Finance

Discover credit cards were recently acquired by Capital One, and they have rolled out a solid limited-time offer with a spending requirement of only $500. You can stack these all together via my Discover referral link (thank you if you use it):

• $100 Referral Bonus. Must open via a valid referral link and make a minimum payment (exceeding $0) within 8 weeks of opening a new Discover account.
• $200 Early Spend Bonus. Earn a $200 statement credit when you open a Discover it® Cash Back card and spend $500 in the first 3 months. Existing or previous cardmembers may not be eligible for this product if they have received a new cardmember bonus for this product in the past 48 months.
• Unlimited cash back match during first year. Discover will match all the rewards you’ve earned on your credit card from the day your new account is approved through your first 365 days. That means 1% cashback will turn into 2% cashback, and more notably those 5% cashback categories every quarter turn into 10% cashback categories.

No annual fee. I don’t use my Discover card much beyond the 5% categories, but I appreciate that they make redeeming the cash back easy and that combo has made it a keeper card for over a decade.

You can check if you’ll be approved for this card without a hard credit check, but know that if you actually apply then the usual hard credit check will occur.

Citibank has a $475 bonus for opening a new Checking and Savings account if you complete some additional activities. If that link doesn’t work, there is also this $325 bonus link for a new Checking only Current offer expiration date is January 11, 2027.

You must open the accounts through the offer page, and you can’t have owned a Citi checking account in the last 365 days. Within 45 days of opening the Regular Checking account, you need at least two “Enhanced Direct Deposits” totaling $3,000 or more. You must also open a Citi Savings account within 45 days, and keep a balance of at least $5,000 in it every day from day 46 through day 90.

“Enhanced Direct Deposit” is much more inclusive than a normal paycheck deposit. It specifically includes ACH transfers and payments received from another financial institution and payments from Zelle® and other payment apps like Venmo or PayPal when processed as ACH transfers. Basically, this promo does not need a direct deposit as long as you can move some money around via ACH transfer.

There is a checking-only version of this promotion pays $325 for the same $3,000 in deposits. So the savings part is worth an extra $150 for keeping $5,000 parked for about six weeks. That’s 3% over roughly 45 days, which annualizes to 24%. So it’s worth going for it if you have the cash.

Regular Checking has a $15 monthly fee, waived with $250+ in Enhanced Direct Deposits each month ($1,000+ starting January 1, 2027.) Citi Savings has $4.50 monthly fee, waived with a Citi Checking account or with a $500+ Average Monthly Balance.

Updated. CIT Bank has a limited-time Platinum Savings APY Boost Promotion, offering a boosted interest rate of 4.35% APY for 6 months on their Platinum Saving account that is 0.60% APY above the standard APY (currently 3.75% APY) for balances of $5,000 and above. Thankfully, this offer is available to both new and selected existing customers that activate the promotion.

New customers will need to sign up for a new CIT Bank Platinum Savings account using the promo code BOOST60 to qualify. There is a $100 minimum balance required to open, and you will need a $5,000 minimum balance to get the higher interest rate on this tiered account. There are no monthly service fees.

Existing customers with a Platinum Savings account opened prior to the promotion must enroll via the enrollment web page using promo code BOOST60. You will not get the 6-month boost automatically. From the fine print:

CIT Bank Customers with an account prior to the promotion: This Platinum Savings APY Boost promotion is valid for a Primary account owner with an existing account with a CIT Bank User ID before the start of the promotion, provided that the following requirements are met:

– Customers without a Platinum Savings account open prior to the Promotion must open a new Platinum Savings account via the enrollment web page using Promo Code BOOST60.
– Customers with a Platinum Savings account opened prior to the promotion may enroll their current Platinum Savings account into the Platinum Savings Boost promotion via the enrollment web page using Promo Code BOOST60.
– Customers who are not the Primary account owner on a Platinum Savings account may open a new Platinum Savings account as the primary account owner via the enrollment web page using Promo Code BOOST60.
– Accounts opened or enrolled during the program period without the Promo Code are ineligible to receive the APY boost.
– There is a limit of one Platinum Savings APY Boost promotional offer per account and per Primary customer. If multiple Platinum Savings accounts are opened, only one account per primary account owner is eligible.

Note that the terms also add the following:

Customers are ineligible to participate in the Platinum Savings APY Boost promotion if:

– They are earning an APY over the standard rate.
– They participated in a cash bonus promotion in the past 6 months.

Still, I am appreciative that some existing customers are again eligible for this promotion, as most other banks will only allow new customers to participate.

Note that if the base rate on the Platinum Savings account changes, during the promo you will maintain a 0.60% APY interest rate boost above the standard interest rate.

1APY disclosure for Platinum Savings:

Platinum Savings is a tiered interest rate account. Interest is paid on the entire account balance based on the interest rate and APY in effect that day for the balance tier associated with the end-of-day account balance. *APYs — Annual Percentage Yields are accurate as of July 1, 2026: 0.25% APY on balances of $0.01 to $4,999.99; 3.75% APY on balances of $5,000.00 or more. Interest Rates for the Platinum Savings account are variable and may change at any time without notice. The minimum to open a Platinum Savings account is $100. Fees could reduce earnings on the account.

2 Discloser on multipliers:

Based on comparison to the national average Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on savings accounts as published in the FDIC National Rates and Rate Caps, accurate as of October 23, 2026.

* Platinum Savings APY Boost Promotion Terms and Conditions

This is a limited time offer available to New and Existing customers who meet the Platinum Savings APY Boost promotion criteria.

Accounts enrolled in the Platinum Savings Annual Percentage Yield (APY) Boost promotion will receive a 0.60% APY boost on the Platinum Savings current standard APY tiers for 6 months following the opening of a new account or when an existing Platinum Savings account is enrolled in the promotion. The Platinum Savings APY boost will be applied on account balances up to $9,999,999.00. Account balances above $9,999,999.00 will earn the standard APY. If the standard-published APY should change during the promotion period, the APY boost will move with it, offering an account APY above the standard rate.

The Promotion begins on November 3, 2026, and ends December 15, 2026. Customers enrolled in the promotion prior to the end date will receive the APY boost for the 6-month period outlined in the terms and conditions.

The promotion can end at any time without notice.

For complete list of account details and fees, see the CIT Bank Personal Account disclosures.

Bank of America has a up to $500 checking account promotion depending on the total direct deposit within the first 90 days.

You must open a new eligible checking account through the offer page by January 31, 2027, then have qualifying direct deposits land in it within 90 days of opening. The bonus is based on the total of those deposits. Three accounts are eligible: Advantage SafeBalance, Advantage Plus, and Advantage Relationship Banking. You can’t have had open BofA personal checking accounts within the last 12 months.

The Advantage Plus monthly fee can be waived either with minimum daily balance of $1,500 or more, or if you have at least 1 qualifying direct deposit of $250 or more made to your account per month.

$10,000 over 90 days is $3,333 a month, so if your net pay is around that or higher, you’d reach the top tier just by switching your deposit. I would not keep a high balance in BofA checking as the account pays no interest.

These days, most payroll systems will let you change your direct deposit bank online with no physical paperwork. There are alternative ways to “simulate” a direct deposit with other ACH transfers, but I simply always try to have my real direct deposit earning some sort of bonus at some bank, fintech, or credit union. Megabanks love paying zero interest, but that often makes these bonuses bigger to attract new customers.