Bank of America Savings Bonus

My wife received an email last week touting an up to $1,000 Bank of America savings bonus that initially got my ears perked up. I don't remember the last time I have seen a public Bank of America savings account. If there were one, then it would almost surely make our best nationwide bonuses list. A rare account bonus, at a juicy $1K price point, had me pretty intrigued. I need to hit that Roth IRA bank bonus goal after all! My excitement was quickly thwarted once I opened the email and read through the terms though. Let's dive in.

Offer Details

Here are the details for this targeted Bank of America savings bonus. It was available to customers with current savings accounts at Bank of America too (which we do not have):

Email subject: YOUR NAME, earn up to a $1,000 cash bonus

  • Enroll by 11/30/25
  • Make deposits in the amounts listed below
    • If you do not already own a Bank of America savings account, you must open one for this offer. All account applications are subject to our normal approval process.
  • Maintain that balance in your savings account from 31 through 90 days after enrollment (the “Maintenance Period”) to earn your cash bonus. If the balance in your account drops below $20,000 during the Maintenance Period, you will no longer be eligible for a cash bonus.
New Money¹ depositsCash bonus tier
$20,000$250
$50,000$500
$100,000+$1,000

Offer Terms

Here are some notable terms for the Bank of America savings bonus offer:

  • Offer is limited to individuals who receive the offer via a direct communication from Bank of America.
  • Fiduciary accounts (e.g., trusts), business accounts, Certificates of Deposit (CDs), and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) are not eligible for this offer.
  • Offer cannot be combined with any other savings bonus offer and is limited to one bonus per account and per customer.
  • Offer expires on November 30, 2025. 
    • Bank of America may change or discontinue this offer at any time before this date without notice.
Bank of America Savings Bonus

Why Do I Kind Of Hate This Offer?

At first glance, this isn't the greatest of offers, but it isn't the worst either. Usually I am hoping to get a higher return on my deposits than 1% when bonus hunting. That is especially true when you see competitor's savings account bonuses require half as much money on deposit.

The bonus divided by the deposit amount calculation doesn't always tell the full story though. Looking at the APY the bonus offers gives us a more true look, since it takes the deposit timeline requirement into account as well. For this Bank of America savings account offer you need to keep the money in the account for around 60 days, at a minimum. Interestingly enough, the smallest bonus offers the best offer in terms of return, so let's use that for our calculations. If we broke out the earning into a yearly APR for that offer we would get a return of 7.5% for those two months. That sounds like a pretty nice return right there, but it is on a short timeline and at a low amount of money. The higher offers cap out at a peak of 6% APY.

What About The APY On The Account Though?

The other positive of savings bonuses, especially when compared to checking account offers, is the account usually earns a decent return on their own. That negates some of the opportunity cost you have by parking money in the account for a few months. We see all kinds of savings accounts giving 3% – 4% these days, so if Bank of America is offering just half that I am ready to give this a go. That is when I saw their disturbing savings account APR.

…Annual Percentage Yields (APYs): less than $2,500, 0.01%; $2,500 and over, 0.01%. APYs are accurate as of 8/15/2025…

Does that say 0.01% APY?! You bet it does. The real question is why offer anything at all if you're going that low? Probably because they have to offer something to call it a “savings” account. Bank of America is basically offering a checking account, without the checking account frills, and calling it a savings account. Seeing this immediately turned me off to the bonus.

Bank of America Savings Bonus: ToP Thoughts

If I already had a Bank of America savings account then I may be tempted to take a semi easy win on the $20,000 deposit. In reality, I would probably be taking a hard look at myself in the mirror and asking where I went wrong in my life to end up with such a craptastic savings vehicle. These big banks really need to offer something better for savings – enough is enough! Let me know if you would grit your teeth and grab this offer (or not) over in the ToP Facebook Group.