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Kabbage by American Express is offering a very easy $300 business checking account bonus that only requires being approved by 12/15/21 and making 5 debit card transactions in the first 45 days. This account has no minimum balance requirements or monthly fees. It’s a great deal.
The Deal
- Kabbage by American Express is offering a business checking account bonus of $300 when you are approved for a new account by 12/15/21 and make 5 debit card transactions within the first 45 days.
- Direct link to this offer
Key Terms
- Eligible for any new Kabbage Checking accounts established between 10/1/2021 through 12/15/2021.
- Once an account is opened, a small business must complete 5 debit card (or virtual card) transactions within 45 business days after opening an account.
- The annual percentage yield (“APY”) is accurate as of 9/1/21 and may change at any time.
- The APY is applied on account balances in your primary Kabbage Checking account and each associated Reserve, up to $100,000 in the aggregate.
- No interest is earned on aggregate balances of over $100,000.
- The average daily balance method is used to calculate interest.
- This promotion is being offered by American Express Kabbage Inc.
- The Kabbage Checking account is provided by Green Dot Bank.
- Green Dot Bank will deposit a $300 cash deposit into your Kabbage Checking account subject to the terms of this offer as stated below. To be eligible to earn the $300 cash deposit, you must
- 1) apply and be approved for a Kabbage Checking account opened between October 1, 2021 and December 15, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. ET, and
- 2) successfully complete 5 debit and/or virtual card purchases within 45 calendar days of the opening of your Kabbage Checking account. Only transactions that clear within 45 calendar days of Kabbage Checking account opening will qualify. Transactions that do not clear within this 45-day period will not qualify.
- To receive the $300 cash deposit from Green Dot Bank, your Kabbage Checking account must be open and in good standing at the time of fulfillment.
- Once you have completed all the above eligibility requirements, the $300 cash deposit will be deposited into your Kabbage Checking account between 45 to 90 calendar days from the date your Kabbage Checking account was opened.
- Limit one offer per new Kabbage Checking account.
- This offer (i) is not available to existing Kabbage Checking customers, (ii) is non- transferable, and (iii) cannot be combined with any other offer.
- If we determine in our sole discretion that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, fraudulent activity, or gaming in connection with the offer in any way or that you intend to do so, you may not receive the $300 cash deposit. We may also cancel this Kabbage Checking account and other accounts you may have with us.
- The $300 cash deposit may be taxable income to you and may be reported on IRS Form 1099. You are responsible for any federal or state taxes resulting from the $300 cash deposit. Please consult your tax advisor if you have questions about the tax treatment of the $300 cash deposit.
- See offer landing page for full terms
Quick Thoughts
Stephen Pepper wrote about a similar offer back in July that turned out to be targeted. This time around the offer is public.
The Kabbage account is a great checking account as it earn 1.1% APY on balances up to $100,000, which is excellent (in the current environment) for an account with no balance / deposit / merchant services requirements. There are no fees for in-network ATMs and banking services are provided by Green Dot. Funds are FDIC-insured up to $250,000.
You will need a business for this account, but a sole proprietorship should work just as it does for business credit cards.
Keep in mind that you will very likely receive a 1099-INT for this bonus. Also note the threat terms & conditions line that notes that if they determine that you have engaged in any abuse / misuse of the account that they may close not only your Kabbage account but “any other accounts you may have with us”. The “us” seems to include American Express, so tread lightly.
Overall, this looks like a great way to pick up $300 — or $600 in two-player mode. Note that previous data points indicate that bonuses are slow to post — the terms say 45 to 90 calendar days from account opening. I’d count on closer to 90 days since I don’t believe bonuses from July have posted yet and it has been about 10 weeks.
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If this offer ever comes back again my recommendation is to run a mile from it.
Besides being extremely difficult to set up initially all went fine until we tried to close it.
It took an hour on the phone (you cannot do it online) and the service was horrendous.
Obviously it will take a long time for AMEX to learn hat it takes to be a bank.
Just got the $300 today. Fulfilled the 5 debit purchases requirement in the first week of December.
Tax question for the community since this is my first business checking account. Do I report it the same way I do for interest from personal banking accounts, or is it different since it is a business account?
I signed up back in early November. Hopefully will be seeing this deposit soon. Everything on my dashboard page says I’m good to go!
My $300 credit hasn’t posted after the first statement. I did 5x amazon loads and I didn’t see any terms that say it had to be certain minimum amount of debit charges.
I applied after you posted this article. Was fairly easy for me to open a Kabbage account since I have/had a business AmEx card, so no additional documentation was needed. Made the 5 debit card transactions on Oct 20. The $300 bonus posted on Nov 27. Thanks for the easy win!
I dont see the 300$ anywhere, my IP is from Florida, can you onfirm u can see it in any other state? thanks.
They immediately rejected my application for my small family business, even thought it is a legitimate LLC with a 3 year track record. No explanation, other than “your business doesn’t qualify.”
Did you first sign in with an Amex account?
No. This business doesn’t’ have an Amex account, thought I have two personal accounts and one unrelated business account at Amex.
No issues signing up. 1. Logged in with Amex logged in. Some info just had to be confirmed. This created the Kabbage Profile. 2. Once that was done, went to the checking tab and answered a few questions. Opened immediately. 3. Tried to transfer funds, but they requested a voided check and statement. Uploaded via dashboard. This appears to be a public offer as well as you can get to it straight from their website. 4. One weird thing, SM is not in Message Center to create a new message. Instead click Report an Issue on Account Management on the main checking screen to verify bonus, etc.
Not easy at all. Applied as a SP and was asked for a whole slew of documents. A month later the account still isn’t approved.
Thanks for the heads up on the offer, Nick! I have multiple legally registered LLCs under my name — would you consider is being a risk for being classified as “gaming” by Kabbage if I applied for an account for each separate business?
I read the terms to mean 1 account, but I could see how someone could read 1 account per customer and think that each business could be a separate customer.
Personally, since Amex is involved here, I’d tread lightly until there are data points on either getting the bonus multiple times or getting all of your Amex cards shut down because I don’t know for sure which of those is less likely.
They are trash. They want the utility bill and will verify it with the biller. Don’t they know some small businesses that have quite a huge cash flow do not have a utility bill?! Stupid trash checking account, which put a lot of money on marketing hoping to attract capital, yet its own unnecessary documents requirement kills it. Keep away from this stupid trash Kabbage.
I don’t see the $300 offer when I click the link
The fact that it involves Green Dot is a red flag for me. Their reputation is not stellar as a financial institution.
I have a “business,” with multiple Amex biz cards.
To open a Kabbage account, they want a PDF of my prior business bank statement, Articles of Incorporation, Operating Agreement, and Certificate of incorporation.
Never mind that I chose “sole proprietorship” as my business type, so half of those are not applicable.
Oh well, on to the next one.
Did they ask for all of those things? When I applied they said they’d need to verify my business and they listed all of those as options I could use to verify, but my read was that any one of those would suffice. I uploaded the EIN letter. Did you do that and then they came back asking for more?
Please upload the following documents for XXXXXXXXX:
I read this as, they want something for #1, #2, AND #3, although within each bucket they want EITHER OR each document. The problem is #3, where none is relevant for a sole prop.
I opened a case with support, so we’ll see. I’ll try uploading just my DL and see if maybe it triggers some automated process to move forward.
Yep they asked for all those documents when I applied over a month ago. I uploaded my DL but they still wanted the rest. I just let it die. Not worth it. This was for sole prop.
Not just “not worth it,” literally impossible!
Yep they don’t care that it’s a sole prop or that I’m in California and it’s not required to furnish everything. I needed less to refinance my house. It’s not worth the effort and privacy concerns for a checking bonus.
Very interesting and frustrating!
Same experience here. The third item is not applicable for me so I’m stuck as well.
This account required A LOT of verification that my business was legit.
What did they require? They did ask for proof. It said my EIN letter would suffice, so that’s what I uploaded.
Required business license, two years of business tax returns and certificate of good standing. Not to mention several reports of them being difficult to get the bonus. I started the application (targeted) and let it die, simply not worth the trouble.
The reports I’ve read is that the bonus hasn’t posted yet (and it’s still within the 8-12 week timeframe). I haven’t heard anything about that part being “difficult” as, to my knowledge, people haven’t yet passed the required timeframe (I’m not aware of a bonus offer before the July one?).
As I asked Ben below, did they actually require all of those things after you submitted your application, or was that just the list of ways to verify? I’m asking because for a moment I thought they wanted everything on the list but then I read it again and realized it was saying that they were all options for how to verify. But if they came back requesting all that, that would obviously be a different story (and I’d love to know).
Yes, I copied this directly from the upload documents tab. These are the three things required in order to finish the application (three separate uploads required not either/or).
I also have two business cards and a few personal dating back to 2011 so they have enough data on me to approve me for credit cards but not a checking account.
Also, just from scrolling DoC page I’ve read of two accounts being frozen for having deposits come through. One report of it being difficult to transfer from smaller banks/CUs.
Worth noting they’re not a real bank and are serviced by Green Dot Bank. Another layer that’s required to pass through data I’d typically only reserve for loans, not a bank account.
Maybe it’s worth it for some, but it IMO deserves an asterisk next to it similar to sometimes needing to CFPB Citibank for their bonuses they don’t always post automatically.
Below is the list of what they required. I sent in a few of them, and they wrote back saying they require every single thing in this list, and I get 3 tries to upload the required documents. If I don’t upload everything they are asking for in 2 more tries, they cannot process my application.
I have a legit business, and I was approved after submitting EVERYTHING, but it was a pain gathering all this stuff. Way easier to get a credit card.
Articles of Organization
Business License
Tax Documents
Business Utility Bills (e.g. electric, gas, water)
Business Tax Returns
Organizational Document such as: Articles of Incorporation, Operating Agreement, Certificate of Incorporation
To qualify for a Certificate of Good Standing, your business must be registered as a legal entity in your state, cannot be in default of corporate rules or suspended by the state, and must be current on all tax filings and obligations. To obtain a Certificate of Good Standing, visit your Secretary of State’s website.
Must be issued within the last 12 months.
If reinstated and status is not updated or displayed, then a detailed payment receipt from the Secretary of State or a Certificate of Good Standing must be provided.
Tradename Registration
Same here. They are trash. They want the utility bill and will verify it with the biller. Don’t they know some small businesses that have quite a huge cash flow do not have a utility bill?! Stupid trash checking account, which put a lot of money on marketing hoping to attract capital, yet its own unnecessary documents requirement kills it.
Did you select sole prop or a B&M biz?
I don’t remember. I’m not a sole prop, I’m an LLC.
Your link isn’t showing a promo.
Same. I checked other published links: no $300 promo.
Yes it is. Just scroll a little bit.
Literally scroll like a quarter of an inch. The offer shows up over the second “Apply now” button just like you see in the screen shot in this post (there are actually two screen shots in this post and on the landing page there is a banner between them, so you’ll have to scroll that quarter inch or so). I just now tried it in four browsers on three different devices and I see the offer on all of them.
Nope. Tried it again (Firefox) in new window, new tab and new private window. It *did* come up when I opened the link in Safari. It’s clearly *not* open to everyone.
Kabbage’s marketing team sent us the link for this definitely public offer.
Issue is that you have an ad-blocker preventing it from showing