[AR, GA, MS, NC, TN, or VA Only] First Tennessee $200 Checking Promotion + $50 Referral Bonus

Bonus is back and valid until August 31st, 2019

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $200 (possible +$50 each for referral and money market — see below)
Availability: AR, GA, MS, NC, TN, or VA only
Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum specified
Additional requirements: See below
Hard/soft pull: Soft
ChexSystems: Yes
Credit card funding: Up to $300
Monthly fees: $7-$12, waiveable
Early account termination fee: Account must be kept open for six months, or bonus forfeit
Expiration date: ~~May 31, 2017~~ ~~July 15th, 2017~~ ~~September 2nd, 2017 December 9th, 2017~~ August 31st, 2019

Contents

1 The Offer
2 The Fine Print
3 Avoiding Fees
4 Referrals
5 Money Market
6 Our Verdict

The Offer

Direct link to offer.

Receive a sign up bonus of $200 when you open a new Express, Classic, Select, or Premier Checking account with First Tennessee and complete the following:
- Open account using promo code RL200C
- Have an opening deposit of at least $300 (note the difference from previous offers, which often required a $100 opening deposit. Might be $100 again), AND
- Receive at least one direct deposit within 60 days of account opening

The Fine Print

Offer expires July 15, 2017.
Offer is non-transferable and is only available to recipients of this mailer who reside in AR, GA, MS, NC, TN, or VA.
To receive $200 checking bonus, you must open your account online starting at this page and ensure promo code RL200C appears where the promo code is requested, or open your account at a financial center and present your mailed offer.
You must have an opening deposit of at least $100, and at least one direct deposit must post to your account within 60 days of account opening.
Opening deposit cannot be transferred from existing First Tennessee accounts. If you meet the stated requirements of this promotional offer, the bonus will be credited to your account within six weeks of the first direct deposit and will be reported as income on Form 1099-INT. Limit one bonus per household. Cannot be combined with other checking offers.
This offer is for new checking households, or for households who have not had an open First Tennessee consumer checking account in the previous 12 months. Customer agrees to maintain account in good standing for a minimum of six months.

Avoiding Fees

Express Checking, $7 Monthly Fee

This is waived if you have at least 1 direct deposit during a statement cycle and is the obvious choice for which account to pick.

Classic Checking $8 Monthly Fee

This cannot be waived (and has been increased in the last couple of months).

Select Checking $9 Monthly Fee

This is waived if you have at least 1 direct deposit and 15 customer-initiated debit transactions during a statement cycle.

Premier Checking, $12 Monthly Fee

This is waived if you have a minimum of $5,000 in combined monthly balances (checking, savings, bank IRAs, or CDs) during a statement cycle.

Early Account Termination Fee

The fine print states that the account must be kept open and in good standing for 6 months. We can assume that they will take the bonus back if you don’t fulfill this requirement.

Referrals

Even though the terms of the offer state that it “cannot be combined with other checking offers”, readers in the past have had success combining the referral bonus with the checking account bonus. In order to receive the referral bonus, you must submit the referral form first, THEN sign up for the $200 bonus.

Note that the terms of the referral are slightly more strict with respect to the direct deposit requirement. You will need to complete two direct deposits of at least $100 each within 60 days of account opening.

If you meet the requirements, both you and the referrer will receive a $50 Visa Gift Card (within about 6 weeks).

You can leave your referral links in the comments below. Please only leave your link once and post your full link for the domain referlive.com (not the bit.ly link you are provided if sharing via Twitter). If we find you doing this more than once, we will remove your comments and ban you from leaving future referral links.

Money Market

You can also get a $50 bonus for opening a money market account with $5,000 in deposits.

Our Verdict

First Tennessee has had bigger checking offers in the past, but this is the highest offer in recent memory that’s been available for so many states (the $250 offer was subsequently limited to just Tennessee and North Carolina). It’s a personal call on whether you should grab this offer or wait for a higher bonus, but I’m not sure one is likely to come along. Given the large state footprint and easy direct deposit requirements, this is better than many of the bonuses found on our best bank account bonuses page and is worth going for. It’s also worth noting that there is a current $300 checking + $100 savings + $50 referral bonus restricted to Middle Tennessee and North Carolina.

There is an explicit state limitation indicated on this offer, so you can expect that they will not honor the promotion if you live outside of the indicated states.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses: