Methodology

Where the figures come from

Every offer starts on the bank's own pages: the offer page, its terms and the fee schedule. We record the amount, each tier, the requirements, the fees and the dates as those pages state them, with the date we read them. Review and comparison sites help us find offers. We never take a term from them. We do not open accounts to test an offer, and we do not see how a bank decides on an application.

A term the bank does not publish stays empty and shows as not published. A missing figure never helps an offer: it gives no annual rate, waives no fee and adds no interest.

How an offer is checked

1. First reading. We read the offer page and its terms and record each figure with the page it came from and the date.
2. Second reading. A separate check opens the bank's page again and compares the bonus tiers, the requirements, the states, the monthly fee, the end date and the offer link, plus further fields per offer. Every change it makes is logged with the reason.
3. Confidence. Each offer is rated high, medium or low. Offers rated low are not published until a later check confirms them.
4. Publication. The date of the check becomes the offer's Checked date. Every offer page lists the pages we read and when, and the verification log lists them all.

Rechecks and the 21 day rule

We recheck offers in this order: offers not rechecked for more than 21 days, offers that end within 14 days, then offers that live on partner campaign pages, which can disappear without notice. A recheck repeats both readings.

An offer not rechecked for more than 21 days stays in the table, labeled Not rechecked since and the date. No page on the site states or implies a check later than that date. The site rebuilds every day, and your browser checks the dates again when a page opens, so labels and end dates follow the calendar between rebuilds.

Cash to park

Cash to park

the larger of the tier minimum deposit and the tier minimum balancea figure the bank does not state counts as $0

Each tier has its own cash to park. When an offer counts investments as new money, the table says investments count next to the figure.

Annual rate

Annual rate

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

Example

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

The annual rate is the bonus over the cash and the time it needs, scaled to a year. It is not an APY, and the bank does not pay it as interest: an APY is interest an account pays over a year, and the bonus pays once. The rate lets you compare a bonus with what the same cash earns in savings. How the annual rate is calculated works through it.

Hold days are the hold period as the bank states it, in days. Banks count it differently, some from opening and some over a later stretch, so we use the stated number and never add the funding window to it. When the bank states a hold for one tier only, that tier uses it. There is no rate when the cash to park is $0 (the row reads no cash to park) or when the bank states no hold period in days (hold period not stated in days).

Direct deposits needed

For each tier, the direct deposit total is the tier's own total when the bank states one, else the offer's total when the tier needs a direct deposit, else none. A tier can need a direct deposit with no amount stated; the calculator then treats any monthly amount above $0 as enough.

What it takes

Each tier gets one label, from the first test it meets:

1. Direct deposit when the tier needs a direct deposit.
2. Deposit and hold when the cash to park is above $0.
3. Debit purchases when the bank asks for debit card purchases.
4. Open and fund for everything else.

The table shows the label of the largest tier with its key number, the direct deposit total or the cash to park, when there is one. Up to in the bonus column means the offer has tiers, and the row opens to show each one.

Status by date

• Ended when the end date is before today. The offer leaves the live table, the counts and the calculator at once, and joins the ended offers at the next rebuild. Its own page shows an Ended banner.
• Ends in N days when the end date is 0 to 14 days after today. The row carries an amber flag.
• Not rechecked since when today is more than 21 days after our last check. The offer stays in the table with that label.
• Live otherwise, including offers labeled Not rechecked since. An offer with no end date is live, and its page says the bank showed no end date.

An offer page shows one banner, checked in this order: ended, not rechecked, ends soon, live. Today means the calendar day in UTC, which runs ahead of every US time zone, so an offer leaves the table a few hours early rather than late.

Where an offer is open

• Nationwide only when the bank's terms say the offer is open nationwide or in all states.
• No state limit in the terms when the terms name no limit and say nothing either way. The bank decides at application.
• A list of states when the terms name them.
• Branch states (no list in the terms) when the only state list we have is the bank's branch footprint. The offer counts as open in every state, the page names the branch states, and the bank decides at application.

The order of the table

• Largest bonus (the default): the top tier amount, largest first.
• Highest annual rate: the top tier rate, highest first. Offers without a rate go last.
• Ends soonest: the earliest end date first. Offers with no end date go last.
• Checked most recently: the latest check first.

Ties fall back to the largest bonus. Whether a link can earn us a commission never changes the math, the order or which offers appear. See how we make money.

The calculator

The calculator runs every live offer for the accounts you pick (personal, business or both) and leaves out the banks you name as your own. For each offer:

1. State. The offer is open to you when it has no state list or its list holds your state. With any state the check is skipped, and offers limited to listed states carry a note. A branch footprint is not a state list: those offers stay open, with a note when your state is not among the branch states.
2. Cash. A tier fits when its cash to park is at most the cash you entered. With the cash field empty, this check is skipped.
3. Direct deposit. A tier that needs a direct deposit fits when your monthly amount x the months in the window reaches its total. Months are the window in days / 30, rounded up, or 3 when the bank states no window. When the window runs from the first deposit (SoFi counts 25 days from it), the months come from that window, at least 1. When each deposit must reach a minimum, your monthly amount has to reach it too. With $0 a month, no tier that needs a direct deposit fits.
4. Best tier. The tier with the largest bonus among those that fit. When none fits, the offer goes to Out of reach with the shortfall of its smallest tier in numbers.

For the best tier, the calculator works out:

Fee waived

the monthly fee is $0, or your monthly direct deposit meets the waiver amount, or any deposit waives it and you route one, or the larger of your cash and the tier's cash to park meets the waiver balancea tier that parks the waiver balance never pays the fee

Fee days

the days the account must stay open, else the estimate below, else 90at least 30

Estimate

the longest of the direct deposit window, the hold and the funding window, plus the payout daysused only for fees, never shown

Fee months

fee days / 30, rounded up, less the months the bank charges no feenever below 0

Fees

$0 when waived, else monthly fee x fee monthsa waivable fee whose waiver the terms give in no figures is left out and shown as up to that amount

Cost of parking the cash

cash to park x your savings rate / 100 x hold days / 365a hold stated in calendar months counts its shortest length in days, marked at least; with no hold at all the cost is missing and the result says so

Account interest

cash to park x APY / 100 x hold days / 365$0 with no APY or no hold in days

Net gain

bonus - fees - cost of parking the cash + account interest

After tax at your rate

(bonus + account interest - cost of parking the cash) x (1 - your rate / 100) - feesonly when you enter a rate

Example: a $200 bonus for $10,000 held 90 days in an account paying 3.5% APY with no fee, against your 4% savings rate. Cost of parking the cash $98.63, account interest $86.30, net gain $187.67. At a 22% tax rate, after tax $146.38.

Offers within reach are ranked by net gain, largest first; ties go to the larger bonus. Offers that park cash with no hold in days come after the rest, because their figure leaves out the cost of parking the cash. The summary counts the offers within reach and names the best single net gain among those with every cost known. Some offers cannot both be earned, or one already includes the other, so the summary counts each such group once and never adds bonuses into a total. With the cash field empty, the summary says so first and words each result as a condition: what the offer comes to if you can park the cash it asks for.

Your savings rate starts at 4.00%. It is an assumption for you to change, not a rate any bank offers. The calculator stores nothing: your inputs live in the page address, so a copied link opens the same result.

What we do not know

• Whether a bank will accept you. Each bank decides who qualifies and whether to open an account.
• Changes since our last check. Banks change and end offers without notice; the Checked date on each offer is the limit of what we know.
• Whether a payment counts as a direct deposit for a given bank. Its own definition decides.
• Your tax position. Bonuses are generally taxable as interest income.

Corrections

To report a wrong term, send the link to the bank page that shows the right one to hello@bonustally.com. We check every report against that page.