$400CAD for $20.88 (and a little bit of work) from CIBC
CIBC is currently offering a promotion where you signup for the Tim Horton’s credit card (no fee), open a chequing account, do a couple activities on that account, and they’ll deposit $400 cash into the account.
The details of the promotion are here (this is not a referral).
First, you have to apply to the Tim Hortons credit card. That card has no fee. Apply for this card online (I would follow the link in the promotion page).
Second, you must open a CIBC chequing account. The CIBC Everyday Chequing account has a fee of $9.95 per month. The terms and conditions of the program guarantee that you’ll get the $400 within 12 weeks. Therefore, you shouldn’t have the account open for more than 3 months ($29.35 of fees). Make sure you put some money into the account so you don’t go into overdraft. However, you can get that monthly fee down to $6.96 ($20.88 total) if you sign up for Overdraft protection (the pay per use version, not the one with a monthly fee) and open up a savings account (no fee). When you open up the chequing/savings account, do so in branch. If you apply online, they will do a hard credit check which does hurt your score. If you apply in-branch, they’ll give you a document, which has a space where you can indicate that you don’t consent to a credit check. They’ll still open the account for you though.
If you close the account before 3 months, CIBC will charge you $20. Also, if the $400 hasn’t been deposited into the account before you close it, I suspect you forfeit it.
NOTE: If you already have a chequing account with CIBC, you are not eligible for this promotion. It is OK if you have a PC account, another CIBC credit card, or a CIBC savings account.
Third, register the chequing account online for CIBC Online Banking or Mobile Banking.
Fourth, do any bill payment from that online account. For example, you could pay $1.00 to one of your current credit cards. The payment does not need to go to a CIBC product, it can be for any bill payment (ex. credit card, loan, hydro, etc.) This will get you a $100 credit.
Fifth, do a direct deposit or 2 pre-authorized payments from the chequing account. An example of a direct deposit is your pay. An example of a pre-authorized payment is an automatic payment setup with your credit card, mobile phone, etc. This will get you another $300 credit.
Once you complete these steps, you will get a total of $400. If you do not go for the cheaper banking option, your total profit will be $370.55. If you go for the cheapest banking option, your total profit will be $379.11.
There is no household limit to this promotion. For example, if you have a significant other, both of you could do it and net $758.22 in profit.
Per the Terms and Conditions, there is a $50 Tim Horton’s credit available. Alas, the deals are mutually exclusive… I’d assume you’d rather $400 😉 However, you will for sure get a $20 Tim Hortons gift certificate in addition if you spend $200 on the Tim Hortons credit card.
Another good piece of intel, DCTA!
I have one bit of advice for these banking offers where the incentive is contingent on the applicant setting up “recurring” payments/direct deposits. I recently had a lousy experience with a very similar promotion by different Canadian bank.
My advice: get an email from the local account manager with whom you’re dealing, asking him/her to confirm the promotional requirements. Later, ask that person to review your transaction history to confirm you have met all the requirements to receive the promotional incentive.
In my case, after I did everything I was told I needed to do, the bank took the position that I was not entitled to my bonus, because the direct deposits I had arranged were not “eligible” — despite never explaining anywhere in the documents what exactly an “eligible” direct deposit looked like, and AFTER my local account manager confirmed via email that I had satisfied all requirements.
The bank reversed their decision eventually (the email more or less assured that) but it took hours of my time to sort out.
Anyway, this certainly looks like a good offer, just want to help other people avoid the hassle I had to endure.
I was looking into this offer a little closer and noticed in the CIBC terms and conditions that you must keep the chequing account active for 1 year from the day your open the account. You will come out ahead overall but are stuck with a chequing/savings account for at year.
Collectively, the
Eligible $400 Cash Offer Chequing Accounts and Eligible $50 Tim Cash Offer Chequing Accounts are referred to
as “Chequing Accounts”. Each of the Rewards are subject to the condition (the “Rewards Condition”) that
the Eligible Client’s Chequing Account must remain open, active and unconverted for at least one (1) calendar
year from the month end of the month during which the Chequing Account was opened. Failing this, such
Eligible Client (each, a “Disqualified Rewards Client”) will not qualify for the Rewards. If Rewards have
already been provided to a Disqualified Rewards Client, CIBC reserves the right, in its sole and absolute
discretion, to charge the client’s Chequing Account or Card account for, or send an invoice to the Disqualified
Rewards Client for, $50, $100, $300 or $400 CAD (based on the amount provided). Please monitor
http://www.cibc.com/cashoffer for information regarding any updates to these Terms. Except as modified, the terms
and conditions relating to existing products/services will remain in full force and effect.
Yeah, I believe that was added in for the most recent version of this promotion.