[Expired] [CA only] Stanford Federal Credit Union $200 Checking & $200 Savings Bonuses

Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here. 

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: $400
  • Availability: CA only
  • Direct deposit required: $500+
  • Additional requirements: See below
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
  • ChexSystems: Unknown
  • Credit card funding: Unknown,
  • Monthly fees: None
  • Early account termination fee: None, but account must be kept open for three months
  • Household limit: None
  • Expiration date: None listed

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Receive a sign up bonus of $500, must sure promo code NEWMB. Bonuses are broken down as follows:
    • Open a new checking account & establish a monthly recurring direct deposit of at least $500 to your new checking account and receive a $100 bonus
    • Make at least 20 debit card purchases/month for three months and receive a $100 bonus
    • Open a rewards credit card and make at least $500/month in purchases or maintain a minimum $2,500 balance for three months and receive a $100 bonus
    • Open a savings or money market account with a minimum of $25,000, must maintain that balance for three months and receive a $200 bonus

The Fine Print

  • Bonus offers are only available to new Stanford FCU members beginning August 1, 2019, and eligibility requirements apply.
  • Loans are subject to credit approval.
  • All bonuses will be credited to your checking account within 30 days from satisfaction of the requirements.
  • The 3-month new member period begins on the first day of the month following your account open date.
  • Any taxes due on the bonus deposit are the sole responsibility of the recipient.
  • Stanford FCU will report the bonus deposits to the appropriate state and federal agencies, as required by applicable law.
  • This offer is not valid with any other Stanford FCU promotional offer, and is subject to change without notice.
  • Checking with a minimum $500 recurring monthly direct deposit plus one of the other offers qualifies you for Partner level Membership Rewards and 3 free worldwide ATM transactions/month.
  • Open a Stanford FCU Basic or Premier Checking account with at least $5 and a minimum $500 recurring monthly direct deposit.
  • The recurring direct deposits must be posted to your new checking account within 60 calendar days of your account opening date.
  • Offer does not apply to second or multiple checking accounts and/or existing members with checking, and will be limited to one bonus per household.
  • The checking account must remain open a minimum of three months.
  • The $25,000 must be deposited to a Stanford FCU savings or money market account within 30 days of establishing a new membership with a new checking account, and this balance must be maintained for three months.
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

Their basic checking account has no monthly fees or monthly minimums.

Early Account Termination Fee

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.

Our Verdict

Looks like the money market account earns 0.35% APY if your balance is above $2,500. That means with the bonus you’d be earning roughly 3.55% APY if your balance was exactly $25,000 and you left it in there for three months, not bad but certainly not the best when compared to other savings rates and savings bonuses. The credit card bonus isn’t really worth considering as it will be a hard pull and there are much better bonuses available. The $200 in checking bonuses are worth doing though and are better than the $100 normally offered. I’ll add those to the best bank account bonus page.

Hat tip to reader John C

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
    William Charles
  • On September 22, 2019, 13:00

View Comments (93)

    • Hi William, are there any live/work or other eligibility in order to use your referral to sign up for Stanford FCU? Reading from the website here - https://www.sfcu.org/join-us/ - I think people has to sign up with FOPAL and MOAH in order to become a member of Stanford FCU.

  • There is a targeted offer

    **To receive the $250 you must have a Stanford FCU checking account with direct deposit of your entire paycheck for a minimum of 90 days. The first direct deposit must be received by June 20, 2023, with the two consecutive monthly direct deposits received in the two months following the first direct deposit. The $250 will be deposited to your checking account by mid September 2023 after verification. Employees, volunteers and family members of Stanford FCU are not eligible for this offer.

    The term "entire paycheck" is tricky, have anyone saw this offer before? Or this is their 1st round?

  • tldr; If you are considering going for a bonus with SFCU, beware that you must monitor the bonus terms on their page for changes until payout.

    Even though this offer is expired, I want to post about my experience to warn others. As I always do, I documented the bonus terms when I opened my account, and received written confirmation via email of the terms and that the offer code had been applied to my account. I fulfilled those DD requirements with real employer DD (for the $100 bonus) and maintained $25k in the savings account for the required period (for the $200 bonus).
    After a couple months of not receiving the bonus after fulfilling my requirements, I sent a secure message asking why. In their reply, they claimed that I did not fulfill the DD requirement, and they listed a DD requirement term that was longer than the requirement I had documented, but matched the one presently (at the time of the SM) listed on their website. I replied with my documentation of the original requirements. They then replied with a message repeating the new requirement, and they attached a PDF which actually listed the old requirement that I had fulfilled. I pointed that out to them and they agreed to investigate. A couple of days later, I received a $100 bonus in my checking account. I sent another SM stating that I had also fulfilled the requirements of the savings account, and received a very stern reply that I hadn't even deserved the $100 checking bonus, therefore I would not be receiving the savings bonus. To be clear, until I messaged them I had never received any communication that the requirements had changed since I opened my accounts and the terms did not contain any language that the offer was subject to change without notice. The $100 bonus that I received was absolutely not worth the effort, HP, and months of interest lost on $25k.

    • Yep, still the same on 6/5
      "Open a checking account and sign up for direct deposit (use promo code NEW100). After 90 days and confirmation of your direct deposit, $100 will be deposited into your account!"

  • Only the $100 bonus for the $500 DD x 3 months is still active as of 03/02/2021. Please update this article to reflect that.

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