Can I do a direct deposit from one bank account to another?

October 23, 2018 3:25 PM

I have two personal bank accounts. Account #2 gives me rewards if I put in a certain monthly amount by direct deposit. Can I send money from account #1 (Chase checking) to #2 in such a way that it will qualify as a direct deposit? I've tried using Chase's online "transfer money" function to send the amount to #2 as an external account, but #2 did not consider this a direct deposit. Is there another way I can do this? (I've set up my paycheck to go to #2 as direct deposit in future, but that will only start next month and I'd like to get the reward for this month if I can.)
posted by zeri to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Can you split your paycheck into two direct deposit amounts, one to each account? Many big payroll processors can do this.
posted by GuyZero at 3:28 PM on October 23, 2018 [4 favorites]

I don't know of a way to do this, and IMO it would mean falsifying the type of transaction and would be kind of problematic.

It sounds like you've already got your payroll set up to do direct deposit next month - that will have to do.
posted by bunderful at 3:37 PM on October 23, 2018 [3 favorites]

It's not falsifying anything. It depends on the rules for the reward. One of my banks specifically states "from your employer" and the other (previous account) specified "deposits made via ACH" which you can absolutely sort out how to do. How depends on your personal banking situation. I have a small business account and personal so it would be trivial.
posted by chasles at 4:00 PM on October 23, 2018

“Direct deposit” means “Directly from your employer.”
posted by Thorzdad at 4:30 PM on October 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

You have to tell your employer that you want your paycheque split into the two different accounts.
Should be a simple form or online change.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 4:57 PM on October 23, 2018

You might want to look for bank #2 on a list like this one, available most places bank bonus offers are discussed. Somebody has probably figured out exactly what counts for your bank #2, if not for your specific offer.
posted by deeaytch at 5:02 PM on October 23, 2018

I have a Chase account and one at Bank America. I do not recall exactly what I did when I set it up, but when I move money from Chase to BoA, the legend on the transaction in the BoA account says Direct Deposit. Whether that will satisfy the rules of the promotion, I have no idea.

Also, you could set up an LLC and then pay yourself a salary using direct deposit, but that seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a free toaster.
posted by AugustWest at 5:52 PM on October 23, 2018 [1 favorite]

Doctor of Credit has the most up-to-date list of data points for what works and what doesn't at the moment, but if you don't already have an account with a viable workaround it's probably too late for this month.
posted by praemunire at 6:34 PM on October 23, 2018

My credit union has a similar thing. It counts transfers from PayPal as direct deposit. I think it might also count bank-to-bank as direct deposit. Just try it and see.
posted by amanda at 7:46 PM on October 23, 2018