[Expired] [CA only] Farmers & Merchants Bank $500 Business Checking Bonus

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Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $500
Availability: CA only
Direct deposit required: No
Additional requirements: Have $25,000 deposited for 150 days
Hard/soft pull: Unknown
ChexSystems: Unknown
Credit card funding: Unknown
Monthly fees: $20, avoidable
Early account termination fee: $15, 90 days
Household limit: None
Expiration date: December 31st, 2019

Contents

1 The Offer
2 The Fine Print
3 Avoiding Fees
- 3.1 Monthly Fees
- 3.2 Early Account Termination Fee
4 Our Verdict

The Offer

Direct link to offer

Farmers & Merchants Bank is offering a bonus of $500 when you open a new business checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Maintain an average daily balance of at least $25,000 for 150 days beginning the first day of the month immediately following the month you opened the Business Checking Account.
- Sign up for 4 of the following business products and services by the end of the 150 days beginning the first day of the month immediately following the month you opened the account.
  - Remote Deposit Capture
  - Merchant Services
  - Courier Services
  - Electronic Lockbox
  - Business Online and Mobile Banking²
  - eStatements & eNotices
  - Bill Pay
  - ACH
  - Business Credit Card
  - Business Market Rate Savings
  - Business Market Rate Money Market
  - CD
  - Additional Business Checking Account

The Fine Print

To receive $500, new F&M clients must: 1) Open a new Business Checking Account by December 31, 2019; 2) Maintain an Average Daily Balance of at least $25,000 for 150 days beginning the first day of the month immediately following the month in which you opened the Business Checking account. 3) Sign up for four (4) of the desired services listed above by the end of the 150 days beginning the first day of the month immediately following the month you opened the account. No product/service substitutions permitted. Offer expires December 31, 2019. F&M Bank reserves the right to end, extend or make changes to this promotion with or without notice.
After you have completed all of the above requirements, F&M Bank will deposit $500 into your Business Checking Account during the quarter immediately following the end of the 150-day period during which you must maintain an Average Daily Balance of at least $25,000 and have signed up for the 4 additional business products and services. “Business Bonus” will appear on the monthly checking account statement when the reward is credited to your Business Checking Account. This promotion is only applicable once per client. Cashback promotions are considered interest and will be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT. Any applicable taxes are the responsibility of the recipient.
All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

This account has a $20 monthly fee if the balance in the account falls below $5,000 any day of the statement cycle.

Early Account Termination Fee

$15 if closed within 90 days of account opening

Our Verdict

Shouldn’t be too hard to do the 4 products/services, easiest ones are probably:

Business Online and Mobile Banking²
eStatements & eNotices
Bill Pay
ACH

The real requirement is the $25,000 that must be deposited for 150 days. This account doesn’t earn interest, so basically a return of $500 for $25,000 invested for 150 days. You’ll likely need the funds in there a bit longer to satisfy the $5,000 balance requirement in the first partial month and also give some time for the bonus to post. Let’s say you need the funds in there for half a year, works out to be an annualized return of roughly 4% APY. Pretty good if you have the funds to spare, but nothing too crazy. I’ll still likely add this to the list of the best savings account bonuses if it’s a soft pull to open.

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