So, recently I received a mail (among many other junk offers) from Chase Bank, the other day. Written in possibly a 60point font size (really really big) was $200 Free Cash!

It was a coupon code from Chase bank,

If you open a new checking account with Chase bank, they would offer a free $200 cash deposit! Sounds good right, $200 free money!

Well, call me a pessimist. When it comes to offers like this, I think from the other guy’s side. There is no way someone, let alone a bank is giving me free cash, there must be a catch!

So, what is that catch with Chase bank? What do you lose when they offer the $200 free cash? Is it really free?

I asked about Chase bank to some of my friends and two of them indeed had accounts with them. Quite honestly, the feedback I got regarding the banking experience with Chase bank wasn’t that very promising. One glaring “complaint” common with Chase bank customers was that they had hidden charges and service fees for too many things.

Well, I tried to give it a shot and visited a Chase bank branch to enquire about the $200 coupon code.

So, here’s the deal.

There’s a minimum balance of $1500 required.

Your new Chase bank account has to maintain at least $1500 balance, otherwise, there is a monthly fee.

The $200 won’t be deposited until the third month.

However, for the first 2 months of opening the new account, you only need to have $100 in the account (not $1500).

You can open an account with $100.

Yup. As low as $100 but the bank encourages you to deposit more. If you deposit $15,000 then they will even pay you $100 additional.

So, at the end, the $200 Free cash, Gift card or Coupon code what ever it is called, is a bait. A bait for you to switch from your existing bank account to theirs. In effect, you will end switching your entire money to Chase or will end up putting in enough money that will make it difficult for you to manage two bank accounts.

I would recommend that you don’t go to Chase bank for the $200 cash, but they have other great services you might want to check out.

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