How the annual rate is calculated

The formula

Annual rate

bonus / cash to park x 365 / hold days x 100in percent

Example

$200 / $10,000 x 365 / 90 x 100 = 8.11%

Read it in two steps. $200 on $10,000 is 2.00% for the 90 days the cash must stay. A year holds 365 / 90 = 4.06 such periods, so the same pace for a full year is 8.11%.

Cash to park

Cash to park is the larger of the minimum opening deposit and the minimum balance the bank asks you to keep for the tier. A figure the bank does not state counts as $0. Each tier has its own cash to park, so a tiered offer has a rate per tier: $200 for $10,000 and $500 for $25,000, both held 90 days, are both 8.11%.

The hold period as the bank states it

The hold is the number of days the bank says the balance must stay. Banks count it differently. Some count from the day you open the account. Others measure a later stretch, such as days 31 to 90, after a funding period. We use the number of days the bank states and never add the funding window to it, because that would change a rule the bank set.

Some offers state the hold in calendar months, or state no hold at all. Those rows show hold period not stated in days instead of a rate.

Why it is not an APY

Regulation DD defines the annual percentage yield as the total interest an account pays, based on the interest rate and how often it compounds, over 365 days (12 CFR 1030.2(c)). A bonus is defined separately in the same section. The annual rate is our measure of the bonus. The bank does not pay it as interest, it does not compound, and it does not repeat: the bonus pays once.

The account may also pay its own APY on the cash. The calculator adds that interest to the net gain as a separate line, and the annual rate leaves it out.

Rows without a rate

• No cash to park. Direct deposit offers usually ask for no balance, so there is nothing to divide by. Compare them by the net gain in the calculator instead.
• Hold period not stated in days. No hold in days, no rate.

On October 6, 2026, 18 of the 34 offers we listed had a rate at their largest tier, 9 had no cash to park and 7 had no hold period stated in days. When you sort the table by annual rate, offers without one go last.

What the rate leaves out

• The days around the hold. The rate assumes the cash sits for the hold period alone. If you fund the account a few weeks before the hold starts and the bonus arrives a month after it ends, the cash may be tied up for 120 days. At 120 days, the same $200 on $10,000 is 6.08% a year.
• Fees. A monthly fee you cannot waive comes out of the bonus. The calculator subtracts it.
• Tax. The rate is before tax. See are bank bonuses taxable.

Comparing it with your savings rate

When the annual rate is above what your cash earns now, the bonus pays more than the interest you give up over the hold, before fees and tax. In the example, $10,000 at a 4% savings rate earns $98.63 in 90 days, and the bonus pays $200. If the bonus account also pays 3.5% APY, it adds $86.30, and the net gain is $187.67.

A high rate can still be a small amount. On October 6, 2026, the rates in our table ran from 2.43% to 48.67%. The highest was $400 on $5,000 for 60 days. The lowest was $3,000 on $500,000 for 90 days: a far larger bonus that ties up a hundred times the cash. Read the rate for what the cash earns through the bonus, and the bonus for the size.

The methodology lists every formula the table and the calculator use, and the live table sorts by annual rate on request.