Wells Fargo $225 Savings Bonus With $10,000 Deposit

Update 2/27/24: Offer extended till April 9th. Hat tip to nycdpj

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $225
• Availability: Nationwide
• Direct deposit required: None
• Additional requirements: $10,000 deposit
• Hard/soft pull: Soft
• ChexSystems: Mixed reports, likely doesn’t pull
• Credit card funding: None
• Monthly fees: Avoidable
• Early account termination fee: None
• Household limit: None
• Expiration date:February 23, 2024

The Offer

Direct link to offer

• Wells Fargo is offering a $225 bonus when you open a new savings account and deposit $10,000 within 30 days. Must maintain the balance through Day 90 from account opening.

The Fine Print

• Eligibility Requirements:

  • This offer is for new savings customers only. All Wells Fargo consumer savings accounts are eligible for this offer with the exception of Time Accounts (CDs) and savings accounts offered by Wells Fargo Private Bank.
  • You must use your bonus offer code at account opening when you apply for a new eligible Wells Fargo savings account.
  • You are not eligible for this offer if:
    • You are a current primary account owner of a Wells Fargo consumer savings account. The primary account owner is the owner whose Taxpayer Identification Number, such as a Social Security Number, is assigned to the account and has tax responsibility.
    • You have received any other consumer savings offer bonus or promotional rate that required a bonus offer code within the past 12 months.
    • You are a Wells Fargo employee.

• Bonus Requirements:

  1. Open a new Wells Fargo consumer savings account by February 23, 2024. All account applications are subject to approval.
  2. Deposit $10,000 or more in new money to your new savings account within 30 days and maintain at least a $10,000 balance for 90 days after account opening. Deposit and transfer limits and other terms and conditions apply. See Wells Fargo’s Online Access Agreement available at wellsfargo.com/online-banking/online-access-agreement for more information.
     • New money is money that is new to the customer or new to Wells Fargo (deposited into the customer’s new savings account from outside of Wells Fargo and Company and all affiliates, or from a Wells Fargo account not owned by the customer).
     • New money deposited up to 7 calendar days prior to the bonus offer code being applied to the account will count towards the offer qualification requirements. Please see a banker for details.

  Bonus Payment:

  • We will deposit your bonus into your new savings account within 30 days after you have met all offer requirements.
  • The new savings account must be open at the time we attempt to deposit any earned bonus payment. Please note that an account with a zero balance may be closed by us without prior notice, as further described in the Deposit Account Agreement.
  • You are responsible for any federal, state, or local taxes due on the bonus and we will report as income to the tax authorities if required by applicable law. Consult your tax advisor.

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

The Wells Fargo Way2Save Savings account monthly service fee is $5. Minimum opening deposit is $25. The monthly service fee can be avoided with one of the following each fee period:

• $300 minimum daily balance
• Automatic transfer each fee period of $25 or more from a linked Wells Fargo checking account
• Automatic transfer each business day within the fee period of $1 or more from a linked Wells Fargo checking account
• or more Save As You Go® transfers from a linked Wells Fargo checking account. A qualifying Save As You Go transfer is an automatic transfer of $1 from your linked Wells Fargo checking account to your Way2Save Savings account each time you (or any authorized signer or joint owner) use your debit card for a one-time purchase or complete a Bill Pay transaction through online banking, and the one-time debit card purchase or Bill Pay transaction posts to the account. We reserve the right to determine through our sole discretion if a particular transaction is a qualifying transaction.
• Primary account owner is 24 years old or under. (When the primary account owner reaches the age of 25, age can no longer be used to avoid the monthly service fee.) Customers 12 and under must have an adult co-owner.

Initial monthly service fee waiver (pdf): “We’ll waive the monthly service fee for each fee period ending within the first 64 days of opening.”

Our Verdict

There is also a $525 savings bonus but that requires a $25,000 deposit and can’t be opened online. This is a better % return but obviously smaller overall bonus. You’re missing out on $100 in lost interest compared to a 5% APY account so this is really only a $125 bonus, but still worth doing. We will add this to our list of the best bank account bonuses.

Hat tip to reader David