Update 7/22/21: $400 bonus is back. Hat tip to Beto O’Rourke
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $400
- Availability:If you live or work in our geographic reach, we want YOU with us. Geographic Reach: Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Yolo, San Joaquin, Contra Costa, Solano, Yuba, Sutter, Butte, Nevada, Alameda, and Amador Counties.
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $300 or $1,000+
- Additional requirements: 30 debit card transactions
- Hard/soft pull: Hard pull (report of soft pull)
- ChexSystems: Unknown, sensitive
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: $5-$8 avoidable
- Early account termination fee: None listed
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date:
December 31st, 2020December 31st, 2021
Contents
The Offer
- Safe Credit Union is offering a bonus of $250 or $400 when you open a new checking account using promo code GET400.
- Get $250
- Make 30 qualifying purchases with your new SAFE Visa® Debit Card in the first 90 days and earn $150.
- Make three consecutive direct deposits of $300 or more in the first 120 days and get rewarded with an additional $100!
- Get $400
- Make 30 qualifying purchases with your new SAFE Visa® Debit Card in the first 90 days and earn $150.
- Make three consecutive direct deposits of $1,000 or more in the first 120 days and get rewarded with an additional $250!
- Get $250
The Fine Print
- $150 is posted to SAFE savings account on the last day of the month following 90 days from account opening of a new Perfect Cents Checking® or Prestige Checking and upon confirmation of 30 debit and/or credit card purchase transactions.
- $150 bonus is reported as dividends on IRS Form 1099-INT.
- Account receiving bonus must be open and in good standing. No minimum balance required to receive bonus.
- $100 is posted to SAFE savings account on the last day of the month following 120 days from account opening of a new Perfect Cents Checking® or Prestige Checking and upon confirmation of three consecutive direct deposits of $300 each or more. $100 bonus is reported as dividends on IRS Form 1099-INT. Account receiving bonus must be open and in good standing. No minimum balance required to receive bonus.
- $250 is posted to SAFE savings account on the last day of the month following 120 days from account opening of a new Perfect Cents Checking® or Prestige Checking and upon confirmation of three consecutive direct deposits of $1,000 each or more. $250 bonus is reported as dividends on IRS Form 1099-INT. Account receiving bonus must be open and in good standing. No minimum balance required to receive bonus.
- Offers cannot be combined.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
- Perfect Cents Checking®: $5 monthly fee is waived with eStatements and either 10 or more debit and/or credit card purchase transactions clearing same membership account per month or direct deposits totaling $500 or more per month. Also waived for members less than 21 years of age.
- Prestige Checking: $8 monthly fee is waived with minimum daily balance of $1,000 or more or combined deposit and loan balance of $5,000 or more.
Early Account Termination Fee
I wasn’t able to find any early account termination fee in the fee schedule.
Our Verdict
Probably not worth considering due to the hard pull, although the requirements are fairly easy to meet and it’s a relatively high bank bonus. Hard pulls are less of an issue with more and more credit card issuers making it difficult to get approved for credit cards anyway.
Hat tip to reader ZT
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
churnable?
This deal is back and expires 12/31/2021. https://www.safecu.org/get400
They definitely toughened up their approval process. I opened this account back in July with 6/6, 13/12. P2 rejected with 3/6, 10/12. Called recon and wasn’t given the opportunity. I was approved by the computer system, but overturned after review for ‘excessive inquiries’.
Did they still do a hard pull despite the decline?
To clarify, P2 was neither automatically approved nor manually via an agent whereas you were instantly approved but denied after manual review? Did you apply before P2? I wonder if that caused eyes to your account after P2 or if it’s just tougher restrictions regardless.
That said, it’s a juicy bonus so I might pull the trigger again. Hard pull concerns these days IMO are overrated.
Will reloading cash app count as debit card purchase?
I have a positive DP that Discover works for DD requirements.
7/20: Account opened
7/30: $1001 push from Discover
8/21: $1001 push from Discover
9/21: $1001 push from Discover
11/30: $250 credit to Savings “Direct Deposit Promo / Dividend”
Can confirm the same for Chase push. Unlike channelz28, I did my 3 $1k DDs w/in span of 3 weeks, altho I’ve kept a $500 DD every month after.
Thanks, did you receive the $150 for the debit card 30x?
Thanks, did you also receive the $150 for the debit card 30x?
Yes I did
I was just charge a $4 bill pay inactivity fee. I have asked for refund … Apparently in the fee schedule it says that there will be a $4 if the bill pay has been inactive for 60 days. For me I have only been with then 50 days so there should be no problem with a refund and I have set up a month (since bi monthly could be over 60 days) bill pay to avoid this. I have let them know that they should be more up front about this fee.
Got the refund for the $4. Just wanted people to be aware of this fee. If you don’t sign up for bill pay you don’t get charged.
I just went on Nov 5, 2020, and was told the offer has just expired on Nov 3, 2020, in addition to the offer only being able to be honored at rotating branches when it was active. Would love to know if I did something wrong?
Were you told this after applying online? Or in branch? Usually if the offer is still listed on their website with a clear expiration date of 12/31, they usually wouldn’t deny you unless they wanted to face CFPB consequences.
I went to a branch in Sacramento and they even had the brochures and told me that the promotion ended that Monday and that there you had to go to a different branch because only one branch a week could honor the promotion.
Since the online offer is still standing, I think the offer might not apply in-branch. Or some branches just don’t want to honor it for whatever reason. I would just apply online and you should be covered. Thanks for the info
7/20/20 – Opened account.
10/31/20 – $150 New Checking Promo posted to Savings
I did about 32 debit card purchases. Some organic, some Amazon reloads.
On a totally random note, my debit card never showed up in the mail, so I went in branch to get one. I haven’t been inside a brick and mortar bank in a couple years so maybe I’m out of touch, but it was by far the nicest bank branch I’ve ever been in. It reminded me of a fancy hotel lobby. A front desk lady greeted me immediately and directed me to a banker. There was no wait in line. It took about 5 minutes to make my card so I waited in the “lounge.” Big comfy chairs and sofas, free water/coffee/tea, fast wifi. It was legit.
7/31/20 – opened P1 & P2
10/31/20 – $150 “new checking promo / dividend” posted to both accounts
Used a combination of amazon reloads and xfinity/Comcast scheduled payments.
Now waiting on the $250 which will likely post come the end of November 30.
Thanks — may I ask if you used payroll for DD?
Used Alliant and Schwab (brokerage). I set them up for monthly transfers Aug/Sept/Oct since we have to wait 120 days regardless I figured it would be better to set up as monthly just in case the terms weren’t specific enough. I’m expecting to receive $250 come November 30th. To be continued.
Anthony do you still have the account. Can I use you as eligibility reference?
Cheers, thanks!
Instant approval, I unfroze my Chex and the Safe CU verification questions definitely used the Chex database. I unfroze my TU and EQ reports just in case of a soft pull, but definitely no hard pull at either.
Went with the Prestige checking to avoid fees with just the minimum balance.
What are folks using for DD simulation? And it looks like no limit on the time/frequency of the DDs, so I’m thinking of just trying bank pushes once a week for three weeks…
How will you know when it works? Just by doing 3x per bank into you get the bonus?
Hopefully we’ll have some data points soon, as folks started opening in July.
I’ll use real DD if need be
Few tidbits from my online app.
Got a secure message to unlock my credit reports for a supposedly hard inquiry. I unlocked TU and EQ, but it looks like only a soft pull. I received a DocuSign application to sign to complete the process; the document contained my member ID, which I was able to use to set up online banking and get my full account number for ACH.
I did a quick chat to verify my account is coded/enrolled for the offer. I asked what sources would qualify for DD, like if social secuirty would suffice; she stated any ACH/electronic deposit should qualify for the promotion. Was reminded to enroll in paperless statements, as there’s a $2 fee for paper.
I’m local, in the SAFE footprint