Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:
- Availability: In branch only [Branch locations] AL, CO, CT, FL, ID, IN, MA, ME, MI, NY, OH, OR, PA, UT, VT, WA
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Mixed DP, most likely does
- Credit card funding: Up to $100
- Monthly fees: See below
- Early account termination fee: $25, 180 days
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: Unknown
Contents
The Offer
No direct link, being offered in branch only
- KeyBank is offering an impressive bonus of $5,000 for business customers. To be eligible for the $5,000 you have to do all of the following:
- Open your company’s primary operating account with us via a Key Business Rewards Checking Account or a Commercial Transaction Account
- Open a Key Business Gold Money Market Savings or Key Business Silver Money Market Savings account
- Open a card program that best suits the needs of your business – Key2business, key2purchase, Key Business Rewards or Key Business Credit Card
- Open a Key Merchant Services account and within three months of the account being activated process $50,000 or more through your KeyBank Business Reward Checking account or Commercial Transaction account.
The Fine Print
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
I’m only going to list the cheapest option for each requirement. If you’re thinking about keeping the account long term or even if you’re thinking about going for the bonus I’d recommend doing your own research into each of the options.
Key Business Reward Checking $25 Per Month
Monthly fee on this account is waived if you:
- Maintain $7,500 average balance
- Have $20,000 in combined balances in business deposit accounts, commercial loans, and line of credit accounts
Silver Money Market $0 Monthly Fee
This account has no monthly fees to worry about.
Credit Card – No Fee
The cards have no fees.
Our Verdict
The biggest requirement is the $50,000 in merchant services, for people not familiar with what merchant services are please read this post first. Chances are if you have an eBay ‘business’ you won’t be able to hit the $50,000 merchant services requirement. It also isn’t clear how long they require you to keep each account open to get the full bonus. If you can meet this requirement it might be worth going into a KeyBank branch to find out more, after you do so please share your experiences in the comments. Due to all the requirements we will not be adding this to our list of the best checking bonuses (especially since it’s not a true checking bonus).
Big thanks to reader, Scott S 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
- Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
- 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
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
Dang. Too bad it’s not for Tx. Any other bank come close to this?
The monthly fee is waived on the Business Rewards Checking account if you have merchant services. Since you need merchant services for this offer anyways there would be no monthly fee for checking and silver savings. Merchant services has a monthly fee of $5. Also there is an offer on the rewards credit card for $200 (100,000 points) if you have five transactions of any dollar value within 60 days.
I couldn’t find any rate info on Key Bank’s site for credit card processing service, but someone could try asking them:
Contact Us
KeyBank Merchant Services General Inquiries
888-KEY4BIZ® (539-4249)
Email [email protected]
I called. The guys on the sales line didjt know about any rates, they just told me that I’d have to meet with the actual merchant services people to discuss rates as nobody on the phone lines knows.
Also no “community banks” in florida, only private investment branches
do they use first data for processing cc?
Yes Key uses First Data for Merchant Services.
If anyone needs help meeting 50k merchant services I can help you charging my credit card for a very low fee of $10 per $1000. The money charged off course you will reimburse me fully.
Don’t wait till it’s too late. I expect many people to use my services.
How about I get them to setup my merchant account to code as office supplies and you pay me $20 per $1000?
lmfao
really though wonder what 50k in merchant services would cost roughly in fees? im guessing this isnt entirely cc swipes…..
I’m pretty sure that guy is paying 1%. It’d be really funny if he wanted to charge you to process his credit card.
In my experience, merchant services accounts generally end up costing you roughly 3% of all of your transactions after all is said and done, with most places charging almost exactly the same.
That would run you about $1500 in fees. Assume it’ll be a bit more in the beginning because there are usually some setup fees, so let’s say closer to $1750. That would mean you can run a phantom business and net over 3K in under 3 months. Insane..
Of course, that’s not counting the rewards you would get from your credit card, especially if you’re creative in your “business” type. For example, If you’d code yourself an airline, that’ll give you back 5 points per dollar on Amex Platinums, 3X points on the Reserve, etc.. Each of which at least cover the fees, and if you value points as I do, you’ll actually come out significantly on top!
I’d take that deal
Keybank is very Chex inquiry sensitive. Wife was denied for only 5 accounts in 24 months and I didn’t even bother applying for myself since I was way over that.
Strange. I had way more than that in last 24 months and was still able to do the $300 bonus last year.
I just looked at my ChexSystems report and I was able to open five accounts (consumer checking, business checking, business savings, business credit card, HELOC) with Key and I had 22 inquiries within the past 24 months.
Sorry if it’s in the article and I missed it, but how long do you have to do the 50K in merchant services?
3 months
Open a Key Merchant Services account and within three months of the account being activated process $50,000 or more through your KeyBank Business Reward Checking account or Commercial Transaction account.
Very nice bonus. I cant take advantage of it myself but this is the best business bonus I’ve seen so far.