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Erin
Erin (@guest_970827)
May 3, 2020 15:52

https://www.bbt.com/content/dam/bbt/bbtcom/pdf/personal/banking/at-a-glance/personal/bright-banking-nc.pdf
This document says that $12 fee waived if I have:
•Combined ACH direct deposits totaling $500 or more per statement cycle OR
•$1,500 average checking balance per statement cycle
So I don’t have to make a real DD, any would be ACH fine. Right?
Can anybody confirm that fee is waved?
ACH from which banks waved fee?

mothman69
mothman69 (@guest_970834)
May 3, 2020 16:05

ACH from any bank will waive the monthly fee.

Gadget 🕵️ Bank Bonus Geek
March 20, 2020 13:41

Last Nov/Dec I saw the code AZMFZ provided by fST. I went in branch to ask if they had any checking promotions going on, but the banker said they only targeted mailers had gone out recently.

I waited several weeks to see if a public offer would be available and decided to give AZMFZ a shot, with the pending Suntrust merge I figured it was the last opportunity & I assumed this code would expire at the end of the year.

12/31/19 – Applied & Approved instantly online – website accepted promo code.
DP: Used Fidelity Rewards Visa to fund $250, posted as purchase.
1/8/20 – Used Bill Pay for 3 separate CC bills, all electronic. (BB&T bill pay is so user-unfriendly – no wonder they have to pay people to use it.)
1/10/20 – One more bill pay, but it went out via check
1/31/20 – One real DD, $500+, just in case, and keeps account free. Then I leave the account alone and drop the ball.
3/5/20 – Got hit with $12 account maintenance fee. SM’ed to request reversal. I had a $500+ ACH push “DD” in route to waive fee, but didn’t make it in time because BB&T closed the statement earlier than I expected.
3/6/20 – Fee reversed, “SERVICE CHARGE REFUND”.
DP: Per SM response, you are only allowed 1 fee reversal per year.
3/19/20 – “Bonus Payments AZMFZ BONUS PAYMENT” $200 posts.
Leaving $1500 in the account to avoid any chance of fees for the remaining 2 1/2 months until close.

Since I did not have the fine print for the offer, I am not sure of the terms for minimum time since the previous account. I assume it was 12 months. If so, I snuck by, but only by a few days. And, by household rule, if any, we snuck by a lot, but we have different last names.

P1:
Previous Account Opened: 6/26/18 Promo code ASCAT $150
Previous Bonus: 9/11/18
Previous Close: 1/10/19

P2:
Previous household opened: 3/13/19 Promo code AVGFZ $200
Previous household bonus: 6/4/19
Previous household close: 9/24/19

Thanks fST. FYI IS250 Missjenniferd1 JuicyJosh  William Charles

Last DP: Not sure what the fine print said on this one, or where it was mailed to, but I am in VA.

I will miss BB&T… a little. My Suntrust bonuses, I recently received one for P1 (open 9/19, payout 1/16/20), and P2, expecting payout any day now, opened 12/19, and both were $300 offers.

Shaun
Shaun (@guest_862790)
December 30, 2019 10:04

Any more datapoints for closing without a fee after three months? Don’t really want to wait until six.

mothman69
mothman69 (@guest_862824)
December 30, 2019 11:47

It’s been 2 weeks since my reply below and I have not received anything regarding an ETF. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/bbt-200-checking-bonus-direct-deposit-not-required-al-dc-fl-ga-in-ky-md-nc-oh-sc-tn-tx-va-wv/#comment-858878

Shaun
Shaun (@guest_862825)
December 30, 2019 11:50

Do you remember what promo code you used? I used AWWFX

mothman69
mothman69 (@guest_862826)
December 30, 2019 11:53

I’m pretty sure I used the same one.

Shaun
Shaun (@guest_862827)
December 30, 2019 11:56

Thanks.

Just found on another site where someone posted a picture of the mailer for AWWFX and I don’t see any mention of a fee there, either.

I think I’ll wait until I’m at three months (Jan 2nd) and just send a SM like you did.

JIE JIANG
JIE JIANG (@guest_864041)
January 2, 2020 11:53

hi, if I need to withdraw all the balance before sending the SM? Thanks….

JIE JIANG
JIE JIANG (@guest_861754)
December 24, 2019 23:58

10/02 account open use the code AWWFX in VA
10/03 $26 bill pay to my discover
10/07 $30 bill pay to my discover
10/08 $48 bill pay to my AE
And then do nothing with this account and keep a balance around $1500.

12/23 $250 bonus as interest posted in my account!

So, anyone has idea on how to close the account? (just hold it for 3 months till now) thanks Doc!

mothman69
mothman69 (@guest_855289)
December 9, 2019 17:16

9/14 – account opened in-branch with promo code using an out of state address
9/19 – $100 DD from Alliant
9/20 – $100 DD from Alliant
12/2 – 3x bill pays (I chickened out from the DD route just in case Alliant didn’t trigger the bonus)
12/4 – $250 bonus posted

I also did $500 monthly DD from Alliant to waive the monthly fees.

Anyone have success closing early? There’s not an ETF listed in the Bright Banking fee schedule, but I also didn’t keep any of the paperwork from when I opened the account (maybe a bonus specific ETF in the bonus terms?).

Wayne
Wayne (@guest_855296)
December 9, 2019 17:26

I closed after 3 months in branch and wasn’t charged a fee.

mothman69
mothman69 (@guest_858878)
December 17, 2019 20:30

I sent a SM last week requesting for my account to be closed. I received an email today that my request had been processed and that I should receive a confirmation letter in the mail in 7-10 business days. There was no mention of an ETF.

This is just past the 3 month mark for me as well.

JIE JIANG
JIE JIANG (@guest_864040)
January 2, 2020 11:52

hi, did you withdraw all the money before sending the closing SM, or after? thanks.

mothman69
mothman69 (@guest_864219)
January 2, 2020 18:05

I made sure the account was at $0 before sending them a message. Most customer service reps will check if an account is at $0 or if it has any pending transactions before proceeding with account closure, so I empty them first to avoid any problems. It took about a week before they responded to my message.

JIE JIANG
JIE JIANG (@guest_864354)
January 2, 2020 23:42

Thanks for your reply again! Just have a confirmation, after you sent the SM, did they need to call you to make the confirmation? or just make it all done via SM? (Because i am out of the us now and the US phone number is unavailable). And i find there is no transfer money option on the BBT app and Zelle is the only way to withdraw the money, right? thanks!

mothman69
mothman69 (@guest_864471)
January 3, 2020 08:02

It was all done from my one secure message. I used my main bank account to ACH pull everything out of the BB&T account.

JIE JIANG
JIE JIANG (@guest_864569)
January 3, 2020 11:57

Sounds great! appreciated!

JIE JIANG
JIE JIANG (@guest_869532)
January 9, 2020 02:44

Hi, after 2 days I sent the close account SM, today I suddenly found I couldnt log on to my app and my online access seems to be lost. And I didn’t receive any email from them, so is that a normal case? thanks !

mothman69
mothman69 (@guest_869901)
January 9, 2020 10:44

That’s normal. Wait a few more days to receive a closure email.

JIE JIANG
JIE JIANG (@guest_870561)
January 9, 2020 20:31

Sounds easy! thanks for your reply

JIE JIANG
JIE JIANG (@guest_879073)
January 17, 2020 03:32

I have not received any email that concerning the closure issues. And I still cannot log on my online account. So, what should I do, or just let it go? Thanks

mothman69
mothman69 (@guest_879193)
January 17, 2020 07:23

Maybe try calling the closest branch and have them check your account to see if it’s closed.

Kelly
Kelly (@guest_929715)
March 6, 2020 11:34

Hi, Does Alliant means Alliant Credit Union or Alliant bank? Thanks

mothman69
mothman69 (@guest_929738)
March 6, 2020 11:58

Alliant Credit Union

Shaun
Shaun (@guest_854071)
December 6, 2019 11:02

If anyone is checking this page for fee avoidance, the summary makes it sound like you have to have a single $500 DD. This requirement is actually accumulative according to their fee schedule.

The fee schedule states “Combined ACH direct deposits totaling $500 or more per statement
cycle.”

David
David (@guest_846692)
November 20, 2019 19:02

I am a datapoint. I realize this is long expired but I got the bonus today because of slow-ass BBT. I opened the account 08/28/2019 with $1500 cash deposit. I did 4x DDs (just to be sure). I did not have ANY other activity in the account AT ALL. Literally 4 DDs and withdrew them in cash. I got the $250 bonus today on 11/20/2019. Thanks Doc. You a G.

Kyle
Kyle (@guest_846100)
November 19, 2019 20:09

What is the easiest fee free way to close this account? I just noticed that I’m past the 180 days

fST
fST (@guest_840236)
November 12, 2019 02:45

I received a mailer with Promo Code AZMFZ for $200 bonus. Sent to me due to a brand new branch opening down the road. 2 monthly DDs of $100 each or 3 online bill payments of $25 each.

The terms on my mailer says that the EFT fee for closing within 6 months is forfeiture of the bonus (you have just $25 fee above in blog post).

Matt B
Matt B (@guest_846363)
November 20, 2019 11:15

Does it have the same fine print as what’s in this post?

fST
fST (@guest_848234)
November 24, 2019 00:43

I’d have to look at the mailer again when I’m home but I’m pretty sure everything was the same, except what I noted above; the difference in the early closure fee. If I remember when I get home, I’ll check and post back.

Mali
Mali (@guest_837580)
November 7, 2019 16:16

08/13 Account opened in branch as out of state resident, followed with 3 bill pays.
11/06 $250 bonus posted.

Can confirm that schwab brokerage works to waive the fee. I think it is easy to find out if certain ACH counts as DD by going to plan&analyze, where some transactions show as transfer while others show as income.