Your Own, Personal Bailout: How to Get the Banks to Give You $500 this Month (August/September 2016)

It was nearly 10 years ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday. President Dubya was on TV to tell us that the folks who had happily shuttered small businesses and foreclosed on Grandma for the good of capitalism and efficiency were having a tough time and were going to be bailed out by the taxpayers.

You can't undo the past, but you can improve the future.

Today its your turn to get a bailout.

Banks spend money to get customers. Whether they are putting ads on TV or sending out mailers, banks happily pay to convince you to open an account, and hope to make the money back later with interest and fees. Fortunately, their spending doesn't always end up in the hands of TV stations and newspapers. Sometimes, they will pay you cash bonuses to open an account.

Today, I'm going to list some of the best cash bonuses available:

1) $200 from BMO Harris

https://www.bmoharris.com/main/personal/always-on/2015/checking

To get this bonus, you'll need a monthly direct deposit of $300 or more. Even though BMO has branches in only a few states, anyone can apply online. You can avoid monthly fees by maintaining a $1000 balance. Keep the account open for 6 months to avoid an early closure fee.

2) $150 from Chase

https://coupon.chaseoffers.com/banking/prep.do?ID=41521

Everyone should do a Chase checking bonus once a year. This one gives you $150 for opening an account and doing direct deposit. They'll take the money back if you close the account in less than 6 months. You'll need to maintain a $1500 balance to avoid fees. You can get an extra $100 if you deposit $10,000 into a checking account, but that it optional.

3) $150 from Santander Bank

https://www.santanderbank.com/us/pages/personal/checking-accounts-01

You'll need to open an account using the linked coupon by September 30 of this year. You then need to do a direct deposit of $500 or more within the first 90 days, and keep the account open for 90 days. The $10 monthly fee is waived each month that you make a transaction on the account.

There are other offers available, some of which are more lucrative. However, I've filtered out the ones that require big deposits, are only for specific individuals or are restricted to certain states. Banks usually require that you not have had an account with them for a year to quality for offers like these.

(image citation: bank logos from the respective bank websites.)