Update 10/7/26: Offer is back at this link . If it doesn’t work copy and paste the link or open it incognito mode. Valid through 11/9/26. 

$2,500 Lin k |  $3,500 link $2,500 link (copy and paste link if it doesn’t work)

The Premier Checking account has a $35 monthly service fee ( fee is waived first six months ). The fee can be avoided each fee period with $250,000 or more in statement-ending qualifying linked (a) bank deposit account balances (checking, savings, time accounts (CDs), FDIC-insured IRAs) and (b) investment account balances.

Initial monthly service fee waiver : We’ll waive the monthly service fee for each fee period ending within the first 64 days of opening.

Regarding investing: it looks like there is a $95 $49.95 ( pdf )when you transfer out all of your investments and terminate your account. I suppose you can just leave there $1 indefinitely to avoid this fee (?). (See this link > “account maintenance fees”.) (Some readers say you need to leave at least $95 or maybe $125 in order to avoid the fee.)

Since this offer is available for both new accounts and upgrades, the best play here would be to open a new Wells Fargo ordinary checking account online and get a $325 bonus with $1,000 direct deposit . Then ( after the bonus posts ), go to a Wells Fargo branch and upgrade to a Premier relationship. Then, sometime in the next 45 days, transfer over $250,000 in cash or assets and leave it there until day 90. The fine print seems clear that you can get the Premier offer so long as you have not done a Premier checking offer in the past 12 months, even if you did a standard checking offer in the past 12 months. Just be aware that Wells bonuses take a full 90 days to post, so you’re risking the $2,500 offer expiring while you wait for the $325 to post.

The Wells Fargo Premier checking account earns an interest rate of .01%.

It looks like Wells Fargo has a self-directed investment option , and you can ACAT transfer over any ETFs (and possibly mutual funds) from another brokerage, and that would work toward the $250,000 qualifier. You can also buy U.S. Treasuries, brokered CDs, or other safe mutual funds which would earn top interest rates as well, see our post: Utilizing Money Market Funds & Treasury Bills For Brokerage Bonuses. Some suggest WMPXX. And I believe some have reported getting confirmation that retirement investing accounts can work to meet the $250,000 requirement as well.