club stores or to buy costco GC online.
      • 2nd quarter (Home improvement stores and Gas stations): There's a Lowes offer for getting free $15 Lowes GC with $200 of Visa prepaid card. Use all of $1500 on that.
      • 3rd quarter: (Paypal and streaming services). Use paypal to buy walmart gift card or other shopping items at walmart.com. I don't know of any other safe place where you can use paypal to buy GC of any store.
      • 4th quarter (walmart and paypal): Same as 2020 offer for 4th quarter. See 2020 4th qtr for details
    • 2020 calendar:
      • 1st quarter (Gas stations, Internet, Cable and phone services, streaming services): Use it to pay bill for your AT&T, spectrum, Tmobile, Verizon, etc. I pay the maximum amount allowed. AT&T internet service only allows you to opay a max of $300 in advance but T-mobile allows you to pay any amount in advance. So, use up all of $1500 dollars to pay in advance. There's no risk involved. If you cancel the service any time for any of these providers, you will get a check for the unused portion of your money. So, you still get the cashback.
      • 2nd quarter (Grocery stores, Fitness club and gym memberships, Streaming services): Use it at grocery stores to buy Visa or Amex GC. You will lose $15 for buying 3 of these @$500 each, but you still make $60. Don't buy MC gift cards, as they are regularly hacked. Visa and AMEX are relatively safer. However, the downside with AMEX cards is that they aren't accepted everywhere, so just go with Visa cards.
      • 3rd quarter (amazon.com, whole foods market): Use it to buy $1500 worth of amazon GC or Whole foods GC if you can't use the full amount on buying stuff. You can load the amazon GC to your account immediately on purchasing, so that there's no risk of hacking.
      • 4th quarter (walmart and paypal): Use it at walmart stores to buy Visa or Amex GC. You will lose $15 for buying 3 of these @$500 each, but you still make $60. Don't buy MC gift cards, as they are regularly hacked. Visa and AMEX are relatively safer. However, the downside with AMEX cards is that they aren't accepted everywhere, so just go with Visa cards.
    • Refer a Friend => Use my link in deals section if you want to make me money. You don't lose anything as you still get the std offer => $200 bonus on $500 n purchases + other offers going on.
    • Benefits: These are the benefits provided by Chase Freedom card. There are 24 benefits listed for my card, I'm assuming they would to all Chase Freedom cards, but check in your account online under "benefits" to be sure.  Guidebook is here: https://static.chasecdn.com/content/services/structured-document/document.en.pdf/card/benefits-center/product-benefits-guide-pdf/BGC10936_Freedom_VisaPlatSig.pdf. I'm copying and pasting the benefits below from chase website:
      • Auto Rental collision coverage: Decline the rental company's collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is provided for theft and collision damage for most cars in the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., coverage is secondary to your personal insurance.
      • Trip Cancellation/Interruption coverage: You can be reimbursed up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable passenger fares, if your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations.
      • Purchase Protection: Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.
      • Extended Warranty protection: Extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer's warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of 3 years or less.
    • UPDATE: Feb, 2021: Even though Visa discontinued many benefits (see section above), Chase hasn't announced any cuts in benefits. I've seem even latest cards come with all these benefits. If you aren't sure, verify benefits by calling Chase benefits directly.
    • When it's time to file claims, the process is easy. I've a claim on a laptop. Will update on how it got resolved. Their site to file claims is: https://www.cardbenefitservices.com. Their phone is 1-800-882-8057 (USA).

 

  • Chase Freedom Unlimited Card: This is a another "Freedom" credit card from Chase bank. I'm mentioning it here since it's confusing with 2 "Freedom" cards going on. This is the less desired version of the Freedom card. It also has $200 offer (on spending $500), 0% APR for 15 months, no annual fees and other perks similar to "chase Freedom Flex card". One place where it differs from "Freedom Flex" is that it doesn't have 5% quarterly rotating categories, just a flat 1.5% on all purchases. There are various offers floating around, with some where you get 5% cash back on $12K of grocery store purchase in 1st year and some where you get 5% cash back on $12K of gas purchase. They do have regular offer of 5% cash back for chase travel purchased thru chase travel portal, and 3% on dining and drugstores. If you do take this card, cancel it after a year, since there's not much the card will offer you after the 1st year. Also, go for the offer which gives you "5% on grocery store purchase", as that makes you an extra $600 in the first year (Do NOT sign up w/o this offer, you can use the promo only once).
    • They offer $200 sign on bonus
    • 0% APR for 15 months (about $50 in interest income assuming you can put that money in bank at 1%)
    • Use someone to refer you. The referrer makes $100 per referral. See in deals section below for more details.
    • You get 5% cashback on grocery store purchases (stores like Kroger, HEB, Randalls, etc, but NOT walmart, target, etc) on upto $12K for your first year only. This can net about $600 assuming you spend all of $12K the first year. You can buy Visa or Amex prepaid cards to meet $12K in purchases.
    • There is NO 5% cashback in rotating categories, just flat 1.5% on all purchases.
    • There is 5% on chase travel, 3% on dining and drugstores, etc. Please check the details when applying for this card, as not all links give you all these offers.
    • Refer a Friend => Referral works for this card too (same as Freedom Flex card above). See in deals section below for more details.
    • Benefits: All benefits same as "Freedom Flex" card. See above for details.
    • Offers for this:

 

  • Chase Sapphire Preferred  (CSP) Card: This is a popular Chase card that comes with a lot of benefits that might be worthwhile to people who travel a lot. It does have a $95 annual fee, which isn't waived. But it has offers from time to time for 100K points while equates to $1K in CB on $5K in purchases. Even after deducting $100 fee, you still get hefty CB. You also get 5X on travel booked thru Chase travel, as well as 25% higher redemption of points when redeeming via chase travel. You also get $50 hotel credit and complimentary DoorDash membership, which can help to offset the annual fee. You can apply for this card once every 4 years, so best to cancel this card after a year, and apply again in the 5th year. It's one of those cards that you can get when you have travel planned, and you can make a killing. There was also an additional $300 offer from rakuten or this card n May 2025 (see in deals below). There is another Chase Sapphire card called "Chase Sapphire Reserve" which has very high annual fee of $500 and not worth it for most folks.

 

  • Bank of America Cash rewards bonus card: They have no annual fees. You can make about $300-$500 from this card on $5K in purchases, yielding you cash back of 10%. This card is among the lowest in terms of rewards, as it's hard to hit $500 in rewards with this card. So I wouldn't recommend this card at all. I've put this on the list of "Best Credit card" as a last resort (in case you run out of cards to sign up). Their More details here: https://www.bankofamerica.com/credit-cards/products/cash-back-credit-card/
    • $200 sign on bonus when you spend $1K or more within 90 days. They sometimes send you targeted $250 or $300 sign on bonus offer too, especially if you have a bank account with them. So, you might want to wait after opening a new bank account with them, before you jump on the credit card. Typically $300 is what I wait for, since anything less than $300 is not worth it.
    • They also have 0% APR for 15 billing cycles, which assuming $5K avg balance on credit card for a year, may amount to about $25-$50 in extra interest income.
    • It gives you 3% cashback on rotating categories (most useful one is online shopping category where you can get 3% cashback on any online purchase).  However paying for utility bills online, property taxes/insurance, doctor's fees, etc doesn't count as online shopping (most of the times, though sometimes you may get lucky). Here's a link that shows categories that count as online shopping: https://www.managerewardsonline.bankofamerica.com/cms/published/root/duo/sharedContent/pdf/cash/CashEng048139Nov2019-0121K_v002_ADA.pdf. Note that gift cards bought from merchant's websites also doesn't count as online shopping. Reason might be that the link for giftcard buying is usually different than merchant link. As an example, "kroger" and "kroger gift card" websites have different links, so buying anything from kroger gift card website doesn't qualify as online shopping). In the end, on $5K in spending, you can make an extra $150 in rewards.
    • The benefits of this card is not listed anywhere on their website, even after logging into the account. They ask you to call the customer service to get a copy of benefits. I doubt they have any worthwhile benefits. So, just don't bother with this card. Find benefits for this card: ?FIXME?

 

  • Wells Fargo cards: There are many wells fargo credit cards out there. All of them are inferior in terms of bonus and cashback. One in particular that I get a lot of noise about is the "Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa Platinum Card". It gives you $150 signup bonus on spending $500 or more and then 1.5% cashback on all your purchases. Even if you spend $10K on this card every year, you make a measly $150 in cashback. So, in total you will make $300 on this card in your first year. You can do much much better than that with a lot of other credit cards. I would advise to stay away from all Wells Fargo Credit cards, as in my last 20 years, I've never seen any Wells Fargo Credit card worth biting.

 

 

Deals:

You can find all offers for credit card on the deals section or on creditcards.com website. Doctor of credit website also lists best offers over here:

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/best-current-credit-card-sign-bonuses/

 

 

 

Ongoing: chase referrer bonus of $100 $50: The person applying for any "chase freedom credit card" can get a referral from anyone who is an existing Chase Freedom card holder. The person applying for any chase card doesn't lose any benefit. So, it benefits the referrer. If you refer me, I may split $50 with you (if I get $100). Pls email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or use the referral link below.

My referral Link (For any Chase Freedom card) => https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18s/0M26YYRIVV

NOTE: If you can find an existing chase card member (may be friend, spouse, etc), he/she can refer you, and the person referring you will get $50 (on upto $500 a year). It's important to use the "refer" link when applying and not open any other link for Chase in any other tab, else it may not track correctly.

 

UPDATE Oct, 2024: Chase has gotten into the dirty business where they offer reduced offers when applying via referral link. In my case, they offered $150 for applying via link but $200 when applying without the link. Basically they take $50 out of your bonus and give it to your friend. So, be careful and compare offers with and w/o the link. Apply whichever is a better offer.

EXPIRED: There was an offer for $100 for referring a friend. Now it's back to regular $50.More details here:

 

 

 

 

2025:

 

 

 

05/05/2025: Chase Sapphire offering 100K points for $5K spend in 3 months. Rakuten offering additional $300. Best ever offer, won't last long.

Link => https://www.doctorofcredit.com/rakuten-get-50-5000-when-signing-up-for-chase-sapphire-preferred-freedom-unlimited-ink-unlimited/

UPDATE May 5, 2025: Rakuten is giving $50 upto $300 cashback for opening a few of Chase credit cards including the Chase Freedom Cards. It was $50 few days back, which was the same as personal referral amount that we get for referring someone to Chase. But with $300 for Chase Sapphiire Preferred (CSP)and $150 for Chase Freedom Unlimited (CFU), you need to sign up now, as it's all time high. With Chase Sapphire you'll make $1200 (after deducting $100 annual fees) on $5000 spend, while with Freedom Unlimited, you'll make $350 on $500 spend. CFU is not desired, since it doesn't have the grocery offer this time. Best card is the CSP which is giving you net 26% CB.

 

 

 

2022:

 

 

 

10/31/2022: E*trade Customers only: $400 signup offer on Morgan Stanley Blue Cash Preferred card from American Express => Expired on 01/16/2023

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/etrade-customers-american-express-blue-cash-preferred-400-signup-bonus-waived-annual-fee/

 $400 on spending $6K in first 6 months. Annual Fee waived for the first year, so not worth after the first year. Also, extra $100 statement credit after spending $15K+ in a calendar year. 0% APR for first 12 months.

 

 

 

2021:

 

 

 

11/22/2021: American Express 20% discount on redeeming points for Gift cards: (valid until Dec 22, 2021)

Just got an email that you can get select GC for 20% fewer reward points. All 9 cards listed are useless, as the $1 in GC costs you more than 1 point even after the 20% discount. The only card worth buying is Home depot card going for 15% off. Last year it was 20% off, but I guess inflation has eaten into the discount. Get a physical HD GC, and liquidate all your points. You will get $50 HD GC for $42.50.

 

 

11/22/2021: Platinum Elite Visa Credit Card from Skyone: Currently they have $600-$65=$535 sign on offer (valid until Dec 31, 2021)

$300 statement credit on account opening, and $300 in points on spending $3K+ in first 3 months of account opening. You have to pay $65 annual fee (AF) though (NOT waived). So,  net will be $535. They have 3X on groceries, so, assuming all $3K is spent in grocery stores, you make extra $90, which more than compensates for the AF. I never apply for cards with AF, but ~$600 for $3K spend is as good as it can get. Close it after a year, as it's not worth paying $65 every year.

 

 

 

2020:

 

 

 

11/10/2020: Blue Cash Preferred card from American Express: Currently they have $300 sign on offer. (valid as of Feb, 2021)

 

 

EXPIRED: 12/10/2020: BBVA select credit card: For month of December, 2020, they have $1000 sign on bonus on spending $4K in 3 months. However, qualifying for this card is tough. This is the highest cashback (25%), so definitely get this even if it doesn't have any benefits

 

 

 

Details
Published: Sunday, 30 August 2020 15:33
Hits: 2397

Banks and credit unions (CU):

You can deposit your money in either a bank or a credit union. Banks are for profit while credit unions are not for profit (profit is distributed to members in form of higher deposit rate and lower loan rate than banks). However, membership to credit unions is usually limited to people living in a particular area or being an employee of particular company, etc, while membership to banks is open to anyone nationwide. Banks are much larger compared to CU.

The way equations works for banks/CU is as follows:

Banks have assets (loans are considered assets for banks, there may be other assets as securities (stocks, bonds, etc), other tangible assets as real estate property, etc). All of these make money for banks, as banks collect interest on these. This money made on assets is the yield on assets (avg 5%). Loans are considered assets as banks give out loans based on some physical asset (like a house, car, etc), and that is the property of the bank as long as the loan is not paid off.

Banks have liabilities as deposits, borrowings, etc on which they have to pay interest. This is called cost of funds, and is usually 1% depending on current fed interest rate. Deposits are considered liability for banks, as the money doesn't belong to bank, they have to return the money back to depositors. It's a low interest debt that banks have taken from people.

Difference between the two is the gross spread (usually 4% to 5%). Once we add provision for loan losses (0.5% - 1%), we get NIM (net interest margin). This has historically averaged about 3% for banks/CU in USA.

Banks also have other interest income, as service fees, monthly fees, overdraft, consulting fees, etc. This becomes total income, from which we subtract bank expenses (as offices, salaries, etc) and taxes. This gives us net income which is usually 1% of assets.

So, in essence you can see banks/CU as middle man who take money from depositors at lower rates and lend it to borrowers at higher rates, pocketing the difference.

This site lists a lot of info about banks/CU, checking/savings + CD rates. etc => https://www.depositaccounts.com

Here they list the largest Banks + CU: https://www.depositaccounts.com/banks/assets.aspx

 

 

Banks:

Money that you deposit in banks is insured by FDIC (www.fdic.gov), which is a corp of govt providing insurance to any deposit in a bank of up to $250K in a single owner account. Meaning even if the bank goes bankrupt, your money up to $250K will be returned to you by FDIC. FDIC website lists all info regarding all banks. Whenever you open an account with any bank, always go to FDIC website and search for that bank. Make sure, it's listed there, and follow the link for that bank from FDIC website.

Banks are further classified as commercial banks and thrift/savings institutions. Both are similar. As of Q2 2018, there were total of 5500 FDIC insured banks. In 1990, there used to be 15000 banks. The reason for falling numbers is that every year about 3% of banks merge, and very few new ones open. Some credit union also convert to banks, since it's more profitable to be a bank and hence higher payouts.

As of Q2, 2018, stats for all 5500 banks is as below: 2018 Q2 report available here: https://www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/qbp/2018jun/qbp.pdf 

There is historical bank report here:

Income: https://www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/qbp/timeseries/annual-income.xls

Balance Sheet: https://www.fdic.gov/bank/analytical/qbp/timeseries/balance-sheet.xls

In 1990, there were 2M full time employees in banks, same as in 2018. If you see trend from 1987 to 2017, you will notice that interest expense has been coming down (expected as interest rates have been going lower every year. Today it's just 1/4th of what it was in 1987), but interest income has been going up (not expected with declining rates. Today it's 2 times of that in 1987). This shows that banks profits have come at cost of savers, who get nothing for their savings, and borrowers who still pay much higher rates for borrowing. Result is fatter and fatter bank profits every year in declining interest rate environment of last 30 years (where interest rate for borrowers do not fall as much as those for savers. Banks pocket extra interest), with interest income going from $90B in 1987 to $500B in 2017.

FDIC has $95B in deposit insurance fund (DIF) to pay for any losses resulting from banks bankruptcy. This is 1.35% of total insured deposits (=$7.3T, while total deposit=$12.2T)) in banks. This is much larger than what has historically been in DIF.

Below data is for 2017/2018:

Total domestic deposits = $12.2T => includes money deposited in interest bearing accounts=$9T (CD=$1.8T), non interest bearing=$3.2T. Interest/non-interest can be savings, checking, money market,etc. (In 2005, deposits were $6T, so growth rate=6%/year or about the same rate as GDP growth). There's also additional $1.2T deposit in foreign offices.

Total loans made out = $9.8T => This includes real estate loans (Total=$5T, residential=$2.5T, non-residential=$1.5T, home-equity=$0.4T, construction/development=$0.4T), commercial and industrial loans ($2T), individual loans ($1.7T of which credit card=0.8T, auto=0.5T), and other loans of $1T

Total assets = $17.5T => includes loans=$9.8T, securities=$3.6T(MBS=$2.1T, Treasury=$0.5T, state/municipal=$0.4T, equity=negligible at $5B), Cash=$2T, Intangible assets=$0.4T, other assets=$0.8T. Earning asset is $15.8T.

Total liabilities = $15.5T => includes deposits=$13.4T,  Federal Home Loan bank advance (FHLB are GSE which can provide debt at very low rate of interest as they are backed by govt) = $0.6T, borrowing=$0.6T, other liability=$0.6T

So, banks use deposits and borrowing to fund loans and buy securities. Banks must be getting very low rates for borrowing (lower than what they pay on deposits), otherwise banks would always raise extra cash by increasing interest rates on deposits.

Net interest income (2017) = $0.5T (interest income=$572B (loans=$450B, securities=$80B), while interest expense=$73B(deposits=$47B, borrowings=$23B)). So, just from deposits, banks made $0.4T in interest income, paying avg of 0.3% in interest on deposits, while getting 5% on loans, resulting in interest of 4.7% just from deposit accounts). Provision for loan losses was $50B or 0.5% of loans.

Net interest margin (NIM) = net income income (after accounting for loan loss provision) as percentage of assets. Here it's $0.45T interest income on $13.4T in assets (including only loans and securities) = 3.4% (usually averages 3%) of assets. This is the difference between interest that banks get on loans/securities vs what they pay in deposits/borrowings. For ex, if banks pay 1% avg in deposits+borrowings, but get 5% avg on loans, then NIM=5-1=4%

Net income = $160B (interest income=$450B, non interest income=$250B, expenses due to offices, salaries, etc=$$450B, so, net income before taxes=$260B and then taxes=$100B). Of this $160B, cash dividend of $120B was paid out to shareholders of bank, while $40B was kept on banks book (retained earnings).

Below data is for Q2, 2025:

Total domestic deposits = $18T 

Total loans made out = $13T

Total assets = $24T 

Most of the big jump in deposits came in 2020-2022 when deposits went from $13T to $18T over a span of 2 years, implying 20% growth, due to trillions of $ being distributed in response to covid-19 pandemic. For next 3 years, deposits remained the same. Overall, the growth rate for 7 yrs from 2018-2025 still averaged 6%. Loans increased form $10T to $13T, implying 4% growth. Assets still managed to increase 50% implying 6% growth.

Largest banks in USA:

Here's the link for largest banks => https://www.depositaccounts.com/banks/assets.aspx?instType=bank&stateType=hq&state=

Data as of Q2, 2022: Chase, Bank of America, Citi and Wells Fargo are 4 largest banks with each having assets around $2T (so 50% of total bank assets are owned by just these 4). Since the 2009 recession, citi group has become much smaller and operates mostly online in most states (it has sold most of it's branches to other banks). However, it still retains a large deposit, in spite of having just 20M accounts (other top 3 banks have more than 60M accounts each). Chase bank has the largest deposits at $3.3T, while Wells Fargo deposits have been declining since the scandal of opening fake accounts came to light. Total deposit for all banks combined is about $20T out of which top 4 banks have total $10T in deposits. Just top 10 banks have 400M customer accounts, implying most of the US population has multiple bank accounts.

Only 50 banks have assets over $50B, While only 150 have assets over $10B. 1000 out of 5000 banks (or 20%) have assets > $1B. What's surprising is that big banks pay almost 0% interest on any of their products (savings a/c interest rate=0.01%, CD rates are all much less than treasury interest rates), yet they get so much in deposits.

 

 

Credit Unions:

Credit unions are set up as non-profit, and money is insiured via NCUA https://www.ncua.gov. It's as safe as in banks with FDIC, as NCUSIF (NCU share insurance fund) is backed by US govt, just as FDIC is backed by US govt. Terms and conditions for insurance in CU same as those for banks. There are 5500 CU as of Q2 2018, almost same number as banks. However their assets are mush less, at about 10% of the assets of the banks. They do have large number of members at about 120M.

Below data is for 2017/2018:

Total deposits in CU was only $1.2T

Total loans were at $1T (home loans=$0.45T, Auto loans=$0.35T, credit card=$0.06T, student loans=$5B, others=$0.15T).

Total assets were $1.5T (loans=$1T, cash=$0.1T, securities=$0.3T). 90% of the investment in securities is for those with maturities < 5 years.

NIM = $42Bx4 = 3.1% of assets

Net income = $13Bx4 = Provision for losses was 0.5% of assets

Below data is for Q4, 2024:

Total deposits in CU was $1.96T => This is an increase of 60% over 7 years, implying a growth of 7%/yr.

Total loans outstanding were at $1.65T (home loans=$0.75T, Auto loans=$0.5T, credit card=$0.09T, student loans=$7B, others=$0.17T). This was an increase of 65% over 7 years, matching deposit growth rate.

Total assets were $2.3T (loans=$1.65T, cash=$0.2T, securities=$0.4T). 75% of the investment in securities is for those with maturities < 5 years.

Largest Credit Unions in USA:

Here's the link for largest credit unions => https://www.depositaccounts.com/banks/assets.aspx?instType=cu&stateType=hq&state=

Data as of Q2, 2022: Navy Federal CU (NFCU), State Employees CU, Pentagon Federal CU (PenFed), Boeing Employees CU (BECU) and School First Federal CU are 5 largest CU with assets > $25B. There are only 20 CU with assets > $10B. Only 500 FCU (or 10%) have assets > $1B. Navy FCU with assets of $150B is the only CU that makes it in list of top 50 banks. Navy FCU is bigger than bottom 90% of FCU combined. Bottom 3200 CU combined have assets < $50B. They hold only 4% of total assets of CU, so we can see that money is mostly being controlled by top 10% of CU.

 

 

Summary:

Year 2017/2018:

So, total assets combined for banks and CU is $19T. Total deposits=$13.4T, while total loans=$10.8T. The difference of deposits and loans is $2.5T which is the actual cash that people have. Rest of the cash in deposit is just made out of thin air, from this base of $2.5T. Imagine, this $2.5T was deposited by consumers. Banks gave out a loan of $2.5T, and the cash balance went to 0. However, this $2.5T again gets deposited in banks, so now total deposit in banks is $5T, while loans are $2.5T. We can repeat this process any number of times to keep adding deposits and loans, but the difference of $2.5T will always be maintained.

We can see that out of 11K banks and FCU, only 300 or so hold 95% of total banking assets, meaning 97% of banks are almost irrelevant as to whether they exist or die. Also, only 1% of banks/CU actually pay interest rate higher than those of treasury (and these are usually much smaller banks and CU, very few in top 300). That seems very odd, since a person may buy treasuries instead of depositing money in banks, since both of them are insured by the same US govt. In a free market, banks have to pay higher interest rate than treasuries,  since there is no way that banks can borrow money below treasury rates from consumers (since money in treasuries in 100% risk free, as govt can always print money to pay back the buyers, while banks can default on money they borrow. So if both banks and govt paid same interest rate, a borrower would prefer to just loan it to the government).

Deposits are cheapest way of raising money for banks, and rates have to be at least same as treasury rates. If bank deposit rates are lower than current treasury rates, and they can successfully attract sufficient deposit, then banks can make infinite free money. This is how => they can take deposits from people at rates lower than treasury, put that money risk free in treasury (no risk of defaulting), and collect that difference. For ex., I as an bank entrepreneur, can quickly open an online bank, offering 1 year CD at 2.6%, when 1 year Treasury rate is 2.65%. I can collect deposits in billions of dollars (as on 30th Oct, 2018, since there's only 1 bank listed on bankrate.com, that has interest on 1 year CD at more than 2.6%, while treasury is offering 1 year bills at 2.65%. Thus I can raise quick money and make free money on that 0.05% difference. Since all banks offer deposit rates much much lower than Treasury rates, they can make free money by just lending it to the govt. Also, all big banks have trillions of dollars in deposits paying 0.01% interest rate, when treasury rates are > 2.5%. So, the market is highly manipulated by the govt, as such a thing would never happen in a free market. In a free market, most of the banks paying 0% in interest rate would go bankrupt, since deposits would move to banks offering higher interest. Govt (i.e FED) becomes lenders for these banks, allow them to borrow money at insanely low rates that they control.

Year 2024: Total assets combined for banks and CU is $26T. Total deposits=$20T, while total loans=$14T. So, deposits grew by 50%, but loans grew by only 30% when compared to 2017/2018.

UPDATE June, 2023: Top 4 banks in USA have total deposit of $10T, while treasury rates for 1 year are > 5% per year. These 4 banks are paying 0.01% interest on most of their deposits meaning they are making $500B (5% of $10T) in free money every year by buying govt treasuries with that $10T. This is risk free money, and will continue for big banks. They make tons of free money in all situations => When interest rates are high, they pay nothing and collect interest from treasuries. When interest rates are low, they lend money to people, and then sell those loans to FED assuming no liability on their books. FED takes the loss when interest rates rise, but they can always print money, so it's not really a loss for them. I feel like opening a big bank and becoming a billionaire. So many free billions lying around :)

 

 

 

More Articles ...

  1. python GUI - tkinter
  2. python - object oriented program
  3. Python module - Matplotlib
  4. GDP = What is it?