One of the things that I have been seeing more and more of these days is the teaser offer by banks to open up a checking account with them.
The most effective ones offer you straight cash, but I have seen them offer anything from gift cards to just about anything else you can think of.
Of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is to open up the checking account, fulfill any requirements they have for the free money, get the free money and then forget about the account.
That's not what the bank has in mind but so what.
Several months back, I went ahead and applied for three separate offers for these accounts, and I just wanted to let you know how my experience went.
I think I ended up making $250 cash from all three of them combined.
In short, you can obviously make free money with these deals, but you have got to be careful.
Listed below are just a few of the things you need to be aware of before diving in.
When weighed against the $250 that I made, it is worth it, you just need to stay on top of it.
Here goes: Affect on your Credit Score: I did not track this as a before and after thing, but there will be a minor effect on your credit rating.
Sometimes, these accounts can be opened without a "hard pull" on your credit, but those I think are few and far between.
It probably takes six months or so for your score to recover.
In the interim, you may have some difficulty if you try to open up any other new lines of credit, as I did.
No long term and no major effects, just something to be aware of.
Direct Deposit Requirements: Some of these offers require at least one direct deposit to qualify for your cash reward.
I would be wary of these.
I only say this because the process of switching my direct deposit information with my employer was much less than an easy process.
You may want to ask your employer about this before doing so.
And if you forget to switch it back, you may find yourself with not enough money in your regular bank account to cover your bills.
Don't forget about them! As I said, I opened up my three accounts, fulfilled the requirements, got my cash reward, withdrew most of the money out of the account and forgot about them.
Another requirement may be that you leave the account open for a certain period of time to qualify for the reward.
Forgetting about them can be dangerous.
With two of these accounts, I recently received overdraft notices.
They charged me an "inactivity fee" which put my accounts at less than zero balances, triggering more late fees, and two big messes in general.
It took a lot of phone calls and fast-talking to straighten out.
Ease of closing: Do not think that these banks are unaware of the people out there like me - who are only really in it for the cash reward.
They know we exist, and they will make it as difficult, time-consuming and annoying as possible when it comes time to close these accounts.
In general, it cannot be done with a simple phone call.
Plan on investing a good deal of time on the back end to close this stuff out.
Overall, I would say it was definitely worth the money I made by signing up for these offers.
I only wish I was a little better informed about a few things, and had stayed a little more organized on the back end.
This would have made my life quite a bit easier.
The most effective ones offer you straight cash, but I have seen them offer anything from gift cards to just about anything else you can think of.
Of course, the first thing that comes to my mind is to open up the checking account, fulfill any requirements they have for the free money, get the free money and then forget about the account.
That's not what the bank has in mind but so what.
Several months back, I went ahead and applied for three separate offers for these accounts, and I just wanted to let you know how my experience went.
I think I ended up making $250 cash from all three of them combined.
In short, you can obviously make free money with these deals, but you have got to be careful.
Listed below are just a few of the things you need to be aware of before diving in.
When weighed against the $250 that I made, it is worth it, you just need to stay on top of it.
Here goes: Affect on your Credit Score: I did not track this as a before and after thing, but there will be a minor effect on your credit rating.
Sometimes, these accounts can be opened without a "hard pull" on your credit, but those I think are few and far between.
It probably takes six months or so for your score to recover.
In the interim, you may have some difficulty if you try to open up any other new lines of credit, as I did.
No long term and no major effects, just something to be aware of.
Direct Deposit Requirements: Some of these offers require at least one direct deposit to qualify for your cash reward.
I would be wary of these.
I only say this because the process of switching my direct deposit information with my employer was much less than an easy process.
You may want to ask your employer about this before doing so.
And if you forget to switch it back, you may find yourself with not enough money in your regular bank account to cover your bills.
Don't forget about them! As I said, I opened up my three accounts, fulfilled the requirements, got my cash reward, withdrew most of the money out of the account and forgot about them.
Another requirement may be that you leave the account open for a certain period of time to qualify for the reward.
Forgetting about them can be dangerous.
With two of these accounts, I recently received overdraft notices.
They charged me an "inactivity fee" which put my accounts at less than zero balances, triggering more late fees, and two big messes in general.
It took a lot of phone calls and fast-talking to straighten out.
Ease of closing: Do not think that these banks are unaware of the people out there like me - who are only really in it for the cash reward.
They know we exist, and they will make it as difficult, time-consuming and annoying as possible when it comes time to close these accounts.
In general, it cannot be done with a simple phone call.
Plan on investing a good deal of time on the back end to close this stuff out.
Overall, I would say it was definitely worth the money I made by signing up for these offers.
I only wish I was a little better informed about a few things, and had stayed a little more organized on the back end.
This would have made my life quite a bit easier.
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