Update January 2025: The offer below has expired. Laurel Road has discontinued the upfront bonus for their Loyalty Checking account at this time.

EXPIRED and outdated post:

Laurel Road is a digital brand of KeyBank (not a fintech) that reminds me of SoFi in that they are building a relationship that starts with student loan refinances when you are young, and then expands as you grow older and need new services. They have special products targeted at doctors and nurses including student loan refinances, personal loans, mortgages, bank accounts, and other products like a credit card that earns 2% cashback towards student loans.

The Laurel Road Loyalty Checking Account is available to the general public and has a few interesting features:

• $300 welcome bonus when you open a Laurel Road Loyalty Checking account and make one or more qualifying direct deposits via an Automated Clearing House (ACH) transaction into the Laurel Road Loyalty Checking account totaling at least $2,500 within the first 60 days after account opening.
• $20 cash reward for every month you make qualifying ACH direct deposits of $2,500+ each statement period during the first 12 months ($240 total), and $10 for every month after that – for as long as your account is open.
• No minimum to open. No minimum balance. No monthly fees.

Here is the fine print on the $20 monthly bonus:

Primary account holder is eligible to earn monthly rewards of $20/month from the second through thirteenth statement periods, which is considered your “first year.” From the fourteenth statement period onward, the eligible reward will be $10/month for as long as the Laurel Road Loyalty Checking account (“Account”) is open. To earn monthly rewards, you must make qualifying Automated Clearing House (ACH) direct deposits into the Account totaling at least $2,500 during the statement period. Qualifying ACH direct deposit transactions include most payroll, Social Security, pension and government benefits deposits. Rewards will be deposited into your Account in the statement period after they are earned. Only one Loyalty Checking account per primary account holder. Cannot be combined with other checking bonus, reward, or rate discount offers, excluding any promotional offer for opening the Account. The value of the monthly rewards will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099-INT. Accounts closed within first 180 days will be charged a $25 early closure fee. Accounts closed at the time of monthly rewards payment are not eligible. Offer is subject to change without notice.

I appreciate the simple bonus structure, and it works great if you can easily adjust your work direct deposit through your payroll provider. “Alternative” methods have also worked in the past, but they might be more picky as to what counts as direct deposit than in the past. Note that this checking account pays essentially zero interest, but you don’t have to keep your $2,500+ direct deposit there after it arrives in your checking account.

Qualifying Direct Deposits – A pre-arranged electronic direct deposit through the Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) Network from most employer payrolls, payroll provider (excluding third-party advance payroll service providers), benefits payer such as Social Security or Military Pay, or pension. Non-Qualifying Deposits – Including but not limited to: Point-of-sale (POS) and internet-initiated mobile entry (WEB) ACH transactions; incoming Person-to-Person (P2P) payments made via the ACH Network such as Zelle, PayPal, Cash App, or Venmo (including payroll-related transactions made via P2P providers); mobile check deposits; wire transfers; cash deposits; one-time direct deposits such as tax refunds and corporate reimbursements; internal transfers between Laurel Road or KeyBank accounts; external transfers from another financial institution; and insurance payments and other similar transactions.

In fact, you should actually first consider the Laurel Road High Yield Savings Account $200 Bonus first, as that offer says that the “Referred cannot be an existing or prior Laurel Road member in the last twelve (12) months.”. Therefore, I would do the High Yield Savings bonus first, and then this checking bonus offer second, as it does not includes such language (it only excludes prior *checking* account holders).

You are not eligible for the bonus if you were the primary owner on any Laurel Road checking account within the prior 24 months before opening the new checking account.

Update 6/18/24: This new option is now live, at least for me. Fidelity says it should be available to everyone by the end of this week. Worth a check (directions at the bottom below). Screenshots from my account below.

Original post from 4/21/24:

A flexible alternative to a traditional bank account is getting better. The Fidelity Cash Management Account (CMA) is a brokerage account that also includes traditional bank features like ACH routing and account numbers, Billpay, mobile check deposit, physical checks, and ATM/debit cards.

Perhaps a lesser-known fact is that the standard “Fidelity Account” is a brokerage account that also offers ACH routing/account numbers, Billpay, mobile check deposit, checkwriting, and an ATM/debit card. One of the major additions to the CMA (and missing from the standard Fidelity Account) is that you get unlimited ATM fee rebates, worldwide:

Your account will automatically be reimbursed for all ATM fees charged by other institutions while using a Fidelity® Debit Card linked to your Fidelity Cash Management Account at any ATM displaying the Visa®, Plus®, or Star® logos. The reimbursement will be credited to the account the same day the ATM fee is debited from the account. Please note that there may be a foreign transaction fee of 1% that is not waived, which will be included in the amount charged to your account.

Regarding that foreign transaction fee, I did some additional research and found that while officially, the Fidelity fine print states that there is a 1% foreign transaction fee that “may” apply, in practice, that 1% fee is only charged on signature-based purchases, not PIN-based transactions like ATM withdrawals. This was confirmed in this article by Robert Beauregard, Director of External Communications at Fidelity. This has also been confirmed by multiple anecdotal data points. You can check for yourself on a sample transaction using a calculator like this. Rather confusing!

One of the major drawbacks to the CMA was that the only option for the core position was their “FDIC-insured Deposit Sweep”, currently paying 2.72% APY (as of 4/21/24). While better than the 0.01% many other brokers offer on cash sweeps, this yield is much lower than that of the money market fund options available in the standard Fidelity account. To get around this, many people used the auto-draft feature that lets you set the standard Fidelity brokerage account as the backup funding source, and then kept a minimal or zero balance inside the CMA.

Perhaps Fidelity noticed this activity as well, or perhaps they noticed certain 5% APY cash offerings from competitors, because in less than two months (June 15, 2024), the CMA is adding the Fidelity Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX) an a core position option. If you have a Fidelity Cash Management Account and look at the “Additional Information and Endnotes” section of your March 2024 statement, you should find the following notice. This has also been confirmed by an official Fidelity representative on the r/Fidelity Subreddit. From my statement:

Please note that on or around June 15, 2024, you’ll have the option to elect Fidelity(R) Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX) as your core sweep investment vehicle. You will not need to take any action if you wish to retain the Bank Sweep as your core position. For additional information on your core position options, including the current yields on the Bank Sweep and money market funds, please visit Fidelity.com/spend-save/fidelity-cash-management-account/overview and FundResearch.Fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/31617H102.

The 7-day yield of SPAXX is 4.95% as of 4/19/24, significantly higher than the 2.72% FDIC-insured sweep. Money market mutual funds are unable to offer FDIC insurance, but they are still heavily-regulated by the SEC to hold very conservative and liquid investments. “Government” money markets have even stricter requirements, and that is why they are used as cash sweep funds. I personally lose zero sleep over holding cash in a money market fund run by a reputable firm like Fidelity, Vanguard, or Schwab.

This is a positive development for those that use the Fidelity CMA, especially if your state doesn’t have income taxes on investment interest that create an incentive to hold money market funds with mostly interest from Treasury bonds. If you do live in such a state, you should know that in 2023 neither Fidelity Government Money Market Fund (SPAXX) nor Fidelity® Treasury Money Market Fund (FZFXX) met the minimum investment in U.S. government securities required to exempt the distribution from tax in California, Connecticut, and New York. (Despite having Treasury in the name, FZFXX only had about 20% in eligible Treasury interest.) These are the core positions available in the standard Fidelity Account.

As such, residents of California, Connecticut, and New York may want to hold the Fidelity Treasury Only Money Market Fund (FDLXX), as it did meet those requirements in 2023 with roughly 90% of interest eligible for exemption. This is not a core option so you do have to buy this mutual fund manually, although the CMA account will sell it automatically to meet any cash demands that come up later. But still, if you forget for a few days, the interest difference is much smaller between SPAXX and FDLXX.

I am definitely switching over my core position as soon as I can. June 15th, 2024 is a Saturday, so I’ll check on Friday the 14th and then Monday the 17th. You can switch over manually by logging into Fidelity.com, going to “Accounts & Trade”,” Account Positions”, and then “Cash”. You should then see the button to “Change Core Position”.

Update: This exact offer has expired, the bonus is down to $200 and APY has been reduced.

Upgrade has increased the bonus from $150 to a $300 bonus via referral link on their Rewards Checking Plus account (referred gets $50). Must set up direct deposits totaling at least $1,000 within 45 days. Note: This promo usually scheduled to end at the end of the current month, but has been getting extended a month at a time.

Good news is the account opening process was very quick and easy, literally under 5 minutes. I did not have to upload any extra documentation and I did not experience any hard credit checks. The account was open and ready the day after application. FDIC insurance on deposits held at Cross River Bank. (NOTE: This is a good bonus, but Upgrade is a fintech and therefore has a nonzero risk that your funds may be not tracked correctly and FDIC insurance does not cover the failure of a non-bank fintech. FDIC insurance only covers an event when a bank fails. I would not keep this as your primary day-to-day account, nor maintain significant funds there.)

Here are the highlights of the Rewards Checking account, if you maintain that $1,000+ in monthly direct deposits:

• Debit card earning 2% cash back at restaurants, gas stations, utilities, convenience stores, drugstores, select monthly subscriptions (including Netflix, SiriusXM, Spotify, Disney Plus), and cell phone providers (including AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, Cricket Wireless). Maximum of $500 in 2% rewards per calendar year.
• Debit card earns 1% cash back on everything else. (unlimited)
• No minimum balance, no monthly fees (even without direct deposit).
• ATM fees rebated when charged by another institution for debit card withdrawals in the United States, up to five times per calendar month.
• Can fund up to $500 instantly via debit card. Some of you may have other debit cards that earn rewards.

An “Eligible Direct Deposit” is a recurring deposit to your Account by Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) from your employer, payroll, or benefits provider, or gig economy payer OR a deposit by Original Credit Transaction (“OCT”) from your gig economy payer. One-time direct deposits, including tax refunds, bank ACH transfers, bank verification or trial deposits, peer-to-peer transfers from services, such as PayPal or Venmo, merchant transactions, mobile check deposits, and cash loads or deposits are not Eligible Direct Deposits.

You can also add on their Performance Savings account with the following features, again with $1,000+ in monthly direct deposits into the Rewards Checking Plus:

• 5.21% APY as of 2/27/24 (lower APY without direct deposits)
• No minimum balance, no monthly fees (with or without direct deposits).

They also offer a Premier Savings account also at 5.21% APY which is currently offering an up to $200 deposit bonus if you deposit enough new money with them.

A straightforward checking direct deposit promotion that doesn’t incur a hard credit check, nor a large number of debit card transactions, nor require joining any partner organizations. Perfect if you can switch over and/or split direct deposits easily. Gig economy payments count.