Comments on: Etrade Bank $25 Sign Up Bonus

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:52:05 +0000

My bank’s url is:

https://www.bankononb.com/

Just as FYI – this is a reward checking with some hoops. They pay 5.01% on balances up to $25k. And they require 12 Debit card point of sale transactions each statement cycle. So you would have to use this account to make 12 purchases (your gas, grocery, anything else) in order to get the 5.01%

We have a strict budget. All of the money to pay our regular bills comes out of another account (all automated). Then we factor in money for savings + our weekly “cash allowance” for gas and groceries etc. That all goes to our 5% account – I easily meet the 12 transactions a month with gas and groceries + eating out once a week.

To make sure we don’t overspend, we put all receipts in a box and tally them up each week. The total amount + number of transactions is written on our calendar each Saturday. We’ve actually been spending UNDER our allowance which is more money in savings!

Bonus – it is compounded monthly.

By: Madison

Madison — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:29:03 +0000

@ Anna: I usually take the money out and put it wherever is earning the highest rate. In your case I would move it to the 5% account (where is that? – inquiring minds would love to know!)

In general I keep the minimum in the accounts to keep them open, just in case they offer a referral program in the future.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:47:53 +0000

I have been leery about signing up for any of these promotions. Can you tell me what you have done after earning your reward? do you pull the money out and put it somewhere else where it is earning a higher rate? For example, you say ETrade is paying 3% on savings. My current savings account is pay 5%. If I deposit $100 in Etrade and earn $25 in 30 days, that would be a huge rate of return. But I would want to close it out at the end of 30 days and put the money back into my 5% account.

Do you have any advice on this?

By: Madison

Madison — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:12:16 +0000

@ Liz: I’m not sure, since I opened our accounts many promotions ago and I can’t remember. Maybe one of the others who signed up can see if there was a soft pull.

@ Susan: Did you try sending them an email?

By: Start-Up

Start-Up — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:30:05 +0000

I just signed up for the $25 sign up bonus. Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention.

By: Susan Elmorabit

Susan Elmorabit — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 02:32:08 +0000

I tried to make an account but it would not take any of several passwords I tried to submit.

By: liz

liz — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:06:17 +0000

soft pull?

By: Monevator

Monevator — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:46:03 +0000

I admire online trading companies still trying to get new customers to deal in stocks in the teeth of a bear market.

It might be a matter of survival for them, but it’s more than you can say for most commentators (and of course stocks look the cheapest they have in ages,if you’re brave!)