Raisin is a financial marketplace that allows you to access high-interest certificates of deposit and savings accounts from multiple different banks and credit unions without having to open up a new account at each one. Right now, they have some new deposit bonuses that are pretty solid based on the bonus-to-deposit ratios and minimum holding periods. However, I will personally not be taking advantage of them due to their use of custodial FBO accounts. I think it’s most useful to both point out the existence of these bonuses and explain my take on them. Details below.

Here are the new bonuses:

• New customer $250 bonus. Open a new account with promo code GET250, deposit $25,000 within 14 days, and maintain for 90 days for the $250 bonus.
• Existing customer deposit bonus, up to $400. Must deposit $50,000 in new money. $200 on a 3–6 month CD. $300 on a 7–11 month CD. $400 for a 12+ month CD. Must maintain for full CD maturity period.

How Raisin works. The benefit of Raisin is that you can easily access aggressively high rates at a new bank or credit union without having to open yet another new account (and endure credit checks, identify verification hurdles, join partner organizations, leave funds in share savings accounts, etc). The price is added complexity, higher risk for miscommunication and errors, and a place in a regulatory shadow zone.

Instead of opening a direct account at a new partner bank, there are at least three different parties.

• Raisin, which is the overall business (“financial technology company”) and not a bank and not a credit union. (Source #1)
• There are the middlemen, Custodial Bank(s) and Service Bank. The Custodial Bank opens up FBO (For Benefit Of) accounts at each of the Partner Banks/Credit Unions in THEIR names. These FBO accounts are basically big pooled accounts, and the Custodial Bank is supposed to keep track of all the money going in and out for all the individual Raisin customers in their own virtual ledger. The Service Bank is in charge of moving your funds amongst the various banks. Central Bank of Kansas City (CBKC), Member FDIC, is the Service Bank. CBKC, Lewis & Clark Bank and Starion Bank, each Member FDIC, are the Custodial Banks. (Source #2)
• There are the partner banks. These banks and credit unions are looking to grow deposits, but they have no idea who you are as an individual. They come and go on the Raisin platform. They only see that they opened a single, huge FBO account for the Custodial Bank. (Source #3)

While this setup appears to be perfectly legal (as far I can tell, I am not a lawyer), that doesn’t mean that there is someone to clean up the mess if something goes wrong. It’s like if someone steals your wallet and the cops are too busy with violent crime to track them down, it doesn’t matter if it’s illegal, you’re still not getting your money back.

The real-world example is what happened with Juno, Yotta, Synapse, and Evolve Bank & Trust. They had major disagreements about the ledger tracking all the deposits and withdrawals. They all blamed each other for the missing funds (~$50 million). Since no bank actually failed, the FDIC did not step in. No other regulatory agency stepped in. I was surprised. It was all left to a severely-underfunded bankruptcy court, and the mess still isn’t figured out. Someone ran off with tens of millions of dollars, and innocent individuals were left holding the bag.

Source #1:

Raisin is not a bank and your money is always handled by a federally regulated financial institution — whether in transit, stored in the Cash Account, or in an account at a partner bank. The Custodial Bank keeps records of all funds deposited through the Raisin platform for added security.

Source #2

Custodial accounts are accounts held on for the benefit of Raisin customers by a custodial bank at the banks and credit unions where customers deposit their money through Raisin. When a customer makes a deposit through the Raisin platform into a savings product offered by a given financial institution, the funds move from the customer’s external bank account (also referred to as their reference account) to a custodial account held by one of Raisin’s partner custodial banks at the financial institution offering the savings product. Central Bank of Kansas City (CBKC), Lewis & Clark Bank and Starion Bank, each Member FDIC, are the Custodial Banks.

Source #3:

An FDIC-supervised custodial bank opens the “For Benefit Of” account for each customer and agrees directly with Raisin’s customers to act as the custodian of their funds. This custodial bank is authorized by Raisin customers, as their agent, to hold their deposits at federally regulated banks and credit unions on their behalf in a custodial capacity. Customer funds are never co-mingled with Raisin funds.

Again, if everyone does what they say they will, then it’s all good. The problem is what happens when they don’t. If it happens with Raisin (or any of the parties involved, all relatively small institutions), it has the potential to be a complete mess that could take years to untangle. In today’s regulatory environment, I have zero interest in putting my cash into any sort of regulatory grey area.

In contrast, the CIT Bank $225/$300 deposit offer involves a simple, direct relationship with CIT Bank, an FDIC-insured bank, where you have an individual/joint account directly held in your name. There is a single system. There is no potential pointing of figures between multiple parties. There is a long, established history of the FDIC stepping in resolve a bank failure within days. It’s about as safe as it gets.

Bottom line. I’m doing the CIT bank offer, but not the Raisin offer.

Updated. US Bank has a up to $450 new checking promotion when you open a Bank Smartly Checking account with $25 minimum and complete the following within 90 days:

• Enroll in the U.S. Bank Mobile App or online banking.
• Complete two or more direct deposits.

Your bonus is determined by the total amount of your direct deposits in those 90 days:

• Earn $250 when your direct deposits total $2,000 to $4,999.99.
• Earn $350 when your direct deposits total $5,000 to $7,999.99.
• Earn $450 when your direct deposits total $8,000 or more.

The Smartly Checking account has a $6.95 monthly fee which that is waived with any one of the following:

• Your combined monthly direct deposits total $1,000 or more.
• You keep a minimum average account balance of $1,500 or more.
• You are age 24 and under.
• You are age 65 and over.
• You are a member of the military.
• You hold an eligible US Bank credit card
• Qualify for one of the four Smart Rewards® tiers (Primary, Plus, Premium or Pinnacle).
• Are a member of another of their “special customer groups”.

You may still be considered a “new” account even if you had a US Bank account years ago:

U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking bonus: To be eligible, you or any owner(s) on your new Bank Smartly Checking account cannot have an existing U.S. Bank consumer checking account, had a U.S. Bank consumer checking account in the last 12 months or received other U.S. Bank consumer checking bonus offers within the past 12 months.

Note: US Bank often restricts their financial products to those states where US Bank has a physical branch presence. They will filter you out by zip code.

Tip: However, people outside this footprint may be allowed to open an account if they have other US Bank products. I was more recently able to get this bonus even though I was outside their physical branch footprint by opening a Smartly Savings account first. I think they may have opened just the Smartly Savings nationwide recently (or was it just me?). If that isn’t working for you, you may also try to open a small certificate of deposit (CD) or even a brokerage account or go directly for a credit card. It’s strange, but once they let you open one account, they’ll let you open the rest quite easily.

This offer comes around regularly, but is still a pretty solid bonus if you haven’t done it before. You may also find it worth the effort now due to the new US Bank Smartly credit card that can earn up to 4% cash back with enough assets at US Bank.

Updated and back for 2025. Laurel Road is a digital subsidiary of KeyBank (not a fintech) that reminds me of SoFi in that they are building a relationship that starts with student loan refinances and then expands to personal loans, mortgages, bank accounts, and credit cards.

Laurel Road is again offering up to a $200 deposit bonus (my referral link) for their High Yield Savings Account by referral only. This bonus is on top of the standard interest rate, which is currently a relatively competitive 4.15% APY. Here are the steps:

• Open a High Yield Savings account before June 30, 2025 using a referral link that shows this offer. Offer not available on their regular website.
• Deposit at least $1 in the first 20 calendar days of account open.
• Have at least $5,000 (or whatever tier you pick) in your account by calendar day 90 after open. $50 bonus for deposit total between $5,000–$14,999.99. $100 bonus for deposit total between $15,000–$29,999.99. $200 bonus for deposit total of $30,000+.
• Once the requirements are met, the bonus amount will mailed to you as a check within 45 days of meeting the requirements. Your account must be open to receive the bonus, no other form of payment will be provided.

Note that it says that the “Referred individuals cannot be the owner or co-owner of a Laurel Road account in the last twelve (12) months.”.

Importantly, my reading of the terms is that there is no minimum hold period. The actual fine print:

Starting at 12:00AM EST on January 16, 2025, through 11:59PM EST on June 30, 2025 (“Campaign Period”), a $50 bonus (the “Bonus”) will be awarded to existing Laurel Road members (“Referrer”) for each friend who opens a new Laurel Road High Yield Savings (HYS) account (the “Referred”) and meets the following requirements, the Referred must: 1) submit the HYS account application through the Referrer’s link during the Campaign Period, 2) have a minimum HYS account balance of at least $1 by 7PM EST within the first twenty (20) calendar days of account opening, and 3) have a minimum balance of $5,000 by 11:59PM EST on the ninetieth (90th) calendar day of HYS account opening for Referrer to earn the Bonus. This offer cannot be combined with any other programs.

In other words, technically you just have to put $1 there by Day 20, and the rest can land on the 85th day or so to be safe.

Napkin math. Given that there is no minimum hold period, the annualized yield is theoretically sky-high. Note that the $50 bonus is at best a 1% bonus on $5,000 deposited, while the $100 and $200 bonuses are at best a 0.67% bonus on either $15,000 or $30,000, respectively. This is pretty solid since the standard APY is already competitive. Even if you held the money in there for 30 days, the $100/$200 bonuses would work out to an extra 8% annualized. Added to the 4.15% APY standard yield, that would be a total of 12.15% annualized interest.

Updated for 2025. Truist Bank formed from the merger of BB&T and Suntrust Banks, now roughly the 10th largest US bank with branches in 17 states and DC. Trust has brought back a $400 checking bonus for new checking customers that have a mailing address within a state in their branch footprint: AL, AR, FL, GA, IN, KY, MD, MS, NC, NJ, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV or DC. I usually don’t list bonuses that aren’t nationwide, but this is a sizable bonus with a large regional bank. If I lived in this area, I’d certainly rather open an account when they are giving out 400 bucks. Here are the steps:

• Open a new Truist One Checking account online from October 31, 2024 through April 30, 2025. Minimum opening deposit is $50. Must open online with promo code DC2425TR1400 (or AFL2425TR1400 from alternate link)
• Receive at least 2 qualifying Direct Deposits* totaling $1,000 or more within 120 days of account opening.
• The reward will be deposited to the new checking account within 4 weeks after the qualification requirements have been met and verified. Truist verification will occur one time after the qualification requirements are initially met. The new checking account must be open and in good standing with a balance of at least $0.01 at the time of Truist verification and until the reward is deposited to receive the reward.

Compared to an earlier offer, they have increased the direct deposit requirement, but removed the 15 debit card purchases requirement.

Note the following definitions for new customers:

Clients that are the primary account holder on an existing personal checking account with Truist or who have closed a personal checking account with Truist on or after 10/31/23 are not eligible to participate.

The Truist One Checking account has a $12 monthly maintenance fees that is waived each statement cycle by any one of the following:

• $500+ in total qualifying Direct Deposits
• Maintain a total combined ledger balance of $500 or more in Truist related accounts across personal deposits (excluding Truist HSA) and all investments as reflected on the business day before your statement cycle end date.
• Having a personal Truist credit card, mortgage or consumer loan, excluding LightStream®.
• Having a linked Small Business Checking Account.
• Students under the age of 25.
• Primary account owner age 62 and older.

Huntington Bank is offer a $600 bonus when you open a new Platinum Perks Checking account and make total new money deposits of $25,000 or more within 90 days of account opening and keep account open for 90 days. No monthly maintenance fee with $25,000 in total relationship balances, otherwise $25 a month. Expiration shown is 2/7/25.

Note that this offer is limited geographically to residents to certain states:

To be eligible for this offer, click Apply Online or Open at a Branch from this page, so that the promotion code is claimed at time of account opening. This offer is only available to applicants residing in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Wisconsin.

I usually try to stick to offers that are available nationwide, but this was a big bonus that is pretty straightforward with no direct deposit requirement. Earning $600 on a $25,000 deposit for 90 days works out to a 9.6% annualized yield.

Back again. Chase Bank has a Total Checking + Savings account promotion offering up to $900 total for new customers that open both a checking and savings account with them along with additional specific requirements. This offer comes around regularly, but right now the bonus amount is higher than the standard amount. I recommend the e-mail option where you get an e-mail along with a unique 16-character coupon code. Otherwise, make sure you click on the correct online link on the $900 page to apply the proper code to your application. Current shown expiration is 4/16/2025, but it may end earlier.

Be sure to read all the requirements, including what is required to avoid the monthly fees for each account. Notably, you need direct deposit to the checking and you’ll need a $15,000 deposit for 90 days in the savings. You enter your e-mail address, and you will get a unique code for your online application. Some of the language suggests you should reside near a physical Chase branch, but the link lets you apply online and it should work from anywhere (you will know via instant approval). If you already have a Chase credit card, the application can be pre-filled.

Chase Total Checking $300 bonus details. Checking offer is not available to existing Chase checking customers, those with fiduciary accounts, or those whose accounts have been closed within 90 days or closed with a negative balance. You must:

1. Open a new Chase Total Checking account, which is subject to approval;
2. Have your direct deposit made to this account within 90 days of coupon enrollment. Your direct deposit needs to be an electronic deposit of your paycheck, pension or government benefits (such as Social Security) from your employer or the government.
3. After you have completed all the above checking requirements, [Chase will] deposit the bonus in your new account within 15 days.

Avoid monthly service fees on Total Checking when you do at least one of the following each statement period. Otherwise a $12 Monthly Service Fee will apply.

• Have monthly direct deposits totaling $500 or more made to this account; OR
• Keep a minimum daily balance of $1,500 or more in your checking account; OR,
• Keep an average daily balance of $5,000 or more in any combination of qualifying Chase checking, savings and other balances.

Chase Savings $200 bonus details. You must:

1. Open a new Chase Savings account, which is subject to approval.
2. Deposit a total of $15,000 or more in new money into the new savings account within 30 days of coupon enrollment;
3. Maintain at least a $15,000 balance for 90 days from the date of coupon enrollment. The new money cannot be funds held by Chase or its affiliates.
4. After you have completed all the above savings requirements, we’ll deposit the bonus in your new account within 15 days.
5. 0.01% effective APY in the zip codes I checked.

Avoid monthly service fees on Chase Savings when you do at least one of the following each statement period. Otherwise a $5 Monthly Service Fee will apply.

• Keep a minimum daily balance of $300 or more in your savings account; OR,
• Have at least one repeating automatic transfer from your Chase checking account of $25 or more. One-time transfers do not qualify; OR,
• Chase College CheckingSM account linked to this account for Overdraft Protection, OR,
• Account owner who is an individual younger than 18, OR
• Have a linked Chase Premier Plus Checking, Chase Premier Platinum Checking, or Chase Private Client Checking account.

To receive the $400 extra bonus: You must open the checking and savings account at the same time and complete all requirements above for BOTH the checking bonus and savings bonus. After you have completed all requirements, [Chase] will deposit the remaining bonus due in your new account within 15 days.

I have read no reports of a “hard” credit check, and did not experience one myself on a previous offer years ago. Note that that to receive any of the above bonuses, the enrolled account must not be closed or restricted at the time of payout.

This is the highest bonus I’ve seen for this Chase combo. Earning $900 on $15,000 in 90 days is the equivalent of a 24% annualized return. The bonuses are considered interest and will be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT.

Bottom line. This is one of those bonuses that if you haven’t picked it up yet, it’s a pretty solid one. It’s a convenient megabank account with a large branch footprint, but also one that notably pays nearly zero interest. With a total opening deposit of $15,000 in new money, you can open both accounts and avoid both monthly fees. You’ll also need to change your direct deposit (any amount). Earning $900 on $15,000 in 90 days is the equivalent of a 24% annualized return.