Examined Sep 25, 2026 Paid in cash, as interest Open by Oct 31, 2026 Barclays pays $200 on a new Tiered Savings account once $25,000 has sat in it for 120 consecutive days, and the only place the terms exist is a footnote.
This is an open offer on Barclays's own Tiered Savings page, with no code and no invitation. It is on Tiered Savings only; the plain Online Savings page advertises a rate and no bonus. The $200 is paid and taxed as interest. Barclays's footnote says the bonus “could require Barclays to send you a Form 1099-INT (Interest Income) and file it with the IRS for the year in which you earn the bonus.”
What pays what
| New Tiered Savings customer, account opened through 10/31/2026, $25,000 or more deposited from another institution within 30 days, balance kept at $25,000 or more for 120 consecutive days | $200 |
|---|---|
| Current or previous Barclays customer with a Savings or CD | $0 |
| Balance drops below $25,000 during the 120 days | Bonus at risk |
| $25,000 that arrives more than 30 days after opening | Does not count |
| Barclays Online Savings account, the plain one | No bonus |
| A fourth Tiered Savings account | Cannot be opened; the limit is 3 |
Withdrawals could affect your eligibility to earn the bonus if the withdrawal causes the account balance to drop below $25,000. The 120 consecutive days will not start until the $25,000 is deposited within 30 days from opening the account.
The footnote says only that withdrawals could affect eligibility, not whether the clock restarts. Assume the strictest reading.
Do this, in this order
- Check your history with Barclays first. If you have ever held a Barclays savings account or CD, you are not eligible, and no waiting period fixes it. The footnote names only a Savings or CD; it does not say whether a Barclays credit card counts.
- Open a Tiered Savings account by October 31, 2026. No code, no invitation, nothing to fund at first: “While there is no minimum required to open a Barclays Tiered Savings account, as described above there is a minimum balance required to earn the bonus offer.” The FAQ says each customer can have at most 3 open Tiered Savings accounts, each taking deposits up to $1 million. The Terms of Use ask only that you be the age of majority.
- Send the full $25,000 from another bank within 30 days. The footnote allows several deposits from other financial institutions as long as all of them land no later than 30 days after opening. The FAQ says a linked external account is verified with two test deposits of under $1.00 each, arriving within 2 to 3 business days, and that at most 3 external accounts can be linked. Build that time into the 30 days.
- Leave it alone for 120 consecutive days. The clock starts only when the $25,000 is in. Every day of the 120 the balance must be $25,000 or more; if you need to spend during those months, spend from somewhere else.
- Wait approximately 60 more days, and expect a 1099-INT. The footnote says: “After you maintain the $25,000 balance for 120 consecutive days, the $200 bonus will be added to your account in approximately 60 days.” By our arithmetic, 30 days to fund plus 120 days held plus about 60 days to pay is about 210 days, close to seven months, from opening at the longest. If you fund on day one it is about 180 days.
Where the terms live, and where Barclays's own links do not lead
The whole contract is one footnote. Every rule on this page comes from footnote 2 at the bottom of the Tiered Savings page. The same footnote appears, word for word, at the foot of the site's home page. No separate bonus terms document or PDF exists anywhere on the site.
The site's Terms and Conditions link does not mention the bonus. The Tiered Savings page links to a page called Terms and Conditions. It is Barclays's general deposit account agreement, and the word bonus does not appear in it once. A reader who trusts that link reads a long agreement and learns nothing about the $200; the rules are back on the marketing page, in a numbered footnote.
Old addresses land on the home page, or on a 404. Barclays's older domain, www.banking.barclaysus.com, still turns up in search results for these accounts and their terms. Every path on it we tried redirected to the home page of banking.us.barclays, which does carry the footnote. The old Online Savings terms address on the current domain now says “Sorry! We can't find that page.”
The rate is filled in by script. The Tiered Savings page draws its APY figures in by a script when the page loads, so our September 25 captures of that page hold no tier rates. The home page banner beside the $200 offer read “Earn up to 3.65% APY” the same day, a ceiling, not the rate on every balance. What the footnotes do say: the Tiered Savings tiers, from $0 up to $1,000,000, are currently more than 7X the national average of 0.38% APY, as published in the FDIC's National Rates and Rate Caps and accurate as of 8/17/2026; the APYs are accurate as of 9/11/2026; and “Rates may change at any time without prior notice, before or after the account is opened.” Read the rate on the page before you move $25,000 for it.
Not stated, and easily withdrawn. The footnote carries no version date and says: “Offer subject to change or cancellation without notice.” It does not say whether a joint account qualifies or what happens if the account closes before the bonus is paid. One housekeeping rule from the FAQ: “There is no minimum balance, but accounts that maintain a zero balance for 6 months will automatically close.” No referral program exists, so there is nothing to share or link.
Is it worth your time?
If $25,000 is already sitting in savings and you have never banked with Barclays, it is $200 for doing nothing for four months, on an account with no monthly maintenance fee. As a rate, by our arithmetic $200 on $25,000 is 0.8 percent over 120 days, about 2.4 percent a year, added to whatever the account pays. Allow up to about seven months from opening to payment.
If you might need the money inside the 120 days, or have ever held a Barclays savings account or CD, skip it. Below: one account that pays more cash with no large balance to park, one that pays a rate boost, and one that pays nothing at all.
