RedSun

When folks open a new bank account it comes with promotion to deposit something like $500 via direct deposit into the account to receive like $100 bonus. Just wonder if ACH from another bank, or from Paypal would suffice as a DP. Do not really like to change payroll paperwork just for this one time DP....

MaxVO

The answer is specific to each bank, and does not remain constant. Here's a good compilation of data points:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/knowl...rect-deposits/

radonc1

Sadly, the above link may not be providing correct information either.

I tried to DD from Chase to Go Bank and that failed spectacularly. Go Bank had no idea what the money was for and sent it back to Chase about 2 weeks later. I then set up a payroll deposit and that worked.

I would simply call the bank you want to DD to and ask specifically where the money has to come from.

It is simpler than setting up a one time ACH transfer and having it fail, IMO.

RedSun

I just do not think the bank would be able to provide more info. This is what the offer says:

Have a NEW Direct Deposit of a Payroll or Social Security check with a minimum of $500.00

The question is that, how can the bank tell if the deposit is from a company payroll or from another financial institution. A financial institution may handle the payroll. Some of the deposits do say something like payroll or paycheck, but not all of them.

I think I may want to try to do a Paypal transfer. That is the only one not directly from a bank. Any other ideas?

I can see for miles

Yes, the best course of action is to call the bank, explain you'd like to game the direct deposit requirement, then listen intently.

radonc1

You must think that banks both hate their customers and that all of their clients are trying to scam them

Banks do DD all the time for multiple reasons, including ongoing bill pays, alimony payments etc. They also take in money all the time from multiple sources by DD. It is a very common method of funds transfer, and actually preferred by banks since sensitive information such as account numbers and routing information is not revealed as it is with paper checks.

If you think that asking a banker for help in setting up a DD account is sketchy, then I suggest you avoid calling any help desk about a problem since it is obvious that a scammer is trying to take them for a ride.

You need to talk to a banker

Edit to add: Setting up a DD account is usually not a freebie. When I set one up at my CU, it cost me about $6 to do so but was worth the cost since it spared me having to move money each month to another account. Cost may vary, but the CU was not interested in why I was doing the transfer.

soy

I have a HSA account for paying medical bills. They sent me a debit card to pay with.....however you can use your CC instead so I just pay any family medical bills directly with my CC's and when closing a charge in the HSA, select refund to self. I can then choose where I want to send the refund money. So basically I let it build up and then use it whenever I need a DD*. Has worked for just about everyone except SoFi

*sometimes I am lazy and just do an ACH from my CU, that mostly works also. As others mention, DoC thread is probably 80% accurate

DeirEzZur

This requires a serious visit.

I have a bank that requires some sizeable amount of "direct deposit" to waive the monthly fee. I like to keep this bank, but our DDs go to our other main bank.

I've done some experiments with some bank transfers. Some are coded as
ACH Deposit from xxx - Transfer
ACH Deposit from xxx - Moneyline
ACH Deposit from xxx - ext Trans

I could ask my relationship banker about those ACH deposits. But I do not want to give him the impression that I game its system to get monthly fee waived.

So like to get DPs from others of those ACH deposits to see if you've seen those with your own banks. And if they are counted as DDs. I assume they do.

radonc1

You have a relationship with the bank you want to transfer money into?
Why not ask your relationship banker what other methods are available to avoid fees? I suspect that there are several available to you such as maintaining a certain balance with them, having a loan or CD, etc.

One DP that has been floated was opening a business account at another bank, funding it it whatever manner you chose, and using it to make a DD to your desired bank. A bit convoluted but the deposit does count as DD, according to the poster. (I have not tried it !!)

DeirEzZur

We all know most of the DD requirements are payroll DDs or from SS or other regular pays. I do not want to switch. And I do not want to meet certain other account requirements to get fee waived. It defeats the whole purpose if I ask my relationship manager about circumventing the DD requirement. Not sure why you recommend that.

For your second part, that is exactly the question I asked. I do have other personal and business accounts at other banks and institutions. I can easily use ACH "transfer" deposits into the target bank. Then use the target bank to make all the bill payments etc. It is a large global bank that I can have a lot of use. But I do not want to get my money tied to its other banking services that are relatively weak in the competition.

I can certainly try my own. But I'd like to get some direct DPs if I can.

Masscredit

I've been looking into taking advantage of banking sign up offers. My plan is to set up a business account to do ACH transfers. I don't know how much the fee will be but it can't be that much. And I'll more than make up for it with the bonus. DDs can be for anything like payroll or to pay an invoice. Either should be coded to satisfy the deposit requirements. If I set it up as payroll, would that trigger anything where a 1099 would be expected at the end of the year?

radonc1

I do not believe that you need to be specific in how you set up a DD from a business checking account.
You just need to be able to set up a business checking account. I suspect that calling your bank and asking the specifics on doing that will answer your question. You should definitely ask about fees and minimums when setting up such an account, because some banks are more expensive than others.
Finally, just because you have a business checking account and are making an ACH deposit somewhere else does not mean that the receiving institution is going to consider it a DD
The one DP that was given here was using...I believe...either Fidelity or Schwab as the depositor bank and Go as the receiving bank.
Finally, you should consult a CPA or other expert on your question about tax consequences if you try and set up your account as a payroll account. My DDs come from a payroll account, but it is my payroll and my business and it gets reported to my CPA.

Masscredit

Another option I thought about was using Square or PayPal to charge my own cards, then deposit that money into the checking account if they qualify as being a direct deposit. I read that they do for some banks. Problem with that is, transaction totals over $600 will receive a 1099 and report to the IRS. They take all the fun out of this lol]

radonc1

Go back to the Gobank thread.
I think that there is someone there who set up a DD from a non-payroll or government account and succeeded in having Gobank consider it a DD.
The obvious problem is that it was Go Bank at the receiving end of things. It may be that if it had been some other bank, they would not have considered it a DD.

All you can do is try.........and let us know if you succeed

Masscredit

This is harder than I thought it would be. I changed my card with my Square account. Was going to transfer it to a checking account a few days later (today). I then found Square shut the account down -

We recently reviewed your account and found activity that our platform is unable to support. Because of this, we are sorry to inform you that your Square account is now deactivated.

They are holding my money hostage for 90 days.

I looked into using my business checking account to do ACH transfers. It will be $25 per month for that service. Worth the $50 to do this for a couple of months. I’ll just bang out the required deposits one account at a time.
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