U.S. Bank $50 START Savings Bonus [Stack with $150 Checking Bonus]

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $50
• Availability: Nationwide; must have a  new Silver or Gold Checking accounts, paired with a Package Money Market Savings
• Deposit Required: $500
• Length of deposit: One year
• Interest rate: Close to zero
• Additional requirements: None 
• Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
• Credit card funding: Up to $500
• Monthly fees: $0
• Early account termination fee: Account has to be kept open for a year to get full bonus. No mention of a EATF in the fee schedule.
• Expiration date: None listed

The Offer

Direct link to offer

• Open a START Money Market Savings account and earn $50 when you save $500 within 12 months in the Savings account

You have to link the Money Market Savings account to your U.S. Bank Silver or Gold checking account, enroll in START Smart, and schedule a qualifying transfer from the checking to the Savings during enrollment.

There’s also another bonus to get 1% cash back, up to $50, for using your U.S. Bank debit card on gas or groceries. I assume no one would want to do this.

The Fine Print

• Enrollment START is required within 90 days of opening checking account.
• To be eligible for START bonuses, you must be a new customer with a new personal Silver Checking Package and a new or existing Package Money Market Savings account. Additionally, at least one owner name on the Silver Checking Package must also be on the Package Money Market Savings account.
• A qualifying transfer from your Silver Checking Package to your Package Money Market Savings account must be scheduled during enrollment.
• To be paid the goal reward and/or bonus, both the associated Silver Checking Package and Package Money Market Savings account must remain open through the program end date, which is 12 months after the enrollment date.
• You can only get the START bonus once per lifetime.

Avoiding Fees

U.S. Bank Package Money Market Savings Account does not have a monthly fee.

The Silver and Gold checking accounts do have monthly fees, see this post for information on how to get those waived.

Our Verdict

A bonus of $50 is pretty lackluster (START used to come with $100 bonus). What’s interesting here is that there’s currently a bonus offer of $150 for Silver and Gold U.S. Bank checking accounts. So long as you open and link this START Savings account within 90-days, you should end up getting both that $150 bonus and this additional $50 bonus. (And you might also get an additional $50 bonus if you apply for a U.S. Bank credit card, as described in that post.)

Edit: This $50 bonus appears to be only for the Silver account, not the Gold. The Gold is easier, in a way, to get a monthly fee waiver since it’s waived if you have a US Bank credit card. If you want this extra $50, go with Silver and keep $1,500 in the account to keep it fee-free.

If you haven’t yet done the $150 checking deal, open both accounts at once or on the same day so that it will hopefully only result in one Chex inquiry. If you already opened the checking account, you might get hit with another Chex inquiry when opening the START Savings.

Hat tip to reader Ya

 

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:

• A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
• PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
• Introduction To ChexSystems
• What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
• Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
• 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