These Two Banks Are Offering Massive Bonuses for New Accounts in December

Throughout 2023, many banks and credit unions have been offering competitive APYs on savings accounts and CDs to lure in new depositors. The upward trend, aided in large part by the Federal Reserve's continued rate hikes, has resulted in high-yield savings accounts with APYs between 5.00% and 5.30%, the highest we've seen in over two decades.

Most of these competitive rates are found with online banks, which can offer better interest rates because they don't have as many overhead costs as brick-and-mortar institutions. In fact, many national banks, like Chase and Wells Fargo, are still paying out at rock bottom rates -- sometimes even as low as 0.01% APY on a basic savings account.

It's within this context that I've been recently surprised by the generous sign-up bonuses on new accounts at big banks. Indeed, many national banks could offer you a better deal for your money if you can meet the qualifications. In particular, here are two December bonuses from Wells Fargo and Capital One that have caught my eye.

1. Wells Fargo: $525 on an eligible savings account

Offer expires: Jan. 6, 2024

Our Picks for the Best High-Yield Savings Accounts of 2024

Product	APY	Min. to Earn
American Express® High Yield Savings Member FDIC. APY 3.80% Rate info 3.80% annual percentage yield as of January 8, 2025. Terms apply. Min. to earn $0 Open Account for American Express® High Yield Savings On American Express's Secure Website. Member FDIC.	3.80% Rate info 3.80% annual percentage yield as of January 8, 2025. Terms apply.	$0	Open Account for American Express® High Yield Savings On American Express's Secure Website.
Capital One 360 Performance Savings Member FDIC. APY 3.80% Rate info See Capital One website for most up-to-date rates. Advertised Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is variable and accurate as of Dec. 6, 2024. Rates are subject to change at any time before or after account opening. Min. to earn $0 Open Account for Capital One 360 Performance Savings On Capital One's Secure Website. Member FDIC.	3.80% Rate info See Capital One website for most up-to-date rates. Advertised Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is variable and accurate as of Dec. 6, 2024. Rates are subject to change at any time before or after account opening.	$0	Open Account for Capital One 360 Performance Savings On Capital One's Secure Website.
Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier Member FDIC. APY 4.40% Rate info The annual percentage yield (APY) is accurate as of Jan. 2, 2025, and subject to change at the Bank’s discretion. Refer to product’s website for latest APY rate. Minimum deposit required to open an account is $500 and a minimum balance of $0.01 is required to earn the advertised APY. Min. to earn $500 to open, $0.01 for max APY Open Account for Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier On Western Alliance Bank's Secure Website. Member FDIC.	4.40% Rate info The annual percentage yield (APY) is accurate as of Jan. 2, 2025, and subject to change at the Bank’s discretion. Refer to product’s website for latest APY rate. Minimum deposit required to open an account is $500 and a minimum balance of $0.01 is required to earn the advertised APY.	$500 to open, $0.01 for max APY	Open Account for Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier On Western Alliance Bank's Secure Website.

From now until Jan. 6, 2024, you can get a $525 bonus by meeting three criteria. First, you need to open a new eligible Wells Fargo Way2Save Savings with $25. Then, within your account's first 30 days, you must deposit at least $25,000. Finally, you have to maintain at least a $25,000 minimum balance through your account's 90th day. The bonus will be deposited within 30 days after that.

To get started, you'll need to go to Wells Fargo's account offers page and enter your email address, which will get you a bonus offer code. You'll then bring this code to a banker at a Wells Fargo bank to initiate the process. You can't get the bonus online, so you'll have to make time to visit a bank in person.

Since Wells Fargo savings account won't earn much interest -- expect about 0.01% APY -- your earnings will come solely from the bonus. Even so, you could still net more on a $25,000 deposit than many of today's top paying savings accounts. For example, if you deposited $25,000 in a high yield savings account with an APY of 5.30%, you would make about $110.40 per month, or roughly $331 in 90 days. At that rate, the Wells Fargo bonus would pay you almost $200 more.

2. Capital One: Up to $1,500 on a new 360 Performance Savings account

Offer expires: Dec. 6, 2023

Capital One is offering three sign-up bonuses on a new Capital One 360 Performance Savings when you open it with promo code FALL23 by Dec. 6, 2023. The criteria are as follows: Deposit at least $20,000 of new money within 15 days of opening your account. Then, once those 15 days pass, maintain that deposit for 90 days. The bonus you receive depends on how much you deposit, but you could earn one of the following three:

Unlike Wells Fargo's savings account, a Capital One 360 Performance Savings has an APY of 3.80%. That rate plus the bonus make this deal worth it for most people. For example, if you maintained a $25,000 for 90 days, you would earn $269 in interest plus the bonus, which would net you about $569. Until this deal expires, it could net you more than the Wells Fargo bonus described above.

As always, do the math for yourself. But if you can qualify for the bonus, you could earn some serious money with a Capital One savings bonus.

Of course, bonuses aren't the primary reason why you should open a savings account. You should also like the features that come with the savings account, like its ATM access or the strength of its mobile banking app. Take a look at these features for yourself and see if they -- combined with the bonus -- are compelling enough to make it worth opening a new account.