Anyone know the procedure to cancel the checking and debit card accounts? I got my 20K miles and have the accounts open for 12 months. I tried doing it online but don't see any direct link for 'cancel/close account'.

Just write a message on-line. When login, on the left bar, you'll see "You have no new messages" something like that. Click it and say you want to cancel all and ask to send a check of leftover amount to your address. Then they will close for you within a day.

well i just open an account for the third time this weekend, compared to last year when it said i didnt qualify due opening one up already that year, and the banker said i qualified for the 11,000 bonus miles under the $25 card, now must set up direct deposit

+1 ^ I too wish there was a quick easy foolproof way to open up one of these accounts online. I did this deal last year when I was out in Dayton Ohio on work, & it was a very easy 21,000 Miles. I never thought I would want to go back to Dayton on work, but I'd have the miles by now if I was there...

Has anyone had any recent success in opening one of these & receiving the miles without physically going to a branch at any stage of the process or without talking to like a half a dozen different telephone bankers & spending several hours on the phone only to then have to fight for the miles?

For the third time in the weekend span or for the third time this year or for the third time total? Sounded a little ambiguous.

Open an account for the third time, not in one weekend, but did open one this weekend, for 3 consecutive years in a row

I don't have the paper/coupon in front of me, but I seem to remember that it said you could open online or by going into a branch. just plug in the code if you do it online. can't see why you shouldn't get miles opening that way. I know from opening other accounts that you sometimes have to send in a copy of some id, like dr. license or utility bill; otherwise you should be ok.

One caveat however, pertaining to your concern about having to make a zillion phone calls - I opened a Chase acct (at a branch), and apparently Continental automatically generates a new one pass acct # for you, so that you then have to call (long distance, wait on hold) and tell the continental folks to combine the accts (your orig # and the new). Even worse, they somehow managed to generate mine with not only a new acct number, but a different name (not even close to mine), so to consolidate the acct i had to send all kinds of id and a letter and call from the banker, to verify i'm me. sometimes these things aren't worth the hassle. . .

JLOVE --

Thanks for the post, & I understand you didnt have a coupon in front of you, but it does indeed say say right on the coupon: "It's easy to get your Bonus Miles. Print the Bonus Miles Certificate and take it to your local Chase Branch by June 30 2009."

& also under "'Bankers Instructions: 1) Only customers who bring in this origional certificate when opening a personal checking account..."

I'm sure it can be done. But opening this type of account online & receiving this type of Bonus is not supposed to happen, according to the Chase telephone people... I guess they have Online coupon codes/deals, etc & then they have Branch coupon codes/deals etc, & they are designed to not be able to mix & match because then one could potentially get 2 different bonuses on one account, or something to that affect...

So again, if anyone knows a relatively solid work around, let me (& everyone) know...

I decided since it had been more than 6 months (July 08) since I had done this deal last year (hopefully allowing me to close my current account with no penalty), to give it another try for this calendar year. For the record, last year I did eventually get all 21,000 miles even with the $25 annual fee debit card. Oh and I am actually using regular direct deposit from my employer.

So, over lunch I ventured into a local Chase. I was very open that I was setting up another account for the miles offer and that didn’t seem to bother them in the least. I lucked out and got a new(er) and very friendly banker to help me. The office was set up in such a way that we were basically looking at her screen as everything was set up. Since I already had an active account with them, it made things much faster. The system is clearly set up to allow the 11,000 miles from the $25 annual fee debit card. In fact when I was done, they even gave me 2 separate pages noting the miles I would be getting (once the criteria were met).

Also, there are 3 separate places that they need to enter your OnePass #. Make sure they do this. The first is in account set up and appears to give them the ability to show eligibility for the coupon codes later on in the process. The coupon code is entered in after the account is pretty much all set up. Once entered, it brings them to an eligibility screen which shows offers that you earned miles on in the past. The interesting part (to me any way) was that it only listed the 10,000 miles from my July 2008 checking account offer. The Debit card stuff must get tracked separately. A click or so later after specifying the account just set up, there is a space for the OP# on 2 separate lines. Once for the checking account 10,000 mile offer and another on the Debit Card line for the 11,000 mile offer. After entry, they click to confirm eligibility and then it shows the 2 offers as a receipt (pdf) which they printed out and gave to me to keep.

So while I can’t say exactly how many miles I will actually get without following up later on, I got a pretty good feeling that it is set up properly anyway. Last year I didn’t get to see the screen by screen process and was not given the kind of detailed receipt I got this time.

Has anyone been successful in waiving the Preferred Debit Card fees? I currently have Citigold banking with AA Gold Debit Card and AA Visa Signature card both with fees waived. I'm considering changing over to Chase since new job requires me to fly Continental.

Does the 21,000 miles apply to a Chase Premier Platinum acct also ($75k deposit)?

I havent done it nor have i heard anyone in getting the fees waived. As for as i know it doesnt matter what type of acct you already have as long you open a checking account, i have had three accounts open at one time, now i am down to two. Dont forget you can also apply for the chase 40,000 onepass credit card offer.

Schutzee:

Thanks for the tip. However, I just hope, that "payroll" is NOT the only Direct deposit solution!
I did run in some problems ... have a business account with BB&T. Direct deposit is really a pain ... complicated process .... payroll initiation.
The I tried my personal account with Wachovia ... the "pay bill" set up doesn't even ask for a routing number. And "transfer" has a fee of $3 or more, which I would pay, if excepted by Chase as a direct transfer.
I have not checked my Citi account yet.

Somebody with some ideas...? What would qualify as a DIRECT DEPOSIT! Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

USAFAN, Our friends at Fatwallet have created as list. See
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/432086/?start=0

Schutzee:

Thanks for the link....it looks like it covers only "ING Direct, Paypal, Emigrant Direct, or CashEdge/ACH push transfers as direct deposits"

Anyway, I may have to come back and read the whole thread, which is pretty long.

Just now I am going to try an external transfer from my Citi Bank account to the Chase account ... at least Citi is asking for the routing number! ...and wait, if it counts as a "direct transfer" and I get the 10,000 miles.

BTW, the Chase Personal Banker was really great. He also used a "voucher" .. win a friend or so ... and both receive $25.... those vouchers are also in the package you receive after opening the account.
Thanks again^

Just got back from Chase branch about 3 miles away.

They opened account OK, at first with preferred debit card
although I had explained I wanted the $25 version.
The very eager Bank officer fixed that up (we'll see )

Took the coupon code and entered OnePass number.
Accepted $500 in presidential coins for opening deposit !

Now for direct deposit task:
am not working, so... I looked at the FW list,
don't see Schwab bank on there, so need another source.

Visited the Intuit 6-mo payroll offer, but it quickly errored out.

Any other current suggestions ?
edit: oh, just noticed FW post is 23 pages,
so I have a bit nmore reading to do !