Update 1/16/23: There is a $200 bonus for those in AZ, ID, NM, or NV. Hat tip to reader Vista 9
Update 12/19/22: Bonus is back but has been reduced to $100.
Update 11/21/22: American First Credit Union is increasing the offer from $100 to $250 for Black Friday. Promotion runs 11/25 – 11/28. Hat tip to reader Bockrr. Eligiblity requirements are:
- Salt Lake, Utah, and Juab Counties, Utah
- Eligible areas of Cache, Davis, Iron, Rich, Washington, and Weber Counties, Utah
- Clark and Lincoln Counties, Nevada (except those living within a 25-mile radius of the Alamo, Nevada U.S. Post Office)
- Eligible areas of Churchill, Douglas, Esmeralda, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Storey, Washoe, and Carson City Counties, Nevada
- Maricopa County, Arizona
- Eligible areas of Mohave and Pima Counties, Arizona
- Eligible areas in Page and St. Johns, Arizona
- Eligible areas of Ada, Bannock, Bear Lake, Bingham, Boise, Bonneville, Canyon, Caribou, Clark, Elmore, Franklin, Gem, Jefferson, Madison, Owyhee, and Power Counties, Idaho
- Eligible areas of Malheur County, Oregon
- Eligible areas of Bernalillo, Chaves, De Baca, Guadalupe, Harding, Mora, Quay, Sandoval, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Torrance, or Valencia Counties, New Mexico
Update 12/6/21: Can do the same deal, but only requires depositing $100 this time. Hat tip to reader DW
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $100
- Availability:Â
- Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum specified
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: HardÂ
- ChexSystems: UnknownÂ
- Credit card funding: UnknownÂ
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: None
- Expiration date: None listed
The Offer
- Receive a sign up bonus of $100 when you become a new member of America’s First Credit Union and complete the following requirements:
- Open a savings account with a $1 deposit
- Add a free checking account and a free* Visa® debit card, on approved credit
- Sign up for free online statements
- Enroll in direct deposit
- Existing members can also get up to $100 for the following:
- America First Visa credit card – get one or increase your limit and we’ll pay $40 in transactions
- Direct deposit – enroll and you’ll get $30
- Online statements – sign up and we’ll give you $10
- America First mobile banking app – download, make a transfer and get $10
- Card Guard® – download the app and get $10
- Bill pay – enroll, make a payment, and we’ll give you $10
- Youth savings account – open them for your children and they’ll get a free Penny or Buck piggy bank
- Auto & RV loans – get a low-rate auto or RV loan and we’ll pay $50 toward your first tank of fuel
The Fine Print
- No monthly debit card fee.
- Offers valid for active and retired members of any branch of the U.S. military, as well as veterans.
- Eligibility & conditions apply.
- Current members benefits limited to $100, available in cases where the member does not utilize listed product or service.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
They offer a free checking account, so no fees to worry about there, I wasn’t able to find any early account termination fee in the fee schedule.
Our Verdict
Update: Not worth considering as it’s a hard pull to open account.
Too difficult to say whether this is a good or bad deal without knowing if it’s a soft pull and if you can fund with a credit card. If anybody knows the answers to these questions, please let us know in the comments below. You can view a list of the bonuses we do recommend 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
I had to manually have the $50 direct deposit bonus applied more than 60 days after direct deposit.
They have a $250 credit card sign up bonus for spending $2500 in 90 days https://www.americafirst.com/specials/make-more-summer-memories.html
Opened an account during the black Friday promotion for $250. On 01/13, noticed bonus was not received yet. Messaged them through online portal. It was immediately adjusted during business hours.
Same here, but unfortunately in my circumstance, I apparently fumbled this one really bad (it stings given I usually don’t miss bonus terms, much less one as easy as the Black Friday $250 promotion and having a hard pull done). Literally the only terms were to open an account as a new member and opt into e-statements for an easy $250. My representative while I was applying mentioned she did opt into e-statements for me through phone while I awaited for my debit card pin by mail to login online, but apparently that wasn’t the case. I only received one paper statement from November and no paper statements since then, so I assumed e-statements was done successfully. Apparently this credit union doesn’t cut paper statements if there is no account activity. This left a bad taste in my mouth and I’ll be closing my account.
the new promotion account has a $6 monthly fee, unless completing the following each month
Have a direct deposit into your account of at least $500
Complete 20 or more transactions with your Visa credit or debit card
Maintain an average daily checking balance of at least $1,500
Phone rep when I applied said that the fee is waived the first two months.
Hey
Davis can confirm the 2 months fee waiver.
Anyway, any advice what to do with this account once we get the full bonus?
I received my first $150 credit right away as I was doing my sign up in branch (nice touch!) and now about to start on that last $50 DD part.
The $6 fee waiver requirements seem excessive (min balance + DD + 20 debits), but there is also this language in the terms: “Applicants will forfeit cash bonuses if accounts are closed or transferred within six months.”
So zero out the account and risk it, or go through the trouble with the fee waiver for at least 4 months?
Edit: just tagging
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 too, since he might have had similar scenarios in his unlimited banking endeavors to give an informed opinion…
The fee is close to the interest that you’d get at a 5% bank or current T-bills. I’ll use my legit DD for a few months until a better opportunity arises and do Paypal 1 cent transactions. If either of those changes or don’t work, I think I’d eat the fee.
Looks like no Oregon
Per terms, only for these 4 states: AZ, ID, NM, or NV
William Charles 
Chuck
Their online application no longer appears to be geofenced. I can access it from Minnesota now.
I already joined back in 2021 before they (supposedly) stop letting OOS people join but if someone OOS wants to take a stab at it and try to join, please keep us updated and give us a datapoint if they let you join.
Not worth chex hit for 200 and that too not sure if we get bonus for Oos
Application is now back to being geofenced. This CU is bizarre
Per terms you have to reside in four different states… That is pretty easy to enforce.
Regardless im happy I got in when I did from out of state. They had no bonus at the time and I was joining because I genuinely wanted their checking account, not because of a bonus. They’re a seriously fantastic credit union!
This is back to the regular offer of $100 so maybe change the headline instead of marking as Expired? Some might find this a good offer since there are no requirements other than turning off paper statements. However, there is a hard pull and most applicants have to apply from scratch over the phone since the finicky online application usually won’t approve instantly.
$250 posted yesterday.
Called to apply. Would not open OOS. Rep did not submit the application.
1. Tried the ACC excuse. I was told you had to live in a bordering state.
mothman69?
2. Tried Military – there is no eligibility qualification for the military. So, you have to meet some other qualification to join.
3. Tried PTA. Got put on hold for a long time and whoever the rep spoke to said I had to live in the state of the PTA I was joining. This is a counter DP to one someone posted on Deposit Accounts dot com – maybe
Seems a family member would have been a ticket in, but I have none there. Unless someone wants to be my long-lost brother, I give up.
“Members of the immediate family or household of an existing member or those eligible for membership”
I really like how they list existing members as an eligibility option to join. /s
Looney Tunes
https://www.americafirst.com/about/membership/become-member.html
Interesting and thanks for the datapoint! I joined last year in December 2021 and I live in Minnesota. I paid $10 or whatever and joined the Arizona PTA and then afterwards I filled out the application online at America First to become a member, chose the Arizona PTA as my eligibility that I paid to join prior to filling out the membership application, and it went into a pending state after I submitted it (Can’t remember exactly what it said) I called immediately and the lady I spoke with was super friendly @ polite, had to give her all my personal information to her again (I guess it doesn’t save anything if the application isn’t automatically approved) asked me how I heard about America First (I said I seen them online and also said I read a lot of good things about them which made me want to join, and she told me that was great!) then signed me up for the Nevada PTA at no charge for me and the credit union paid the PTA membership fee on my behalf and i’ve been a happy member ever since. I ended up wasting $10 for the Arizona PTA because I didn’t know that they’d pay the PTA fees for you but oh well, no big deal.
Now I notice when you go to the America First website and click become a member it says “Thank you for your interest in becoming a member of America First Credit Union. We have detected that you are currently located outside of our field of membership.”
I guess it’s changed unfortunately. Glad I got in because they have been absolutely wonderful & fantastic to me! Also want to add that when I joined, they had no bonus for new customers at the time
Well, it appears they have corrected the ways of the past, or I just got a picky rep. Guess I will find out next year.
I joined by phone too November/December 2021 and the rep signed me up for the Nevada PTA and the credit union paid the $10 PTA membership fee for me on my behalf as well. And the rep also didn’t bat an eye that I lived out of state all the way in the Midwest either.
Also want to add the rep I spoke to on the phone was extremely friendly and the entire experience joining by phone for me was fast, smooth and extremely easy. Sorry you had a completely different and much less positive experience than I had.
And I just want to take a wild guess, seeing as to how they geofenced their online application completely, that they probably aren’t allowing people out of state to join anymore unfortunately.