Chase is paying up to $900 for opening a new checking and savings account: $300 for the checking, $200 for the savings, and an extra $400 for doing both. The offer runs through October 14, 2026. The catch is a $15,000 savings balance you have to leave alone for 90 days.

That last part is what decides whether this is worth doing, and most write-ups skip past it. Here is the full breakdown, what it actually costs you to earn, and who should not bother.

How the $900 Splits

It is three separate bonuses stacked, not one payout. $300 for opening a Chase Total Checking account and receiving a qualifying direct deposit. $200 for opening a Chase savings account and funding it with $15,000. Then an extra $400 for completing both.

Miss either half and the $400 goes with it. Open only the checking and you have earned $300, not $700. That structure is deliberate, and it is why the offer is worth more than it first appears to someone who was only going to open one account.

What Each Half Requires

The checking side. Open a new Chase Total Checking account and have a direct deposit post within 90 days of enrolling in the coupon.

Chase is specific about what counts. A qualifying direct deposit is an electronic deposit of a paycheck, pension, or government benefit such as Social Security, coming from an employer or government agency. Person-to-person transfers do not count, and Zelle is named explicitly as not qualifying. Neither does moving money in from another bank you own.

This is the requirement that trips people up. If you are self-employed, paid through a platform that does not issue a true ACH payroll deposit, or retired without a pension or benefit deposit, confirm your deposit type qualifies before you count on the $300.

The savings side. Deposit $15,000 or more in new money into the new savings account within 30 days of enrollment, then keep the balance at $15,000 or above for 90 days from enrollment.

"New money" means funds not already held at Chase. Shuffling an existing Chase balance into the new account does not qualify.

Note the two different clocks. The savings deposit has a 30-day window; the direct deposit has a 90-day window; the balance requirement runs 90 days from enrollment, not from when you deposited. Enroll, then move the $15,000 promptly, and the 90-day hold ends sooner.

The Part Nobody Prices: What $15,000 Costs You

The $900 is not free money. Parking $15,000 in a big-bank savings account for 90 days means giving up whatever that money was earning elsewhere, and Chase's standard savings rate is well below what a high-yield savings account pays.

Run it. Ninety days is roughly a quarter of a year, so $15,000 sitting at a 4% high-yield rate earns about $148 over that stretch. At 4.5% it is closer to $166, at 3.5% about $129.

So if that money is currently sitting in a competitive high-yield account, this offer nets you somewhere around $735 to $770, not $900. Check today's rate on your own account rather than trusting any figure in an article, including this one, because savings rates move.

Even at the low end, that is a strong return. Earning $750 on $15,000 held for three months is roughly a 20% annualized return on the money at risk, and there is no market risk attached. The point is not to talk you out of it. It is that the honest number is $750-ish, and you should compare it against alternatives using that number.

Where it does not work: if the $15,000 would have to come out of an emergency fund you might actually need inside 90 days, or out of a brokerage account you would have to sell down to fund. Breaking the balance requirement early forfeits the bonus, and selling investments to chase a bank bonus is how a good deal turns into an expensive one. Our guide to building an emergency fund while earning rewards covers where that money should actually live.

The Monthly Fee, and Why It Probably Will Not Bite

Chase Total Checking carries a $12 monthly service fee. Left unwaived across the 90 days, that is $36 off the top, which nobody mentions.

In practice it is waived for almost anyone doing this offer. Any one of these clears it:

  • A direct deposit of $500 or more per month
  • A $1,500 minimum daily balance in the checking account
  • A $5,000 average daily balance across linked Chase accounts and loans

The third one is the quiet answer. You are already parking $15,000 in a linked Chase savings account, which clears the $5,000 threshold by a wide margin on its own. So for the duration of this offer the fee should waive itself.

Where it becomes real is afterward. Once the 90 days end and you pull the $15,000 back out, the linked-balance waiver disappears with it. If your direct deposit is under $500 a month and you do not keep $1,500 in checking, the $12 starts hitting. Decide at that point whether to keep the account funded, keep the direct deposit pointed at it, or close it.

Who Is Eligible

Chase gates this tightly, and the exclusions matter more than usual.

You generally cannot earn it if you are an existing Chase checking or savings customer, if you have closed a Chase account within the past 90 days, or if you closed one with a negative balance in the past three years. Chase also limits you to one new checking bonus and one new savings bonus every two years, measured from your last coupon enrollment.

That two-year clock is the one to check first. If you took a Chase bank bonus in 2025, you are not eligible now regardless of everything else, and there is no way to work around it.

The offer is coupon-based and has been reported as targeted rather than open to everyone, though public coupon codes have circulated. Before you plan around it, log in or check the offer page for the version available to you. Terms and amounts on targeted offers vary by recipient.

The Direct Deposit Is Where People Fail

Of the two requirements, the $15,000 is the one people worry about and the direct deposit is the one that actually costs them the bonus.

Chase wants an electronic deposit originated by an employer or a government agency: payroll, pension, Social Security, or similar benefits. What repeatedly does not qualify:

  • Zelle transfers, named explicitly in the terms
  • Transfers from your own account at another bank, however you label them
  • Most person-to-person app payments
  • Cash or check deposits, regardless of amount

The people most likely to get caught are the self-employed, contractors paid through platforms that push funds as a transfer rather than a payroll ACH, and retirees without a pension or benefit deposit. If that is you, confirm the deposit type before enrolling rather than after.

There is no partial credit here. Without a qualifying direct deposit you forfeit the $300 checking bonus and the $400 completion bonus, leaving $200 for having immobilized $15,000 for three months. That is the scenario worth avoiding, and it is entirely avoidable by checking first.

If you can redirect payroll, do it in the first pay cycle rather than the last. A deposit that posts on day 88 of a 90-day window leaves no room for a payroll calendar that shifts by a few days.

What Happens If You Miss One

The bonuses are independent except for the $400, which requires both.

Fund the savings but never land a qualifying direct deposit and you get $200. Land the direct deposit but let the savings balance dip below $15,000 at any point inside the 90 days and you get $300. The $400 needs both halves intact.

The savings requirement is a maintained minimum, not an average, so a single dip below $15,000 breaks it. If you are funding it close to the line, leave a buffer above $15,000 rather than exactly at it.

The Timeline, Step by Step

Day 0. Enroll in the coupon, then open both accounts in the same session. The $400 bonus depends on opening both, so do not split this across two visits.

Days 1 to 30. Move $15,000 of new money into the savings account. Earlier is better, because the 90-day balance clock runs from enrollment, not from your deposit, and depositing on day 29 gives you no extra room at the end.

Days 1 to 90. Get a qualifying direct deposit posted to the checking account. If you control your payroll settings, switch it over in the first pay cycle rather than waiting.

Day 90. The balance requirement ends. Confirm the savings balance never dipped below $15,000 at any point, since it is a maintained minimum and not an average.

After. Bonuses typically post within a few weeks of requirements being met. Watch for them, and keep the accounts open long enough to avoid early-closure clawback language in the terms.

Do Not Forget the Tax

Bank account bonuses are treated differently from credit card rewards, and this is the most commonly missed part of a $900 payout.

Credit card sign-up bonuses earned through spending are generally treated as a rebate and are not taxable. Bank account bonuses are not. They are interest income, and the bank issues a 1099-INT. Chase will report the $900 to the IRS and so should you.

At a 22% marginal rate that is about $198 in tax, which takes the real, after-tax, after-opportunity-cost value closer to $550. Still worth doing. Just not $900. Our breakdown of which rewards are taxable explains the distinction and which promotions fall on which side.

How It Compares

Against other bank bonuses, $900 is at the high end, and so is the effort.

The Wells Fargo $400 checking bonus asks for direct deposits and no large balance hold, which makes it far easier to qualify for and far cheaper in opportunity cost. Less money, less friction. If you do not have $15,000 you can immobilize, that is the more realistic option.

Against credit card welcome bonuses, the comparison depends on what you value. A card bonus of 60,000 to 100,000 points can be worth more than $900 if you redeem well, and it requires spending you were doing anyway rather than a five-figure deposit. But it also adds a hard inquiry and a new account to your credit file, which a bank bonus does not. Our 2026 travel card guide covers that side, and if you are worried about the credit impact of applications, what happens to your score when you open a card walks through it.

The two are not mutually exclusive. Bank bonuses do not affect your credit report the way card applications do, so there is no reason to choose one over the other on those grounds.

Should You Do It

Yes, if all of these are true: you are not an existing Chase banking customer, you have not taken a Chase bank bonus in the past two years, you have $15,000 that can sit still for three months without being needed, and you have a qualifying direct deposit you can point at the account.

No, if the $15,000 would come from an emergency fund, from selling investments, or from money you might need before the 90 days are up. The forfeited bonus plus whatever it cost you to free up the cash will outweigh the payout.

Also no if your income does not arrive as a qualifying direct deposit. Without it you are capped at the $200 savings bonus and you have tied up $15,000 to get it, which is a poor trade on its own.

Bottom Line

$900 for opening two accounts, ending October 14, 2026. Realistically it is closer to $750 after the interest you give up on $15,000, and closer to $550 after tax.

That is still one of the better bank bonuses available right now, and the effort is a few hours spread across three months. Check the two-year eligibility clock and confirm your direct deposit qualifies before you start, because those are the two failure modes that leave people having done the work for nothing.

Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. We may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you apply through these links. This helps us keep the site running and continue creating free content.