Consumer complaint received 2025-05-31 00:00:00
Product: Checking or savings account — Savings account
Issue: Managing an account — Fee problem
Company: TD BANK US HOLDING COMPANY
State: DC

Complaint narrative:
In or about XX/XX/XXXX, my domestic partner and I received a mailed invitation to open accounts with TD Bank in exchange for a cash bonus of up to {$1600.00} per customer. To receive the full {$1600.00} bonus, the new customer had to deposit at least {$200000.00}, and was required to maintain the funds on deposit with TD Bank for a period of 120 days following 20 days after the opening of the account. 

Regrettably, we did not retain the original mailing that outlined the details of the promotion. However, we do recall that it touted the above-market interest rate that TD Bank was paying on savings accounts. The interest rate in question was 3.4 %, which actually was lower than the rate paid by our existing savings accounts with XXXX XXXX, and also lower than the 4 % rate offered by XXXX. Nevertheless, the {$1600.00} bonus made the new account attractive. 

My domestic partner opened her account through TD Bank 's website. I went in to the TD Bank branch located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX where I met with Store Supervisor XXXX XXXX, who was very cordial and knowledgeable. XXXX XXXX 
XXXX explained that the process for earning the {$1600.00} new account bonus was a bit more cumbersome than it may have appeared from the written solicitation that TD Bank mailed to us. One very significant fact, XXXX XXXX explained, is that if we only opened savings accounts ( but not checking accounts as well ), we would earn the {$1600.00} bonus but we would not earn market interest rates on the {$200000.00} balance in our respective savings accounts. He explained that, to earn a competitive interest rate on our savings accounts ( which we each planned to fund with {$200000.00} in deposits ), we would also need to open a companion checking account. Neither of us needed a checking account. We already have a joint checking account with XXXXXXXX XXXX and I have not written a check in the past year, and perhaps longer. 

Although neither of us is a mathematician, we readily understood that if we each deposited {$200000.00} into a TD Bank account and earned the de minimis interest rate that TD Bank was offeringabout XXXX percentit would only take TD Bank a few months to recoup the {$1600.00} bonus that it was offering us, and then some. In other words, TD Bank would earn more money using our cash deposits to fund loans than it would pay us in interest. Accordingly, we each opened a checking account that, again, neither of us needed or wanted. 

While XXXX XXXX was setting up my new accounts, he explained that there was yet another requirement to obtain the full market interest rate on our savings : Each month, we would each have to have a minimum of three transactions in our respective checking accounts. XXXX XXXX explained that the transactions could be direct deposits, ATM withdrawals, or intrabank transfers between the checking and savings accounts. 
We later discovered that in fact there were two additional steps that had to be taken to prevent TD Bank from levying unexpected fees.

First, the checking and savings accounts have to be linked. This is a back-office function performed by TD Bank staff ; it is not something that customers configure themselves. Because the accounts were not linked when we opened them, TD Bank initially charged each of us a $ XXXX maintenance fee. I brought this issue to XXXX XXXX attention and he remedied it. 

An additional trap for the unwary is that TD Bank charges a $ XXXX paper statement fee if customers do not opt out of receiving paper statements in the mail. Had we been aware of this fee, we would have opted out when we first opened our accounts. 
After completing all of the requirements described above, throughout the duration of the bonus qualification period, neither of us received the promised {$1600.00} bonus payments. 

I received a {$600.00} bonus on XX/XX/XXXX. When I contacted XXXX XXXX to discuss the discrepancy, he explained that, as a result of the small transfers that I was making between my checking and savings accounts ( to earn the market interest rate ), my savings account balance was approximately {$200.00} below {$200000.00} on the day that TD Bank reviewed the account for bonus calculation purposes. That said, XXXX XXXX acknowledged that, by his own calculations, I should have received at least a {$1000.00} bonus. 

My domestic partner did not receive ANY bonus payment. 

With the benefit of hindsight, the TD Bank {$1600.00} bonus promotion appears to have been carefully crafted to erect every obstacle imaginable such that few customers, if any, will be able to understand and satisfy all of the requirements necessary to secure the full bonus. Having spent several months fulfilling the requirements to earn the bonus, we expect TD Bank to pay out the bonus to each of us, in full, as promised.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief