[Expired] [NJ] Ocean First Bank $300 Checking Bonus, No Direct Deposit Required

[Update 11/18/15: We posted this a month ago and are reposting it due to the fact that it’s now available online and at all bank branches.]

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $300
• Availability: NJ
• Direct deposit required: None
• Additional requirements: 30 debit card transactions
• Hard/soft pull: soft
• Credit card funding: Yes [at least $2500]
• Monthly fees: Waivable 
• Early account termination fee: Account must remain open for a year
• Expiration date: Unknown

The Offer

Direct Link

Option #1

• Open Simply Great checking or Classic Checking and request the free debit card which comes with it, and receive $100 immediately.
• Swipe your debit card for signature or online transactions 30 times in the first 75 days the account is open and you will get another $200 deposited into your account.

Option #2

• Open a Totally Free Checking account or an A+ Student Checking account and request the free debit card which comes with it, and receive $50.
• Swipe your debit card for signature or online transactions 30 times in the first 75 days the account is open and you will get a bonus of 25,000 Uchoose Rewards points (worth around $200 in gift cards, such as Amazon, Target or Walmart gift cards). Must register for the Uchoose Rewards program.

Waiving Fees

• Simply Great Checking account comes with a $6.95 monthly maintenance fee. Fee is waived with a daily minimum balance of $5000.
• Classic Checking comes with a $4.95 monthly maintenance fee. Fee is waived with a daily minimum balance of $1000.
• Totally Free Checking and Student Checking accounts don’t come with monthly fees.

Geographic Availability

This offer is now available online with promo code: OFBFALL15  for residents of Ocean County, Monmouth County, Middlesex County and Mercer County. Other NJ residents will be able to apply in a branch.

This offer is not available online. It seems that it’s being offered only in the new branch in Jackson, NJ, apparently as a grand opening offer. The address is: 10 Leesville Road in Jackson, NJ 08527.

In the past, all residents of NJ were able to open an account and get the bonus (even those who don’t live in their footprint) and we expect the same to be in this case. It may be possible for residents of other states to do this offer as well if they are in the area.

[Note that the promo page for this bonus is a little contradictory as it mentions that this offer is not available for online applications and it also encourages opening an account online with promo code: OFBFALL15.]

The Fine Print

• Offer available as of 10/15/15 for a limited time and subject to change at any time
• All cash bonus’ are taxable
• $50 minimum to open account
• Account must remain open and active for 1 year or bonus will be forfeited
• Limit of one cash bonus per household

Our Verdict

$300 is very good for a checking account bonus and it can now be opened online as well which is convenient and adds the ability to fund at least $2500 with a credit card. Even if you aren’t in the above-mentioned counties, it could be worth driving into the closest branch and taking part in this offer. Before driving in, it’s worth verifying that they’ll let you open an account in-branch with the bonus; it has worked in the past.

1. Open the Classic checking account and put $1,000 immediately which you’ll keep parked in the account for year to keep it fee-free. Put a little more money there so that you can meet the debit card requirement.
2. Buy 30 $.50 Amazon gift cards (slowly), or load your Serve card or your Chime card, see this post for more options. [At one point, they were requiring a minimum $2 purchases, but then they retracted on that so this time any amount should work.]
3. After a year, you can close the account or you can downgrade it to a fee-free version so that you don’t need to leave any money in it to keep it fee-free.

Another option could be to open the Totally Free Checking account instead. You’d end up with $50 plus around $200 in Amazon/Target/Walmart gift cards (after redeeming the Uchoose Reward points) and you’d have the advantage of not tying up $1,000 and not getting a 1099 on the Uchoose points.

As always, you can see all available bank bonuses here, and our top picks here.

HT: Carlos