Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $100 for checking & $50 for savings
- Availability: Nebraska (Cass, Dakota, Dodge, Douglas, Lancaster, Sarpy, Saunders, Washington), Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota (Nobles & Jackson counties only) only
- Direct deposit required: Optional
- Additional requirements: Two bill pays to two different billers or direct deposit of $250+
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Bonus forfeited if closed within 90 days
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date: July 28th, 2017
The Offer
- Northwest Bank is offering two bonuses:
- $100 when you open a new checking account (Northwest Bank BaZing, Platinum, Compass Rewards or Private Banking) with internet banking and set up a direct deposit ($250 minimum must be processed within 45 days) or automatic payments (must establish two automatic deposits to two different payees within 45 days of account opening)
- $50 when you open a new savings account with a first deposit of $500 or more. Must be opened at the same time as checking bonus
The Fine Print
- . A one-time $100 cash deposit is available for new account holders who open a Northwest Bank BaZing, Platinum, Compass Rewards or Private Banking (where available) checking account with Direct Deposit (i.e. payroll, Social Security, pension) of $250 or more processed within 45 days of account opening; or establish two automatic payments to two different payees within 45 days of account opening.
- Enrollment in Northwest Bank’s Internet Banking at account opening is also required.
- New account holders must have not held a checking relationship with Northwest Bank within the last 6 months.
- An Early Account Closing Fee of $100 is specific to the Love at First Swipe Checking Account Promotion and will be applied to your account if closed within 90 days of account opening.
- A one-time $50 cash deposit is available for new accountholders who open a Northwest Bank savings account in conjunction with and at the same time as the Love at First Swipe Checking Account Promotion.
- $500 minimum opening balance.
- An Early Account Closing Fee of $50 is specific to the Love at First Swipe Savings Account Promotion and will be applied to your account if closed within 90 days of account opening. 1&2.
- All other account requirements must be met. $100/$50 will be deposited within 30 days once all account requirements have been met
- . Accounts must be opened on or before 7/28/2017. 3. Transaction fees apply. Member FDIC.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Easiest account to keep fee free is BaZing checking, $7 monthly fee down to $6 with e-statements, and then each swipe of your debit card per month gets it down another $.20. You need to keep the accounts open for 90 days or you will forfeit the bonus.
Our Verdict
Always good to see a bonus with no direct deposit requirement. It’s not 100% clear if you can open online or not as when you click the apply now button it just takes you through their regular application process. As always please share your data points in the comments below. I’ll be adding this to our best checking bonus page.
Big thanks to reader, Curmudgeon who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.
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
Looks like promo page was removed before or on 10/2/17.
Limited to the following counties in NE:
Cass
Dakota
Dodge
Douglas
Lancaster
Sarpy
Saunders
Washington
Selecting “Other” results in the following message:
Thank you for your interest in Northwest Bank. We apologize, but we currently do not offer any products or services in your area. If you feel you have received this message in error please visit with a personal banker at any of our locations.
Thanks, adding to post.
IE failed to function properly when switching to Esign a document. I had to switch to Chrome. Process was fairly smooth then. I am a senior citizen, they have a fee free version of Platinum for seniors.
My main complaint, was I failed to find a Savings account sign up link. So only the checking was opened.
I indicated I wanted checks for this account. NOT until the final confirmation page was there a disclosure of a fee for checks of about $27.00. Needless to say, I will be in the local branch in the morning.
Nebraska listed only a limited number of counties around Omaha / LaVista, Lincoln and Sioux City/North Sioux City (Dakota County). There was an alternate county option – Other
You will need to know your county to sign up for this account.
Northwest Bank Branch Locations
https://www.bank-northwest.com/about/locations
I called the banker. He says checks are free for most accounts.
He indicated the online app system has been troublesome on their end. Unable to find my application. Says all CC deposits are CA as far as he knows. Certainly true in branch.
After a week, nothing to indicate Northwest has processed my application. I thing I will pass up any further efforts.
Any update? I waited 3 weeks and got no response. I contacted them and they seem clueless as to knowing anything. They don’t see anything in the system.
I got a phone call this morning apologizing for online app SNAFU. Wanted to know if I was still interested. I was honest with them telling them the answer depended on CC funding as purchase. I also told them I moved on to another offer because of the online app SNAFU and not getting any more word.
Bank rep is trying to verify CC funding processes as purchase. Promo listed is still ongoing.
Banker got back to me. As best as he can find out, CC funding IS cash advance even via on line application.
I would be interested in experiences of others who CC funded.
My spouse applied again last night and received a confirmation email. However, after emailing the account opening email and an employee twice, no response was given. My CC was not run, same as last time.
It appears this bank is just plain incompetent and their online account opening doesn’t work. They aren’t a small bank, well over 1B in assets.
Looks like Platinum may be the best way to avoid fees. You just need 4 ACH per month, shouldn’t be hard to have a few in and out. Better than doing 15 (Bazing) or 30 (Compass) debit card transactions per month.
My wife did $1500 CC and it seemed to go thru…will see when it gets approved
Any update?
No update, sorry. I am doing a ‘Contact Us’ form to try and get an answer. CC was never charged, never received any email and have not heard any update yet.
I can also verify there was a Chex Inquiry for it.
I am local to a branch, Polk County Iowa to be specific. Called to verify credit check, she said they do NOT check credit, only a Chex hit. You CAN fund with a credit card, although they warn that it may be a cash advance. I do not know the max or min, I funded $550 with no problem.
Compass Rewards checking cannot be opened online, and has a $4 fee if you use your debit card fewer than 15 times per month.
The savings account has a $50 minimum to avoid fees.
Best way to avoid fees if you’re opening online is the BaZing checking, $7 monthly fee down to $6 with e-statements, and then each swipe of your debit card per month gets it down another $.20
Also, their application system times out very quickly so be quick when you are applying. I had to go through 3 times before I successfully opened an account. Hopefully that’s not 3 Chex hits.
Can you confirm no hard pull?
If you can let me know how to check that I can. Credit Karma, Journey, and all the free Fico scores provided by Discover, Citi, Capital One, etc are not showing anything.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/whats-best-cheapest-way-monitor-credit/ credit karma to check two and then freecreditscore to check Experian
Can confirm no hard pull after checking both Credit Karma and FreeCreditScore.com.
Started the application online but it’s limited to only Nobles & Jackson counties in MN.
damn
Yup, ran against the same problem 🙁 I was hoping selecting “Other” county will still allow me to go through but not to be
Thanks, added to post.
Limited to certain counties in Iowa too.
What counties?