Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200 in gift cards or memberships
- Availability: Must open account in branch [Branch locator]. All locations are in NJ
- Direct deposit required: Yes, full deposit of payroll or social security (must be at least $500)
- Additional requirements: Yes, see below
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Unknown
- Household limit: One
- Expiration date: None
The Offer
- Open a new free checking account with Clifton Savings Bank and receive one of the following gifts:
- Two year basic Netflix Membership
- $200 Uber gift card
- One year Spotify Membership
- Two year Amazon Prime Membership or $200 Amazon gift card
- Must complete the following requirements:
- Must open account in branch [Branch locator]
- Receive a full deposit of payroll or social security of $500 or more per month
- Add a CSBK debit card
- Enroll in CSBK Digital Banking with eStatements
The Fine Print
- To qualify, arrange for full deposit of payroll or Social Security of $500 or more per month to your Simply Free Checking Account, add a CSBK debit card and enroll in CSBK Digital Banking with e-statements.
- One gift per household; gift will be emailed once all qualifications are met.
- Simply Free Checking customers may use any ATM fee-free – plus receive automatic rebates of 4 fees per month charged by non-CSBK ATM owners.
- Offer effective 2/15/17 and subject to change without notice.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
There are no monthly fees on this account, I’m unsure if they charge any early account termination fees or not due to the fact I can’t find their fee schedule.
Our Verdict
I’d be going for the Uber or Amazon credit if I was in the eligible area. Unfortunately we don’t know if it’s a hard or soft pull to open, but you need to go in branch to sign up anyway so you should be able to ask that question before signing up. If anybody does sign up, please share your datapoints in the comments below.
Due to the unknowns we obviously can’t add it to our best checking promotions yet.
Big thanks to reader, Audrey F 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
So I finally have the story, I opened this account in March. Yesterday I received a call from the vice president of the branch saying they had deposited $200 in cash in my bank account. It is indeed there. I’ve spent maybe 2 hours on the phone with various people and made maybe, without exaggeration, six separate calls to the VP. Promises were made time after time to get the reward to me, and not kept. The VP is a very nice guy, very professional, the people at the branch are really quite impersonal. If you have the fighting spirit and patience necessary, by all means go for it. I originally was going to get an Uber gift card.
Stripe transfers do count as DD. I’m self employed / own my own company. Whatever I say goes, if I mark a direct deposit as payroll, that’s what it is. Just the same as if I had a different boss who used whatever banking system they saw fit to send me my specified pay.
The bank feels very new, sort of like if everyone is figuring out what banking is, seriously. But you know something? I’m gonna keep the account, I really like that their ATM refund is instant, unlike Schwab, who refunds at the end of the month. So…Schwab for international ATM withdrawal and unlimited ATM refunds and Clifton for three ATM withdrawal refunds INSTANTLY.
They denied me, saying without definite things in writing or even really facts, that “it didn’t really look like direct deposit”. Customer service reps are very rude at the branch.
Did you do a real DD or not?
Just signed up. Promotion terms state minimum monthly $500 deposit and if you stop the qualifying direct deposit within one year the account will be charged the cost of the gift.
I received the e-mail with my Uber crefit the same day my DD posted.
Does this bank count Paypal/Ally/broker transfer as Direct Deposit?
Thanks.
Went and opened the account. Need to keep $500 direct deposit active for 12month otherwise bonus will be clawed back. This is the only downside.
Very good people. Almost no fee on this account. You can even withdraw money at other bank’s ATM and they will refund 4 fees a month.
Unfortunately i think you can not transfer money from this bank to other bank.. but you can pay credit card etc. through this so no biggy there.
Thanks Doctor.. You Rock as always… 🙂
There’s one a ten minute walk from my office, I’ll give it a shot for the Uber credit.
Keep us updated
I finally went yesterday, opened the account without issue, it was all very straightforward. I’m not sure what they pulled to approve me, but there wasn’t any hmming and hawing as best I could tell. I have all the forms if you’d like me to scan and share.
$50 minimum deposit, I don’t live in NJ so my NY mailing address was okay, I just stated I worked nearby (I really do), you get three starter checks. You need to sign up for e-statements on your own. You need to fill out a little paper checklist with your banker picking your gift. I haven’t reviewed all the forms, so I’m not sure about the ” Need to keep $500 direct deposit active for 12month otherwise bonus will be clawed back. This is the only downside.” data point and it wasn’t mentioned by the banker.
As best I can tell, no bureaus are consulted. I have Financial Account monitoring and nothing has reported.
“To qualify, arrange for full deposit of payroll or Social Security of $500 or more per month” what is the Full Deposit here means? is one DD is fine or more reqd.
I assume they are talking about a full paycheck, rather than just $500 of what you’re paid, but I don’t think they could actually tell if its full or not? Does anyone have any prior experience with an offer using the “full deposit” wording?
Yeah, confused because the fine print states, “arrange for full deposit of payroll or Social Security of $500 or more per month” but doesn’t specify how many months are required before bonus hits.
Sometimes when they have the full wording they will require paystub as proof, but this is rare.
If youre gonna do an ACH to trigger the direct deposit, please let me know what bank you used
Will be checking this out Saturday morning. Will report back.
I’ll be in Clifton for the weekend, do i need to be a Jersey resident?
Not sure, try it and let us know 🙂