I'll See Your 50 Dollars...

Back in November, I received a postcard from Wells Fargo, attempting to entice me into putting at least $100 into a checking account there with the promise of and extra $50, to be added to the account balance, once an account had been open for a certain amount of time. Now that Chase has completed their conversion of Washington Mutual, and has entered the Washington state market, they're making the same pitch. Only they're offering $100 in extra cash.

Chase also sent me a credit card solicitation, also with the promise of cash to sweeten the deal - in this case, they'll fork over $50 cash back the first time I buy anything with the card. Of course, it's not quite as easy as all that, there are always the limits, restrictions, terms and conditions but it doesn't seem to complicated to get the cash.

Considering how everyone was saying that the banks were hurting for capital, it sure seems that they're in a hurry to give money away all of a sudden.