This bonus has expired, you can view more M&T bonuses here or the best checking bonuses here.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200
- Availability: CT, DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA, VA, WV
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $100
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Yes
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: Avoidable
- Early account termination fee: $50 180-days
- Expiration date: March 25th, 2017
- Household limit: None listed
Contents
The Offer
No direct link to offer (go to mtb.com/checking and enter promo code QK, but read our verdict first)
- Open a new M&T personal checking account by March 25th, 2017 with the promotional code QK and receive a sign up bonus of $200 when you do the following:
- Set up a qualifying direct deposit of $100 or more within 90 days of account opening
The Fine Print
- Qualifying direct deposits include but are not limited to electronic deposits such as payroll or social security and do not include electronic money transfers or credits such as account-to-account transfers or those made through internet payment services
- Bonus will post to the account within 90 days of meeting the direct deposit requirement
- Limited to one bonus per customer
- Offer may vary by region and product
- Offer is nontransferable
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
The bonus is available on any personal checking account, including: EZChoice Checking, MyChoice Checking, MyChoice Plus Checking, MyChoice Premium Checking, Classic Checking, Basic Banking. Let’s look at the easiest options for keeping fee free.
[Note that M&T Bank is one of the few banks that doesn’t give you a grace period, the requirements mentioned below must be completed your first month to keep it fee-free.]
EZChoice Checking
This account has a monthly fee of $9.95, soon changing to $6.95.
- Monthly fee is waived by making just ONE transaction such as a deposit, withdrawal, or debit purchase.
MyChoice Checking
This account has a monthly fee of $6.95 that can be waived with any of the following methods:
- Receive direct deposits totaling $200 or more
- Make 10 or more monthly debit card purchases
- Keep an average daily balance of $500 (might be $1,500 depending on your area) or more
Basic Banking
This account has a non-waivable $3 monthly fee.
Early Account Termination Fee
Update: Looks to be $50 now.
Our Verdict
In the past (here & here) people have successfully gotten the bonus without being targeted, but YMMV as always. They also have a $150 bonus with a landing page that some people may prefer. There are two great things about M&T bank:
- Their bonuses are extremely churnable
- Their bonuses post extremely quickly after meeting the requirements
We’ve added this to our best bonus page now that somebody has confirmed getting the bonus without being targeted.
Big thanks to reader, cloknem & Bagel_Fatigue on /r/churning who let us know. Please consider sharing bank bonuses with this site so we can make it even better.
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
- Introduction To ChexSystems
- Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
- What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
- How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
- Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
- How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
- Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
- Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
- Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
Does anyone know when going to M&T website and promo offer doesn’t show up in my area, may I still get offers. The listing on this site includes PA or is it limited to certain areas in PA?
Anyone know when the early termination fee took place?
I believe I had opened the account on 8/15/17, I don’t see anything that I saved/received that mentions early termination fee, although it’s possible it was on the website when I signed up (I’ve now learned to screenshot the sign-up pages).
The bonus has posted, but I’d like to close (no biggie if I can’t).
Just got a mailer for M&T offer code QJ. 200 dollar bonus, requires a $100 direct deposit. Until August 12th
Awesome! Just in time for summer vacation! And when we get back I can start closing out the old ones I opened in Feb. I wonder if I should hold off a while?
Any dp on whether or not closing accts and then opening new ones causes any problems?
Got a picture for me? [email protected], thanks!
I just received it too! Same code! QJ $200! Mine says until Aug 18th.
Can you e-mail me image please? [email protected]
Just sent Will. I’ve learned a lot from this excellent site so it’s my pleasure to contribute back! Hope they turned out ok! I sent 3 pics.
Thanks so much, Kevin!
Anyone that wasn’t able to open their 2nd or 3rd account couple days after their 1st, were you able to open the 2nd or 3rd later?
Fifth bonus posted today. Ally transfer used again.
Did you have any problems opening 5 accounts? Just wondering.. any calls or mail from M&T? Or requesting additional things? Or just any annoyance?
Nothing like that. After the 3rd account, the checking account number didn’t appear right after the application. This meant waiting for the checking account number to arrive via snail mail which delayed the bonus by about a week.
Did Ally ask you to do the two micro deposits initially? Wondering if that impacts whether it reads it as a DD.
Ally has an option to verify instantly. You log in through Ally and the micro deposits were not needed.
Applied for the $200 promo using the new QI code online. Will report how it goes next week when the bonus posts.
That’s great NBG.
Keep them coming 🙂 🙂 🙂
Bonus posted.
Hmm… I have 3 m&t accounts currently open. I tried this one and I get the usual confirmation but it doesn’t actually list the account number. Just says EZ Choice Checking with no number like normal, then the routing number
Happened to me as well last night – I had to call this morning to get my account number. One person said they cannot give over the phone but after couple of transfers the third person gave it after some verification of personal details. It might be because at times their systems are down like in at night (computers need to sleep too ?:-)) or also because I pressed a “previous” button on the application – no this is not the browser button, but just pressing even the previous button could cause the failure it appears (just from my experience that is)
No need to worry. You’ll receive your Debit card in the mail and by that time your new account will show up under your previous login.
Once it shows up then you can SM about your account number and it will show up in your sent SM (secure message) header.
So are you thinking this is some computer glitch? Or that maybe 3 checking accounts is the max they allow. Are they 3 different types of checking or all EZ?
Great tip @Patti regarding moving 50 cents back and forth between M&T accounts.
Now regarding Problems with Capital One 360.
That’s why I have an Ally account.
Ally allows you to link TWENTY external accounts.
Not only that but it also does “instant verification” for most banks so that you don’t have to wait for the “trial deposits” to post.
It also has dedicated “Activity” page where you can see all the transfers etc.
As I have said earlier, there are many many other advantages in having an Ally account.
I hardly ever use my Capital One 360 account which pales in comparison to Ally 🙂
Try it out and you’ll never go back to Capital One.
I did check out the link uou posted from fatwallet and it seemed to have quite a few complaints about the website itself having a lot of issues.
Also I have a lot of sub-accounts with Cap One with various automatic transfers. It would take a lot of time & effort to set all of that up again with Ally.
My gripes with Cap One are minor and as of yet are not bad enough to make me switch.
Also there are many, many data points regarding Cap One transfers triggering direct deposit bonuses and barely any for Ally. Maybe it’s simply a matter of popularity differences but to me Cap One is still reliable.
@Patti
I never had any issues with Ally website.
I have both Ally and Capital one so I am in a good position to compare 🙂
In addition to the things I have already mentioned about Capital One another thing I hate is that that Capital One holds you money “hostage” for few days once it reaches your account. Ally doesn’t do that.
At the end of the day it’s your choice but I can assure you that once you try Ally you’ll never go back to Capital One. Everything is a breeze with Ally.
Any referrals, bonuses, etc for opening Ally account currently available? I too am currently C1 customer but agree with you on the issues with C1 and have been looking for alternatives. I am sold based on your feedback and thanks for that. Only right to give you referral credit.
@ Harry
I am not aware of Ally ever having any bonuses. It is still worth having an account with Ally since it makes it very easy to do these bank bonuses deals.
I was actually a GMAC customer which reincarnated into Ally. Prior to doing these bank bonus deals, I was just using my Ally account as a hub to move money from my one bank account to another.
I am also with Capital one since it was known as ING Direct.
We did the $250 bonus & the $200 bonus a week apart. I didn’t have any problem downgrading from Premium checking to EZ checking after the bonus posted but Capital One 360 froze my son’s accounts until he called to explain why he had 2 M&T accounts on his list of linked external accounts. I could see why this might raise some red flags for their security dept but they kept him on hold while they called M&T to verify that both accounts were indeed his.
Kind of weird that they chose a 20 year old to pick on when dh & I both had the same situation and are much more experienced at banking than our son. He’s been a Cap One customer since he was around 10 or 12 so it’s not just a new account issue.
Just something to consider. So now I’ll make sure I transfer out everything except $0.50 minimum, once the bonus is posted, then remove M&T as an external account. I can transfer that 50 cents back and forth so both M&T accounts have some kind of activity each month so no service fees and just before I close it, I’ll use the debit card to reload an Amazon gift card to pull out the last few cents.
Any issue having multiple accounts of the same type? I got 4 bonuses already. Can I open up another ezchoice checking with a new bonus offer or will it deny me a duplicate account.
Hey Sir Charles,
There a new $200 bonus for code QI i was informed and applied for while in branch. It started 3/24 but I have no idea when it expires.I went into a branch to open a M&T ez choice checking using QL however they couldn’t find the code and instead they gave me that.
Is that QI, same as Q”I” as in “igloo”?
Yup! Q and I as in igloo
Don’t suppose you saw any flyer or anything for it?
The banker printed out the flyer but I didn’t take it :/ Definitely said QI, saw it myself. I’m working on the bonus now so I’ll confirm the bonus once I get it
Please do 😀
Yay Daniel!!
I’ve been so spoiled by all of the $200-250 bonuses that I almost had to resort to chasing a $150. hee hee.
I love M&T and love, love, LOVE this website!
Thank you so much!
🙂
How many accounts is it OK to have open with M&T? I already did the past three bosses (two $200 and one $250), would opening another account cause problems?
I received a mailer for this…Will email you soon!
The gift that keeps on giving…
Any updates on your bonus? I guess it has only been a couple of days, but just searching for a DP for code QI.
Cheers!
I received a mailer and emailed it to William, so I’m sure we’ll see a post in the coming days. But I can guarantee the QI deal is real and is for $200…expiring May 24, 2017.
Will post today, thanks Michael.