Wells Fargo has a $250 bonus offer for new checking account customers. You can open any consumer checking account except for Teen Checking. The prepaid Wells Fargo EasyPay® Card is not eligible. You must open the account from the special bonus page with a minimum opening deposit of $25 by February 17, 2017. (You can charge the opening deposit on a credit card.) Within 60 days of account opening, you must also do one of the following:
- Make 10 debit card purchases/payments.
- Set up a qualifying Direct Deposit of $500 to your new checking account.
Note that doing any one of these activities every month also waives the $10 monthly service fee on the Wells Fargo Everyday Checking account. Other ways to waive the monthly service fee are to maintain a $1,500 minimum daily balance or link the account to a Wells Fargo Campus ATM or Campus Debit Card.
In addition, to get the bonus you cannot be:
- A current owner on a Wells Fargo consumer checking account
- A Wells Fargo team member
- A recipient of a consumer checking bonus in the past 12 months (limit 1 bonus per customer)
Thanks to Lee and Adam for the tip. The annoying part? The page is contradictory in regards to who is actually eligible. Right above the “Important things to know about the $250 offer:” it says:
This is an exclusive, nontransferable offer.
But then right below that it says:
Offer available in all Wells Fargo branches or online at wellsfargo.com/250offer.
If I had to bet, I would say that Wells Fargo will give the bonus to anyone who applies through this special link and they approve your application. However, I can’t guarantee it so proceed at your own risk. This is a pretty nice offer if you were looking for a checking account at a “Mega Bank”.
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I got this offer in the mail. Same link, but it includes a “personal bonus offer code”. I haven’t signed up yet, but I’m guessing that at some point a bonus code is required in order to redeem the $250.
I wouldn’t touch WellsFargo under any circumstances. With recent scandals and all, I thought that deserved a mention in the post too. Anyway, enjoy the site and regular posts.
i agree
I think that this was targeted to mortgage customers but I’m not sure if they would enforce that or not.
Interesting that they don’t mention any early account closing fees, or minimum time necessary to keep the account open to be able to keep the bonus. (Most banks make you keep the account open at least 6 months.)
True what Michael says. Normally I believe the bank is required to mention how long the account needs to say open to not incur any fees or take back of the bonus money. Any thoughts?
Talked to 2 different Wells Fargo representatives and they both stated that as long as the account is open long enough to receive the bonus offer and also the direct deposit is made or the 10 debit transactions are conducted within the first 60 days then there is no long of time you need to maintain the account other than the aforementioned times. The debit card would be received in 4-7 calendar days (interesting not business days) and you can even go to a local branch to get a temporary debit card to initiate your debit transactions.
Thanks for checking on that! So it sounds like an easy $250, just probably have to make the 10 debit transactions then. Since they say “We will waive the monthly service fee for each fee period ending within the first 64 days of opening the account to allow you to meet the requirements to avoid the monthly service fee.” So if you open the account, get the debit card 4 days later, make 10 debit transactions within the next 2 weeks days, and then the bonus is paid out within 45 days, that puts you at 63 days. Take the bonus out and close the account. Thanks Wells Fargo!
I tried this and was told it was only available to those who had received the offer by mail or email which I had not. Further, it appears that those who have a business relationship with Wells are also not able to apply. This kind of narrows the list of those are eligible. Could this be a ploy by Wells to get new customers into their bank who will decide to open a new account anyway and forget the $250. It’s the kind of trickery that has caused Wells to get their notoriety.
I made a call to WFC executive offices since generally the phone reps aren’t as competent as we would like them to be:). You don’t have to have the code prior as long as you go to http://www.wellsfargo.com/250offer at that link you will be in the system for the promo
It’s too bad you can’t be an existing customer. I’ve been wanting to open a second checking or a money market account for special purposes, but all the offers they once had have dried up. There’s really no incentive for me to open additional accounts with them right now. New accounts seem to be more restrictive and may have fees that I’m not incurring now.
Any idea what the max they’ll take on a credit card to fund? 2% on 15,000 (or points/miles) is a nice added bonus too.
They will take between $25 and $50 on a credit card to fund the account.
Thank you, probably not worth the hassle then. Appreciate it.
It says “We are unable to process your request at this time. Please call 1-800-932-6736 for assistance.” for 02144 ZIP code. If I refuse entering a ZIP, it redirects to the homepage.
Works for 34786, so clearly there must be branches in your area for this to work.
I was surprised at how quick they were about depositing the bonus: the next business day after I completed 10 debit transactions.
Michael, you got the bonus deposited the next day? I did the 10 debit transactions weeks ago and nothing so far.
John
nm just checked. I got the bonus. 🙂