Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:
- Availability: CA. Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, or San Bernardino Counties
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $750+
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown
- ChexSystems: Yes, sensitive
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: $5
- Early account termination fee: Unknown
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: August 16, 2025
Contents
The Offer
- Credit Union of Southern California is offering a $500 checking bonus
- Open your account with just $100
- Receive a monthly $750 direct deposit within the first 90 days
The Fine Print
- Offer valid June 16-August 16, 2025, and are available to new and existing Members. All accounts will be verified by ChexSystems® and are subject to approval and Membership eligibility.
- Offers and rates are subject to change without notice.
- Cash bonus is not available to Members who currently have a checking account and who closed a checking account within the last 365 days.
- Must be 18 years or older.
- All new accounts are subject to verification by ChexSystems® and are subject to approval and eligibility requirements.
- To qualify for the $500 cash bonus, the Member must: open a Rewards Checking account with a least $100 and establish a monthly direct deposit of $750 or more within 90 days of opening the account.
- The $500 cash bonus will be deposited into the Member’s account within 60 days after all promotional requirements are met.
- Bonus is subject to reporting.
- Offer subject to change without notice and cannot be combined with other offers.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Rewards checking account has a $5 monthly fee, doesn’t seem to be avoidable.
Early Account Termination Fee
I wasn’t able to find a fee schedule so unsure if there is any EATF or not.
Our Verdict
Previously this was only $150, but now $500. This is now $500 and worth doing, will be adding to our list of the best bank account bonuses.
Hat tip to reader Lynn
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
How many DDs are needed to meet the “monthly” DD requirement?
Do I need to open both Checking and Savings account to get this bonus? When I click on the open account page, it adds savings account by default.
Interested in any dp’s on out-of-state address using worship/school/work access to f.o.m.
what is f.o.m.?
LOL, put it on the list: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/knowledge-base/credit-finance-acronyms/#F
A “Credit Union of Southern California” that doesn’t serve San Diego? Hmm.
Would San Diegans that worship in Orange work?
Denied chex.
Sorry about that. Do you happen to know your Chex stats? How many in the past three months?
Just opened my account. Put $2,000 funding through credit card. My account hasn’t been approved yet so not sure if it will be processed as it said $1,010 max through CC.
Also on the application it mentioned $150 bonus instead of $500. I think their IT department does not really focus on these details. Will report back once I hear back
Do you live OOS? What your Chex stats before applying?
I just re-read your comment. You wrote “[j]ust opened my account” and “[m[y account hasn’t been approved yet”. Can you clarify? Did you mean to write that you “just applied for an account”?
datapoint: live in footprint, chex 12+ last 12 months. went pending
Here’s the fee schedule: https://www.cusocal.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/FeeScheduleApril2024.pdf
Lots of junk fees if you don’t choose e-statements: $2/mo paper statement fee + $3/mo “maintenance” fee + an extra $5 in your initial membership contribution ($15 rather than $10).
(1) For those in two-player mode, the optimal sequence may be to have P1 do the $500 offer, https://www.cusocal.org/500Rewards/, and then refer P2.
Unfortunately, the referral offer terms are unclear, inconsistent and confusing. https://www.cusocal.org/about-us/membership/care-to-share/
The top of the page says that the referrer get $50 ($25 for opening and $25 for $750 DD), and does not say what the referee gets.
The footnote seems to say that the referee gets $25 for opening +$475 for $750 DD, while the referrer only gets $25 for both. But it could also be read to say that referee gets $25 for opening + [$25 + $475] for $750 DD, while referrer gets $25 for each, i.e., $50.
And when you actually generate the referral email, that email states that the referee only gets $50 ( “$25 Open a Rewards or Classic Checking Account ($100 min. deposit). $25 Set up and receive at least $750 in direct deposits within 90 days.”).
(2) The terms are ambiguous as to whether the $750 DD needs to be made only once, or every month until the bonus is paid.
I called them just now about whether the $750 is required each month for the bonus and the rep I spoke with said yes, it is each month for 90 days, though we all know how wrong they can be
RM
Would probably make sense to plan for that in any event, just in case she is right.
True
RM , that would make it clearer, but it does say “at least $750 in monthly direct deposits within the first 90 days” so to me monthly could mean each month.
The $5 fee can be avoided but requires meeting 3 of 5 criteria in their Rewards+ program each month so probably not worth it for most people unless you plan on keeping the account.
These are the requirements to choose from:
*$750 in electronic deposits
*12 combined debit and/or credit card purchases
*An auto loan
*$25,000 average daily combined deposit balance(s).
*Any mortgage loan
Also, there was no hard pull when I opened the account last week (they sent me a secure message to unfreeze Experian so must have been for a soft pull) and my chex was pretty light so not sure of how sensitive they are.