This offer has expired, but Fifth Third is currently offering an even higher sign up bonus of $250 – you can view more details here.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200
- Availability:Â Only available to residents who live within a 50 mile radius of a 5/3rd branch. Use this to find out how far you are from the nearest branch. They have branches in the following states:Â FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MI, MO, NC, OH, PA, TN, WV
- Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum mentioned. Click here to see what has counted in the past.
- Additional requirements:Â Three online bill payments
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- Credit card funding: Unsure
- Monthly fees: $11-$20, waivable
- Early account termination fee: None listed, in the past you’ve been required to keep it open for 9 months.
- Expiration date: April 4th, 2015
Contents
The Offer
- Set up any Fifth Third checking account (excluding basic), set up a direct deposit and make three online bill payments and receive a $200 checking account bonus
The Fine Print
- Valid until April 4th, 2015
- Not available to existing checking customers or to those with a Fifth Third checking account that was closed within the last twelve months
- Bonus excludes basic checking & private bank products.
- Limit of one new account-related bonus each calendar year
- $50 minimum deposit required
- All requirements must be initiated and post to the account within 90 days of account opening
- ACH transfers are specifically mentioned as possibly counting “ACH transfers may also qualify”
- Bonus will be deposited within 6 weeks of completing requirements
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
There is no early account termination fee listed, but in the past you’ve had to keep it open for at least 9 months. We’re unsure if this being enforced or not, as last time it was not. Each account has a different monthly fee and ways to get this monthly fee waived. We’re going to look at the enhanced and eAccess as they are the easiest ones to get waived.
eAccess ($150 Bonus)
Requires you to receive monthly direct deposits of $500 or more, you can’t use checking writing and there are no paper statements.
Essential Checking $11 Monthly Fee ($150 Bonus)
You can waive the monthly fee by doing any one of the following:
- Maintain an average monthly balance of $1,500 or more across your savings and checking accounts
- Are a U.S Military member or participate in 5/3rd’s employer benefits program and receive $500 or more in direct deposits
- You’re a student
Enhanced Checking $20 Monthly Fee ($250 Bonus)
It’s possible to waived the $20 monthly fee if you have combined total balance of at least $20,000 across your deposit and investment accounts one time per month
Our Verdict
Fifth Third bank is currently offering a $250 bonus, but this is only available on the enhanced checking & preferred checking accounts which require you to have at least $20,000 in funds invested. I think this offer is by far superior as you can just open the eAccess account or essential checking accounts and get the $200 bonus.
If I lived within the service area, I would definitely be jumping on this deal (it looks like it can be churned annually). Here is what I would do:
- Set up an essential checking account, using a credit card to fund initially if possible (remembering to set the cash advance limit to zero)
- Add $1,600 in funds via ACH (this is enough to keep the account fee free and also trigger part of the bonus)
- Pay three bills under $100 using online bill pay (this will trigger the rest of the bonus and there will still be enough funds in the account to keep it fee free)
- Wait for my bonus to post
- Make sure there is no early account termination fee
- Close my account
- Wait twelve months & do it all again
Unfortunately not everybody will live close enough to a branch to open an account, if they did I would be adding this to our recommended bank bonus page. Instead we will add it to our complete listing of bonuses. If you sign up for this account, make sure you share your experiences in the comments. Fifth Third are also offering a $200 business checking bonus that you might be interested in.
Direct link to offer | Screenshot of offer
Hat tip to Benton, who could win up to $225 by letting us know about this deal
Got it. Worked with cap1 360 transfer.
Thanks, updated our list.
Was this from a checking or savings account?
At http://200.53.com/, it doesn’t say that it is only available to residents who live within a 50 mile radius of a 5/3rd branch. so it should be available anywhere in US ?
The promo banner states “When you open a Fifth Third Essential Checking Account with Qualifying Activities.” The T&Cs conflict with that statement since it clearly says “Essential Checking Account”.
What is a “basic checking” account which is not eligible? eAccess?
Not sure, I think eAccess is eligible though.