This bonus has expired, you can view the best bank bonuses here. Or click here to see if there is a new OneWest bonus.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200 Visa gift card
- Availability:Â Any OneWest bank [branch locator]
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $650 per month for two consecutive months. ACH deposit counts according to fine print
- Additional requirements:Â See below
- Hard/soft pull:Â Soft
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding:Â UnknownÂ
- Monthly fees:Â $10, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: Six months, bonus forfeit
- Household limit:Â None mentioned
- Expiration date: May 31st, 2017
The Offer
- OneWest Bank is offering a bonus of $200 (Visa gift card or other gifts of your choosing) when you complete the following requirements:
- Open a new Premium Checking or OneAccount checking account
- Activate a new debit card within 60 days of account opening
- Sign up for eStatements within 30 days of account opening
- Set up and receive recurring direct deposits or ACH deposits totaling $650 or more per month for at least two consecutive months within 90 days of account opening
The Fine Print
- Limited time offer. $200 bonus offer is for customers aged 18 years or older who successfully open a new OneWest Bank Premium Checking or OneAccount checking account no later than May 31, 2017, and meet all the following “Eligibility Criteria”:
- Activate a new debit card on the new checking account within 60 days of account opening;
- Sign up for eStatements on the new checking account within 30 days of account opening;
- Set up and receive recurring direct deposits or ACH deposits totaling $650 or more per month for at least two consecutive months to the new checking account within 90 days of account opening.
- Bonus will be paid, at customer’s option, in the form of a prepaid card loaded with $200 or a gift valued at approximately $200.
- Customers who satisfy the Eligibility Criteria within the time frames specified above will be sent an e-mail with prepaid card and gift redemption codes and instructions within 30 days following the date on which all Eligibility Criteria were met.
- Checking account must remain open and in good standing for a least six months after account opening. If checking account is closed by the customer or OneWest Bank within six months after opening, the value of the bonus may be deducted from account at closing.
- Bonus is considered forfeited if not redeemed within 180 days after first email sent.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
You need to keep the account open for six months otherwise you will forfeit the bonus. The easiest account to keep fee free is the Premium  checking account, this has a $10 monthly fee and this is waived if you meet any of the following requirements:
- Maintain $1,000 monthly balance
Our Verdict
This is better than the $100 for both parties referral bonuses they have offered in the past. They have also offered this same $200 bonus before as well. I will be adding this bonus to our best bonus page as the requirements are fairly easy to meet (specifically states an ACH deposit will count towards direct deposit). Biggest downside is having to deal with a Visa gift card instead of cash.
Big thanks to reader, JarJar who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.
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- What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
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- Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
Just got email for my gift. Used 3x employer DD and 1 Wells Fargo ACH.
Received same email as Jason, gift card is on way.
Unlike Saf, bankers knew full well my intention of only opening for bonus, and did not mind at all my many accounts on chex.
Which branch had the friendly people? This is not worth wasting a bunch of time being grilled by managers.
I opened at the branch across from Cedars-Sinai (think it’s Beverly and San Vicente?) A nice tall Romanian guy helped me open the account.
June.2 got email said:Congratulations, your reward from OneWest Bank is waiting for you . I transfer 650 in Apr.28 and second trnasfer 650 in May.5 from chase.pick up visa reward card said will send me in 2-4cweeks.
Similar experience as some readers above. Waited quite a while to get to a banker to open account. Banker was frankly quite slow. After account open he brought over the manager and let me know there were quite a few recent inquires on Chex. Still allowed me to open the account, because this seems like a difficult place to get the bonus from I’m going to be on the cautious side and just do actual Payroll DD (plus no ACH DP’s) since I went through the trouble of wasting 1.5 hours of my life to open this account in branch.
Hi, Is there any Friends already got bonus. Can you share your experience?
Does OneWest really count ACH in lieu of direct deposit? It says “no data points” for OneWest on the corresponding ACH article.
According to the fine print they count, so I’d be surprised if they didn’t.
Despite many chex inquiries, decided to go take a chance and was approved. I found my experience a bit weird though. I knew I’d be grilled but it wasn’t by the banker. The banker actually brought over the manager. The manager did not even ask me about the accounts she knew I had, but asked me WHAT accounts she had. Definitely more off putting than other reports on here.
On the OneWest Bank $200 new accounts offer:
1. For visitors to CA: Out of State applications are fine.
2. Credit Card funding, per se, is NOT acceptable as a DD – unless it is a Debit Card-type.
3. Bank-to-Bank or ACH’s are fine (set it up at your primary bank), and
4. Online apps are not accepted; you must come to a branch in person.
They accept appointments. For example, at one branch, the banker who processes these is not available today (if I understood them correctly).
I don’t think I will be applying if they are monitoring who we bank with and why, as Roman S explained. Or if I decide to go, I will first explain that, frankly, I am applying mainly for the $reward, but obviously if I enjoy my experience I will stay with OneWest.
Thanks for info, are you an out of state applicant?
No; definitely not. I decided to ask them a few of the questions I’d seen online since I had them on the phone anyway.
Thanks 🙂
Let me share some data point for some of you who thinks to apply for it.
I went to a local branch in los Angeles and after waiting for 25 minutes was finally be able to start opening a checking account. After banker filled out all the information and printed some papers she got back to me and said following – Mister X your report shows that you opened very recently new account online with BMO ( which I did last week) and my question to you is why do you want to bank with them and us and the same time?
I was lost and didn’t know what to respond – after few second I told her that I would like to use BMO to pay my bills online and OneWest Bank as a bank where I would keep my funds to get an annual interest on them. After my response she went to a manager and few minutes later came back to me and said “we can’t approve you due to too many inquires on your credit report, thank you for stopping by and have a great day”
Hope this information will help you.
Applied in branch just now. $1,000 is required to open and keep fee free, but rep seemed to think I could downgrade after bonus posts.
Good to know, thanks Shawn!
Anything about credit card funding?
Maybe possible for over the phone applications. Anyone try opening an account via phone?