Chase vs. Capital One: Which Bank Has Better Bonuses Right Now?

If you're deciding between Chase and Capital One for your next churn, the honest answer is: it depends what you're optimizing for. Chase pays more but demands more scrutiny. Capital One pays less but gets you there with a lighter lift and fewer landmines. Here's the actual comparison, offer terms included.

The offers, side by side

Chase Total Checking is currently paying a $400 bonus for new customers who open an account and receive $1,000 or more in direct deposits within 90 days of coupon enrollment. Monthly fees are $12 but waivable, there's no early account termination fee, and the offer runs through October 14, 2026. Chase also has a lighter-lift Chase Secure Banking option paying $175 for 10 qualifying transactions in 60 days, with no minimum deposit required to open (Chase, Doctor of Credit).

Capital One 360 Checking pays a flat $250 for two qualifying direct deposits of $500 or more each within 75 days of opening. There's no fine print about coupon enrollment or referral codes to track down — you open the account and the offer terms apply. Capital One doesn't publish an expiration date on this one, which is unusual and worth double-checking against your Proof Vault or screenshots before you rely on it (Capital One).

On raw dollars, Chase wins: $400 versus $250, or $175 versus $250 if you're comparing Chase's low-deposit option instead. But the requirements aren't equivalent, and that's where this gets interesting.

Requirements: what "qualifying" actually means

Both banks use the term "qualifying direct deposit," and both mean the same thing in practice: a recurring, electronic deposit like a paycheck, Social Security payment, or pension — not a transfer from your other bank account or a P2P payment from a friend. If you're a New Churner, this is the detail that trips people up most often. Moving $1,000 from your Ally savings account into a new Chase Total Checking account will not trigger the $400 bonus, no matter how many times you do it.

Chase's $1,000 threshold within 90 days is more forgiving on timeline than Capital One's 75-day window, but Capital One's requirement is smaller in total ($1,000 across two deposits of $500+ versus Chase's $1,000 in any combination). If your paycheck is under $500, Capital One's per-deposit minimum could actually be harder to hit than Chase's aggregate one — check your own numbers before assuming either is the "easy" option.

ChexSystems and approval odds

Neither bank uses ChexSystems as a hard gatekeeper, which matters if you've had a rocky banking history. Chase screens through Early Warning Services (EWS) instead — negative ChexSystems records from account closures at other banks generally won't surface in Chase's review. Capital One similarly relies on a soft pull and its own internal risk model rather than ChexSystems, and churners with negative ChexSystems files have reported success opening 360 Checking anyway (Doctor of Credit).

That said, "doesn't use ChexSystems" isn't the same as "no risk of denial" — EWS reports and internal fraud models still exist, and both banks limit how often you can collect the same bonus (Chase: once every two years from your last coupon enrollment date).

Safe-close timing

This is the part that actually determines your real hourly return, and it's the part people skip. Chase used to enforce a strict six-month minimum hold before you could close without clawing back the bonus; that clause was reportedly dropped a few years ago, though a 6-month informal holding period is still commonly cited, and the account needs to be open and in good standing when the bonus posts (15 days after you meet the requirement, per Chase's current terms). Capital One's 360 Checking has a more clearly defined safe-close date: 180 days (6 months) after opening, with no early closure fee once you're past it — but you do risk forfeiting the bonus if you close before then (Doctor of Credit, The Bonus Stack).

Practically, budget six months of open-account time for either bank before you close or downgrade. Anything shorter is a gamble on clawback.

One more thing: it's taxable

Both bonuses get reported as interest income. Chase confirmed it issues a 1099-INT for its checking bonus, and Capital One does the same for account bonuses generally. Set aside the fact that a $400 or $250 "bonus" is really a $400 or $250 pre-tax windfall when you're doing your per-hour math.

So which one should you open?

If you want the bigger single payout and don't mind a slightly longer direct deposit runway, Chase's $400 offer is the better dollar-for-dollar deal — assuming you can route a real paycheck through it. If you want a lower deposit threshold, a bank that doesn't gate you behind a coupon code, and slightly simpler terms to track, Capital One's $250 offer gets you there with less friction. Experienced churners doing both back-to-back should have no trouble — just make sure you're not running two direct-deposit switches on the same paycheck at the same time.

Whichever you pick, save the offer terms the day you apply. Banks update and expire these offers without warning, and if a bonus doesn't post on schedule, having a screenshot of the original terms is the difference between a quick fix and a drawn-out dispute. That's exactly what BonusTrail's T&C Proof Vault is built for — it stores your offer terms and screenshots automatically so you have receipts if a bank tries to move the goalposts, and it tracks your deadlines for both accounts in one place instead of a spreadsheet you'll forget to update.