This bonus is now over, you can view more checking promos here.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $100
- Availability: CT, DE, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, and VT (if you live in MI, and OH then you can sign up for the Charter One bank version of this offer)
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements: Two bill online bill pays
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull if you apply at branch, hard online (YMMV). Read the linked data points for more information.
- Credit card funding: Up to $1,000
- Monthly fees: $9.99, waive-able
- Early account termination fee: Unknown
- Expiration date: February 27th, 2015
The Offer
- Open your first personal checking account with Citizens Bank at a participating supermarket location, enroll in online banking and schedule two qualified online bill payments and receive $100.
- View all supermarket locations by clicking here and clicking “supermarket branches”
The Fine Print
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
- Online bill payments must post and clear before April 30th, 2015.
- Your considered a new customer if you haven’t been a primary or secondary signer on any personal checking account with Citizens bank in the previous six months.
- Valid until February 27th, 2015
Avoiding Fees
Monthly fee of $9.99 is waived if you have a deposit of any amount to the checking account that month. We couldn’t locate their fee schedule so I am unsure if there is any early account termination fee or not.
Our Verdict
In the past Citizens bank has offered a sign up bonus for $150 with similarly easy requirements to meet (according to twitter user wallerswallet they also have $200 offers sometimes). It might be worth waiting for a higher sign up bonus to come instead of going for this one, that being said this still isn’t such a bad offer. Here is what I’d do if I lived within the service area:
- Open account, using a credit card that earn 2% cash back to initially fund $1,000 (+$20)
- Schedule two bills that I needed to pay anyway
- Withdraw all my funds to a high interest checking account
- Deposit a bit of money each month to keep the account fee free
- Wait for my bonus to post (+$100)
- Wait six months to avoid any early account termination fees
- Cancel account and transfer money out
In total I’d profit $120, which isn’t bad but it’s not nearly as good as the best checking sign up bonuses. I’ve added this bonus to our complete list of bank account bonuses which can be found here. If you know of any that aren’t listed, let us know and you could win up to $225.
Direct link to offer | Screenshot of offer
Hat tip to reader Anthony Fantino
I just applied for this checking account over the phone and the rep was able to look up a grocery store near my address and apply the sale to that branch for the $100 bonus. I do have an address and driver’s license in a state with local branches.
The rep said that they do a HARD pull for PHONE applications for checking accounts.
On the same call I applied for the College Saver’s account (SOFT PULL) and the Cash Back Credit Card (second HARD PULL since application processed by another department).
I was able to fund the Checking with $1000 and the Savings with an additional $1000 from a credit card in my name.
Charter One does not have any locations in Illinois – they were sold to US Bank.
Yeah, I updated the main Charter one post but not this one. I’ve fixed this one also, sorry about that.
There is a $200 offer in-branch offer (at least in their grocery store locations). Also, applying in-branch does not get a hard pull. The $200 offer requires 2 bill pays. May be region specific (I’m in PA)
Thanks for the heads up. Does it just require two bill pays?
Can you or somebody else take a picture for me?
I have the offer at home cuz I signed up for it. I’ll try to snap something when I get home.
Just pulled out the sheet……it ended 12/31/14, so its not good any longer. Sorry for crying wolf.
No need to apologize at all, Bob. Thanks for letting us know there has been a $200 bonus in the past – that’s good intel to have. I’ve updated the post to reflect that.