Early closure fees and bonus clawbacks

How banks protect a bonus

Banks pay bonuses to win customers who stay. The terms protect that in three ways, and one offer can use more than one of them.

• Open at payout. The account must be open and in good standing on the day the bank pays. Close it the day before and you get nothing. Most offers we list state this rule.
• A minimum open period. The account must stay open for a set number of days, such as 90, 120 or 365. Some banks wait for the period to end before they pay at all.
• A fee or a clawback. Close the account inside a window and the bank charges an early closure fee or takes the bonus back, for example by deducting it from the balance before closing.

Some terms add a broader right. When we read them, Wells Fargo said it may close or restrict an account and decline or reverse the bonus if it suspects promotion abuse, and Huntington said it may close the account without paying in that case.

What the terms said on October 6, 2026

These are the offers in our data whose terms name a minimum open period, an early closure fee or a right to take the bonus back, as we read them on the banks' own pages. Each offer page has the full rule in its note.

Most offer pages say only that the account must be open when the bank pays, so the table is short. The offer page is not the whole contract. Under Regulation DD, section 1030.4, the account disclosures you get before opening must state each fee the bank may charge and the conditions for it, so a closing fee belongs there even when the offer page leaves it out.

A fee and a clawback cost different amounts

An early closure fee is a charge, so on a small bonus it can cost more than the bonus paid. A clawback takes back the bonus itself and leaves you about where you started, less any monthly fees you paid along the way. Axos sets its fee at up to $200 on a $200 bonus, so on that offer the two come to the same figure.

Bank bonuses are generally taxable as interest income, and banks usually report them on Form 1099-INT. When a bank takes back a bonus it paid in an earlier tax year, the facts decide how you report it, so ask a tax professional. IRS Publication 550 covers interest income in general, and the guide to whether bank bonuses are taxable covers the bonus itself.

Pick a closing date

1. Wait until the bonus has posted. Look for it on a statement or in the transaction list, not only in an email.
2. Find the longest window in the terms: the minimum open period, the early closure window and any clawback window. Count it from the day the terms name, often the opening day, and add a few days of margin.
3. Stop direct deposits and automatic payments that point at the account, then bring the balance to zero yourself before you close.
4. Keep the closing confirmation and the last statement.

Step 3 matters beyond this bonus. An account closed with a negative balance can land on a checking account report, which other banks read when you apply. The guide to bank accounts and your credit explains those reports.

Keeping the account open longer costs nothing when it has no fee or you meet a waiver. When it does cost, compare the remaining monthly fees with the early closure fee. Two more months at $15 cost $30, more than a $25 closing fee and less than a $50 one.

How the calculator handles early closure

The calculator assumes you keep the account open as long as the terms ask. Where the bank states that period in days, the calculator counts monthly fees for it, and it subtracts no early closure fee and no clawback. A result is what you net when you follow the terms to the end. The methodology states every formula.