If you’re a new Chase customer opening a College, Total, or Business Complete Banking checking account, you qualify for a welcome bonus offer of $100, $200, or even $300, respectively. Yes, up to $300.
There are pros and cons to each of these accounts, so you’ll want to learn more about the options before you decide.
Read more about these bonuses and how to get them, plus review the checking account terms, potential fees and how to avoid them in our guide below.
Chase College Checking Account + $100 Sign-Up Bonus
A Chase College Checking account is perfect for students ages 17 to 24 years old.
They’re fairly basic and don’t come with many bells and whistles. They do, however, offer a safe place to stash cash while in school and with great accessibility.
This account does not require a minimum opening deposit to open and a $6 monthly maintenance fee can be waived. See section below for details.
To open one of these, you’ll need to prove that you’re a student at a college or university with a transcript or acceptance letter. You’ll also need to have a Social Security number (if you don’t, visit a branch to discuss your options). This account can be opened online or in person.
How to waive the $6 monthly fee?
The $6 monthly maintenance fee associated with this account can be waived by doing just one of the following:
- prove that you are a college student by providing your student ID, college name, and expected date of graduation (waive the fee for up to 5 years),
- set up an electronic deposit into this account (such as ACH transfer or direct deposit), or
- maintain an average daily balance of at least $5,000.
This account (and all other Chase checking accounts) offer Overdraft Protection through standard overdraft practice.
If you choose to opt into this, you must link your checking account to your Chase savings account. Then Chase will make payments for you from the savings account when you overdraw your checking account. Note that this is done at their discretion and there is no guarantee it will happen every time.
In the event of an overdraft, you will incur a $34 fee. You will also incur a $34 fee every time a check or automatic payment is returned due to insufficient funds.
Chase also offers Debit Card Coverage, which, when activated, will decline transactions—without charging a fee—that would cause your account balance to go negative. Sign up for account alerts when your balance gets low and opt into this Debit Card Coverage if you’d like to avoid declined payments or overdrafts and the fees that come with them.
Other fees associated with this account include:
- $15 per incoming wire transfer,
- $35 per outgoing domestic wire transfer,
- $12 returned check fee,
- $2 for each page of printed personal checks. 3 per page.
- $2.50 charge for out-of-network ATM usage.
See this deposit account agreement for a complete list of fees for all accounts
How to qualify for the bonus:
To qualify for the $100 bonus, make sure you make 10 qualifying transactions—such as purchases with your debit card, QuickDeposits, online bill payments, etc.—within 60 days of opening the account and using the welcome coupon from this link to access the offer. You must open your new account using this coupon by October 19, 2022, to qualify for the bonus.
Chase Total Checking Account + $200 Sign-Up Bonus
The Chase Total Checking account is one of the bank’s more popular deposit products. And from now until October 19, 2022, this account features a $200 sign-up bonus for new customers.
How to qualify for the bonus:
Get $200 when you open a new Chase Total Checking account and set up direct deposit within 90 days of coupon enrollment (using the coupon code you receive through this link to register for an account).
To earn the $200 bonus you will need to set up a direct deposit to this account within 90 days of opening it. This direct deposit must come from an employer, government agency in the form of benefits (social security) or pensions. Person-to-person payments are not considered direct deposits.
The direct deposit requirement to earn the cash bonus is often the largest ‘catch’ for offers like these. Many other banks have similar terms for their bonuses.
Fees and how to avoid them:
This account has a $12 monthly service fee that you can avoid by meeting one of the following criteria:
- setting up electronic deposits totaling $500 or more,
- maintaining an average daily balance of at least $1,500 in just this account, or
- maintaining an average daily balance of at least $5,000 across all linked deposit and investment accounts.
The insufficient funds and returned item overdraft fees of $34 each apply to all Chase checking accounts, and so does Debit Card Coverage, if you choose to use it. Overdraft protection options are also the same on all accounts.
This is a standard checking account, which doesn’t earn interest.
Chase Business Complete Banking + $300 Sign-Up Bonus
The Chase checking account that will give you the highest signup bonus—$300—is the Business Complete Banking checking account, which offers business features such as Chase QuickDeposit and QuickAccept. QuickAccept allows you to accept and manage payments for purchases. You can also:
- Issue refunds
- Track disputes
- Accept contactless or manual payments through the Chase app
- Receive same-day deposits
Fees for this service are 2.6% + $0.10 for transactions that are tapped, dipped, or swiped and 3.5% + $0.10 for transactions that you enter manually from the Chase app.
How to qualify for the bonus:
Because this is a business account, the requirements for receiving the bonus are a bit different than the other two accounts we’ve featured so far.
To qualify, you must deposit at least $2,000 in new money into this account within 30 days of opening and maintain this balance for at least 60 days. You must also make at least five qualifying transactions (which include debit card purchases, QuickAccept deposits, ACH transfers, wires, and bill pay.
Once these requirements are met, the $300 bonus will be directly deposited into your account within 15 business days.
This bonus offer is valid now through October 19, 2022. You must use this link to get your sign-up coupon code and receive the bonus after reaching the requirements.
Fees and how to avoid them:
This account’s $15 monthly maintenance fee can be avoided by:
- Maintaining an average daily balance of at least $2,000
- Making at least $2,000 in transactions using your Chase Ink Business credit card
- Receiving at least $2,000 in deposits from QuickAccept transactions or payments from a third party platform
- These qualifications must be met every statement period.
You can also avoid this fee if you are an active-duty U.S. service member (must provide identification as proof) or Chase Private Client.
If you are the owner of a Chase Business Complete Banking checking account, you’ll have:
- Unlimited electronic deposits, ACH transfers, and Chase QuickDeposit transactions,
- Free check monitoring services,
- Account activity alerts.
About Chase Bank Checking Accounts + Customer Sentiment
The Chase checking account options range from the very basic but less rewarding College checking account, to a benefits-packed Business Complete Banking account. All three options have their advantages. The majority of customers opt for a Total checking account, but Chase has an account that’ll work for nearly anyone.
Please note that there are even more Chase checking accounts to choose from, but these are the most popular accounts and the ones that most frequently offer signup bonuses.
This bank is very good at meeting its clients’ needs according to review agencies.
According to a study conducted by J.D. Power in 2019, Chase scored 846 on a 1,000 point scale in customer satisfaction and was tied for 2nd in a ranking of banks with the highest overall satisfaction score (the national average is 838).
Per this press release:
“Customers of Chase recognize the bank for providing innovative technology, having the lowest incidence of problems, and high satisfaction associated with credit cards and ATMs.”
As one of the largest and highest-asset banks in the U.S., it should come as no surprise that Chase has thousands of ATM and branch locations across the country. As of March 2022, there are over 17,000 ATMs with 5,100 Chase branches.
It’s also worth noting that the Chase mobile banking app is superb. It is easy to navigate and allows you to do anything you may need to do, from account management to getting help with a question. Across the millions of Apple and Android customers that use this app the vast majority are happy with it – scoring a 4.8 star and 4.4 star rating, respectively. This cannot be overstated, as many much less popular banking apps receive lower ratings.
Final Thoughts
Chase Bank offers far-reaching access through their branches and ATM networks, comprehensive online banking and mobile app features, and cold hard cash for new accounts.
Just remember, these three bonus offers are not available to existing Chase customers. But if you are new to Chase and in need of a checking account, you’ll likely find a home with one of these accounts.
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