CIBC Promotions ($350 Cash Promotion)

The CIBC promotions available right now do not have the tight deadlines that the other Canadian bank promotions seem to have. Here are some CIBC promotions available for 2023, like getting $350 cash just from signing up for a new CIBC banking account.

CIBC Promotions

The CIBC promotions available are pretty amazing. It used to just be a CIBC $300 offer but in recent months they have increased it to $350.

Currently there are a few CIBC promotions going on:

• $350 Cash bonus with a new CIBC Smart Account
• Newcomers to Canada can get $400 cash bonus with a CIBC Smart Account AND not pay any monthly fees for 2 years
• Up to 5.00% interest on your savings deposits with the CIBC eAdvantage Savings Account
• First Year Annual Fee Rebates for some fantastic credit cards like the:
  • CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite (you can get up to a $1200 value)
  • CIBC Dividend Cash Back Visa Infinite with 4% cash back

This post will go over the CIBC promotions available and how to get them.

CIBC New Account Promotion $350

Here are the details on the CIBC New Account Promotion, where you can get $350 cash.

• The gift: $350 Cash
• Deadline for account sign up: It starts April 29, 2023
• Eligibility:  You have to be older than 25 years of age to get the $350 cash from CIBC. If you are under 25 years of age, you can only get $150 cash.

How To Get The CIBC Smart Account Promotion

How do you get the CIBC Smart Account promotion?

To get $350 cash:

First, you have to sign up for a CIBC Smart Account as your first CIBC chequing account and you have to share your email address with CIBC.

How much does the cost per month for the CIBC Smart Account? It is $6.95 per month.

You get your monthly free waived for the first three months, and afterwards, if you keep a minimum of $4000 in the account, your monthly fee is waived too.

The monthly fee is $6.95 per month and that gives you up to 12 transactions per month, it is $1.25 per transaction after that. However, as mentioned it is waived if you have a minimum of $4000 in the account.

If you want unlimited transactions, it is $16.95 per month and this monthly fee is also waived if you have a minimum of $4000 in the account.

Essentially it is no fee banking if you have a minimum balance.

Next, you have to complete these criteria within 2 months of sign up to qualify for $350 cash (and maintain this for one year)

• Set up at least one monthly recurring direct deposit (for example, payroll) of at least $500 a month
• Choose one of the three options that will occur monthly:
  • 2 ongoing pre-authorized debit (e.g. your BC Hydro bill)
  • 5 Visa debits
  • 2 online bill payments of $50 or more (for example a cell phone bill)

This will get you $350 cash. To reiterate you have to have one recurring direct deposit or two pre-authorized debits each month. 

Transfer $200 from your CIBC Smart account to a new CIBC eAdvantage Savings within 2 months (and earn up to 5.00% interest in your deposit).

For more information, here’s the link to the CIBC Smart Account information. 

Here is also the Terms and Conditions for this CIBC cash promotion.

You have to keep the account open for one year, otherwise the cash reward and monetary value of the Costco shop card will be taken away (and may even be over drafted from your account)

When will you get your cash from CIBC?

The $350 cash bonus will be applied to your CIBC account within 7 months of completing the tasks.

CIBC Offers for Newcomers

If you are a newcomer to Canada over the age of 25, the above deal is even better because you can get $400 cash AND have $0 in monthly fees for two years.

There’s a little more paper work involved though.

• The gift: $400 Cash and zero monthly fees for two years
• Deadline for account sign up: Doesn’t appear to be a deadline
• Eligibility:  You have to be older than 25 years of age, The gift: $400 Cash
• Deadline for account sign up: It begins April 29, 2023
• Eligibility:
  • You have to be older than 25 years of age
  • Have received landed immigrant or permanent resident status in the last 5 years
  • Or are a temporary resident worker with a Canadian work permit for at least a 12 month term
  • To be eligible, you have to show
    • Proof of entry into Canada
    • Supporting documents e.g. landing papers, permanent resident card, or Canadian work permit

Also if you have a lot of friends who are newcomers to Canada, CIBC has a referral program where you can earn $50 for each newcomer you refer to CIBC, up to a maximum of $500 EACH year.

The year for tracking newcomer referrals is between January to December.

If you are a foreign worker, you could qualify for the similar promotion mentioned earlier (but this is called the Smart Account for Foreign Workers), and also get to send money with zero transfer fees to over 120 countries with the CIBC Global Money Transfer.

CIBC Smart Start

The CIBC Smart Start promotion gives Canadians who are under 25 free unlimited every day banking with no monthly fee.

This includes:

• Unlimited Interac e-Transfer transactions
• Unlimited debit or Visa debit transactions, withdrawals, or bill payments
• One free non-CIBC ATM withdrawal located in Canada each month

In addition to no monthly fee, you can also get $150 cash (unfortunately the $400 cash offer is not applicable for CIBC Smart Start).

If you are over 14 you can get a free SPC membership (ohh I remember SPC memberships!)

To be eligible for the CIBC Smart Start promotion, you will need to be under 25 (you don’t have to be a student to qualify) and you need to have government photo ID.

If you are over age 16, you can open an account online yourself.

However, if you are under age 16, you have to open an account at a branch, but you don’t need to have your parents come with you if you don’t want to.

If you are under 25, you can also qualify for an online brokerage promotion such as free trades on TSX or US stock and ETFs in your TFSA, RRSP, or non-registered account. There is also no annual fee on your CIBC Investors Edge account.

CIBC eAdvantage Savings Account

The CIBC eAdvantage Savings Account seems to be a bit of a hybrid of the Tangerine savings account (where you get a 4-5 month promotional interest rate) and the Scotiabank Momentum Plus Savings Account where there there are tiered interest rates.

However, in this case, the base interest rate is 0.40% to 1.60% depending on your balance.

And if you contribute at least $200 a month (up to a balance of $200,000), you will unlock the next tiered interest rate, which is 0.50%.

Finally, for the first four months, you get an extra 3.10% on your deposits (up to a maximum of $1,000,000 balance), for a total of 5.00%.

CIBC Investor’s Edge CaSh Back Promotion

• The bonus: Up to $4500 cash back and up to 100 free trades (10 free trades will be added every 30 days) using the promo code EDGE695
• Deadline for account sign up: March 31, 2024
• Pay $6.95 per trade with CIBC Investor’s Edge
• Qualifying criteria:
  • Eligible accounts include:
    • Investment Account
    • First Home Savings Account (FHSA)
    • Self-Directed Retirement Savings Plan or Retirement Income Fund Account
    • Self-Directed Tax-Free SavingsAccount
    • Locked-in Retirement Savings Plan
    • Locked-in Income Fund or Higher Learning Education Savings Plan
  • Transfer at least $5,000 to get $100
    • Transfer at least $25,000 to get $200
    • Put in a least $100,000 to get $500 in cash
    • Transfer $250,000 to get $750 cash
    • Deposit market value of at least $500,000 for $1500 in cash
    • Transfer at least $1,000,000 for $3000 in cash
    • If you transfer $2,000,000 or more it is $4500 cash back

• If funds are received before December 31, 2023, you will receive the cash back the week of June 17 2024
  • If the money is deposited before April 30 2024, you will receive the cash back the week of August 19, 2024
  • Transferred Assets must be transferred to CIBC Investor’s Edge from an account that is not held at any of the CIBC group of companies (has to be new money from a different brokerage and not from CIBC Wood Gundy, for example)

• Coverage of transfer out fees: Doesn’t look like they cover the $150 fee to transfer out from another financial institution
• Typical trading commission: $6.95/trade for US/Canadian equities
• Student discount: There is a student discount for trades for students

For more information on the CIBC Investor’s Edge cash back promotion, click here.

Finally, there are credit card promotions.

I’ve been pretty pleased with their credit card offer promotions and the Aventura card helped us save about $1000 on flights for our recent trip.

For example, there is a First Year Annual Fee rebate for the:

CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Card and the CIBC Dividend Cash Back Visa Infinite (which currently provides 4% cash back but it has had a promotion as a 10% cash back credit card before).

Other New Bank Account Promotions

If you’re looking for other cash bonuses instead of the CIBC promotions, here is a detailed list of other bank account promotions in Canada.

All of these banks below will waive your monthly bank fees if you have a certain minimum account balance with them, so they will essentially be free, with a few steps involved (like moving your direct deposit around).

• TD Bank will give you a $400 Amazon.ca gift card
• Bank of Montreal will give you $400 cash with BMO’s new account offer
• Scotiabank will give you $350 cash with their Scotiabank Preferred Package or Scotiabank Ultimate Package
• RBC will give you a free iPad

Here’s a review on the Scotiabank Ultimate package and on the Scotiabank Preferred Package for further information.

Were the CIBC Promotions difficult to obtain for you?