[Update] American Express Business Checking $300 Bonus (1% APY On Balances Up To $500,000)

Update 12/6/21: Just a small update – American Express allows opening additional accounts, up to 10 accounts per business. Each one earns 1.1% on balances up to $500,000. So you can get up to $5M at 1.1% with this account. Hat tip to reader 5150d

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $300
Availability: Nationwide
Direct deposit required: None
Additional requirements: None
Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
ChexSystems: Unknown
Credit card funding: None
Monthly fees: None
Early account termination fee: None listed
Household limit: None listed
Expiration date: None listed

The Offer

Direct link to offer

American Express is offering a bonus of $300 when you open a new business checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Deposit $5,000 within 10 days of account opening
- Maintain an average balance of $5,000 for 60 days after account opening
- Make 10 or more qualifying purchases within 60 days of account opening

The Fine Print

$300 Account Opening Deposit is not available to existing Business Checking Account customers, local, state, or Federal Government entities or agencies, Not for Profit organization, Political Action Committees. We may also consider other factors in making a decision on your $300 account opening deposit eligibility.
Earn a $300 Account Opening Deposit. To be eligible to earn a $300 account opening deposit, you must meet each of the qualifying activities set forth below:
Open an American Express® Business Checking account, which is subject to approval;
Deposit a total of $5,000 or more in new money into your American Express® Business Checking account within 10 days of account opening. “New money” is defined as money that is not currently on deposit by your Business in any other American Express® Business Checking account. The $5,000 must be posted to the account within 10 days of account opening.
Maintain an average balance in the American Express® Business Checking account of $5,000 for 60 days from the date that your funds are $5,000 or greater;
Complete 10 incoming or outgoing qualifying transactions within 60 days of account opening. “Qualifying transactions” are mobile deposits, and electronic/online transactions including ACH, Wire, and Bill Payments. Transfers between Business Checking accounts held by the same business do not qualify. Transactions that have not cleared within 60 day of account opening, including stop payments also do not qualify. You can receive only one new Business Checking account $300 account opening deposit per Business. The first checking account opened by the business is the only checking account eligible for the $300 account opening deposit.
After you have completed all the above Checking Account requirements, the $300 account opening deposit will be deposited into your American Express® Business Checking account within 8-12 weeks. We may not deposit the $300 account opening deposit, we may place a hold on the $300 account opening deposit that has already been deposited, or we may take away the $300 account opening deposit, if we determine in our sole discretion that you have engaged in abuse, misuse, or gaming in connection with the offer in any way or that you intend to do so. We may also cancel this account and other accounts you may have with us if we determine abuse, misuse or gaming behavior has been shown. In addition, because we need your American Express® Business Checking account to be open in order for us to deposit your $300 account opening deposit, we may not issue the $300 account opening deposit if you or we close your American Express® Business Checking account. If you have any questions regarding this offer, please call 1-855-497-1040.
This $300 account opening 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 account opening deposit. Please consult your tax advisor if you have questions about the tax treatment of the $300 account opening deposit.
American Express reserves the right to modify or revoke this offer at any time without notice.
All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

This account has no monthly fees to worry about

Early Account Termination Fee

Our Verdict

There is a similar account/bonus called Kabbage by AmEx. That bonus is actually easier to complete so I’d recommend doing that one first (although this account is better as it has the higher $500,000 1.1% cap). The real question is if you can do both accounts/bonuses. The terms on this one state:

$300 Account Opening Deposit is not available to existing Business Checking Account customers

This does have a different routing number, the maximum account balance is also $500,000 for this account and $100,000 for the Kabbage and the account is called something else as well. The terms of the bonus are also different so it’s not unreasonable to assume this is a new account and you can do both. In practice that’s probably unlikely given this is American Express. Up to you if you want to take that risk if you’ve already done that Kabbage bonus.

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