Posted by William Charles on June 12, 2018
Bank Account Bonuses

Published on June 12th, 2018 | by William Charles

19

[CA only] Stanford Federal Credit Union $100 Checking Bonus

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: $100
  • Availability: Must open account in branch, all branches are located in Palo Alto or Stanford. Branch locator here
  • Direct deposit required: $500+
  • Additional requirements: None
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
  • Credit card funding: Unknown, but unlikely given it requires in branch opening 
  • Monthly fees: None
  • Early account termination fee: Account must be kept open for three months
  • Expiration date: December 31st, 2015 December 31st, 2017 December 31st, 2019

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Receive a sign up bonus of $100 when you open a personal checking account with Stanford Federal Credit Union and do the following:
    • Establish a monthly recurring direct deposit of at least $500 to your new checking account

Coupon code is generic: segck100su. You can generate your own official coupon by going to the Special Offers tab and entering your name/email.

The Fine Print

  • Valid through 12/31/18.
  • First direct deposit must be received within 60 days of account opening
  • $5 minimum required to open account
  • Offer does not apply to second or multiple checking accounts and/or existing checking members and is limited to one bonus per household
  • Bonus $100 will be credited to your account within 30 days after satisfaction of conditions
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

There is no early account termination fee, but you must keep the account open for a minimum of three months according to the fine print. Their basic checking account has no monthly fees or monthly minimums.

Joining

While the Stanford Federal Credit Union is usually for employer groups in the Stanford area, anybody can actually join. If you join the Friends of the Palo Alto Library (FOPAL) or Museum of American Heritage (MOAH), then you’re eligible. When you set up your account in branch, they will even pay the membership fees for you.

Our Verdict

This is a decent promotion (given how easy it is to keep fees down), but unfortunately we don’t know if it’s a hard or soft pull and what counts as a direct deposit. The upside is that an in branch application is required, so you should be able to easily ask whether it’s a hard or soft pull. Because of these unknowns we haven’t added it to our best bank bonus page.

We have added it to our massive listing of all bank bonuses, which is easily sortable and searchable.


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Jim
Jim

Signed up for this account back in mid-December when first posted here at DOC.

Curious if any folks have received the bonus? I’ve been doing ACH pushes from December through March, but not quite 30 days since the 3 month mark yet…

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March 24, 2016 5:48 pm
Jim
Jim

Took a phone call and secure message to be credited with the $100 bonus, but finally received it.

Basically asked about source of DD and where I saw the advertisement — right on their website, of course 🙂

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April 18, 2016 8:45 pm
Ferris
Ferris

was it a hardpull ? thinking about doing this now since it’s renewed and you can open online

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February 8, 2017 5:15 pm
William Charles
William Charles

Don’t think it can be opened online, when I request more info they give me a physical card to bring in. Are you using the same link?

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February 8, 2017 9:12 pm
Ferris Anwar
Ferris Anwar

it’s there at the bottom to get a cuopon emailed to you https://www.sfcu.org/cardinal/

I just got the coupon in the mail, but as I look over the wording again maybe it’s only for Stanford employees? doesn’t say anything in the terms tho

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February 8, 2017 9:49 pm
William Charles
William Charles

Yeah I get the coupon, but it needs to be brought in branch. Not restricted to Stanford employees, up above we share how to get around it.

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February 8, 2017 9:57 pm
Ferris
Ferris

Won’t let me reply to your other comment. Doesn’t it say “Open a Checking Account with $500 or more monthly direct deposit and we’ll put $100 into your new account! Complete the form below and your $100 coupon will be emailed to you. Open your account online or at any of our branches. Offer good for new members only.¹” though? says online and that you can use the coupon code otherwise print and bring to branch

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February 8, 2017 9:59 pm
petitesybarite
petitesybarite

i know it’s been awhile, but curious to know which deposits triggered the bonus?

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June 11, 2018 11:08 pm
Ferris
Ferris

DP: Inquired through their live chat whether or not they pull credit on new checking accounts they said they do not pull credit at all, they actually also said they do soft pulls on loan apps, wondering how accurate that is, might be worth it for someone to give a shot.

DP2: Opened a checking account online using the promo “segck100su” (they had a section to input a promo code). I selected the “MOAH” elgibility even though I dont have a membership with them. Got this after submitting “Your application will be reviewed and a Stanford FCU Representative will contact you within 1 business days.” as well as an email asking me to sign a sig card and upload a copy of my ID.

will update with more DP’s

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February 9, 2017 8:58 pm
William Charles
William Charles

Thanks!

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February 9, 2017 9:27 pm
Jim
Jim

Yea, do keep us updated, thanks. I have some friends/family interested in applying as a friend of the library, either MOAH or FOPAL.

When I had my account/membership last year, they had an electronic document with attachment system, where I provided my driver’s license scan and bonus coupon. Then I got a phone call a day later asking for a paystub, as my employer is one of those associated/eligible for a SFCU membership.

I didn’t incur a hard pull, either, but a ChexSystems inquiry

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February 9, 2017 9:38 pm
Ferris
Ferris

Got denied, I replied trying to figure out why exactly as they didn’t give me an exact reason. I did open 7 new checking accounts so far this past month tho lol

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February 10, 2017 2:33 pm
Jim
Jim

Thanks for the update! Agreed, probably saw those on your ChexSystems report

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March 1, 2017 2:20 am
sfplat
sfplat

Gonna jump on this. What should I try first for DD? (What works most often?) Paypal push?

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June 12, 2018 2:46 pm
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt

I’ve had SFCU for 6 years, and signed up since they don’t have a foreign transaction fee for debit cards, as well as paying 1.5% for their HSA if you have $500 as a reoccurring ACH.

Overall, they are one of the poorer credit unions I’ve dealt with. Everything is manual, the customer service doesn’t care, and is quick to say no. Last year, the website was down for a 3 day upgrade.

For $100, I would pass.

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June 13, 2018 3:52 am
Todd
Todd

I came here to post this exact comment. I joined this CU when I worked in the same complex as one of their branches. They’re not worth the hassle.

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June 14, 2018 3:46 pm
petitesybarite
petitesybarite

just joined today and was fairly easy and best of all, COMPLETELY FREE. they seemed clueless about the promo but i showed them the email i received and they honored it. since i’m not eligible through my employer, they covered my fees so it is completely free to join. SFCU pays your $5 membership fee (goes into savings and cannot be touched while you’re a member), $5 fee to join MOAH. i signed up for the free checking and savings.

their membership rewards is slightly confusing. you have to have a $500 monthly DD plus one other service to qualify for “partner” status (2 services to qualify for “ambassador.”). partner gives you lower rates and 3 ATM fee reimbursements/mo. ambassador will give you unlimited ATM fee reimbursements. easiest way to qualify for partner is with a cc but you need to put a min monthly spend on it. their athletics cc gives 3pts gas + 2pts groceries and no AF so i may go for it. wonder if anyone here has it and what their experience has been?

i signed up so i can use this account as a hub (counts as DD for a lot of other banks) and no fee international ATM withdrawal. just note they are very chex sensitive. i had 8 inquiries in the past 2mo (although 3 are in dispute). the rep showed my report and it showed a chex score of 612, 4+ inquiries in 180 days. said my low score was also based on the fact that i have no mortgage or personal/auto loan. they should’ve looked at my student loans lol the rep got approval from his manager and pushed my application through even though i had too many chex inquiries. no cc funding (in branch). but if you don’t have too many chex inquiries or baddies, then go for it. they pay all the fees so it’s completely free to join. FYI they have a car buying program w/ enterprise until december: 1.49%

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June 13, 2018 4:55 pm
petitesybarite
petitesybarite

any DPs on what triggers direct deposit? in the knowledge base, one review said fidelity did but i don’t have an account. hoping another bank will trigger it. would appreciate any DPs 🙂

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June 13, 2018 4:57 pm
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