[Expired] Fairwinds Credit Union $175 Referral Bonus For New User ($75 For Referrer)

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

Update 5/19/25: Deal is valid until 12/31/25.

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: $175
  • Availability: Nationwide
  • Direct deposit required: Yes, $1,000+
  • Additional requirements: Be referred
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
  • ChexSystems: Yes
  • Credit card funding: Up to $500 via credit card
  • Monthly fees: None
  • Early account termination fee: None
  • Household limit: None listed
  • Expiration date:06/01/2024

The Offer

Direct link to offer (be sure to sign up with a referral link, you can find and leave links on this dedicated page)

  • Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a $175 referral bonus to the person being referred when they open a Preferred or Signature checking account with $25+ & do a qualifying Direct Deposit of $1,000+ within 60 calendar days of opening. Person referring gets a $75 bonus.

The Fine Print

  • Offer available from January 29, 2024, through June 1, 2024. In order for both the referred individual and the referring FAIRWINDS member to each qualify for and receive the referral reward, the following conditions must be met: The referred individual may not have previously been an owner on or a party to a FAIRWINDS account; the referred individual must open a new FAIRWINDS consumer Preferred or Signature Checking Account with a minimum deposit of $25.00 at new account opening; during the eligible program period, the referred individual must open the new account using the referring FAIRWINDS member’s unique referral link; and the referred individual must receive in the new Preferred or Signature Checking Account a cumulative qualifying direct deposit(s) of $1,000.00 or more (excluding the new account deposit used to fund/open the account) within 60 calendar days of opening. A “qualifying direct deposit” is an Automated Clearing House (ACH) deposit of a paycheck, pension, or government benefit (including Social Security) from the government or your employer. Person-to-person transfers (such as Zelle, PayPal or Venmo) and bank transfers between a FAIRWINDS account or an account at other financial institutions or brokerages do not qualify. The referring FAIRWINDS member must be in good standing with the credit union and must be an owner of a FAIRWINDS consumer Spending or Checking account in order to be eligible for a referral reward. FAIRWINDS Credit Union employees are not eligible to receive any referral program rewards.

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

Easiest account to keep fee free is preferred checking account. This has a $10 monthly fee:

  • Waived with either $1,000 in total monthly direct deposits, or
  • with $10,000 or greater average monthly deposit balance*,
  • or by maintaining an investment** account balance of $10,000 or greater.

Early Account Termination Fee

I wasn’t able to find any mention of an early account termination fee in the fee schedule.

Our Verdict

Not as good as the previous $200 deal, but not sure that will ever return. Obviously an even better if you can refer a few friends/family members as well. Do not share your referrals in the comments, you can share them in this linked post instead. We will add this to our list of the best checking bonuses.

Hat tip to reader Gadget

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
    William Charles
  • On May 20, 2025, 11:00
Tags: credit card fundingdirect deposit requirednationwide bank bonusessoft pull

View Comments (467)

  • BB paid out on the 15th as promised. Chatted in today to downgrade the account and realized the savings I opened for the extra $50 does not have a fee-free avenue like the checking does. Has anyone who did the additional $50 bonus closed the savings out immediately?

  • 7/11/25 - Opened acct with $25 deposit and referral from the referral page
    7/28/25 - $1015 Wise ACH xfer with "Payroll DD"
    7/28/25 - $50 "Maximize Your Membership" promo deposit
    7/30/25 - $1325 payroll DD
    8/15/25 - $175 "Deposit Welcome to FAIRWINDS!" processed after close of business.

    Was worried I wouldn't be able to get the bonus since I opened it so close to when they discontinued the bonus but luckily it went through.

  • I saw some posts mentioned "Emergency Savings", but I could not find it under account essentials. Is it still valid or expired?

  • Ugh. Got hit with an inactivity fee yesterday. It was $10 but because I only had $5 in the checking $5 got auto-reversed. I was keeping the account open to get my referral link but now that's gone anyways.

    I called in to ask for a courtesy waiver, and they asked whether I intended to keep the account or close it. I bluffed that I want to keep the account (said I was waiting for referral link to refer P2 so we could both move over and use Fairwinds), and they reversed the other half of the fee. Not sure how long I should wait before closing. Maybe 2 full months? Also wondering what the chances are they might bring the referral program back and have a 12 month waiting period again, and whether that might make it worth holding the account open.

    Like someone else said, just incredibly nice staff. Hurts to be pulling a fast one

    • Someone in the comments explained how to downgrade the account online to avoid fee...got to have account open for year for referral, so like Eric said I'm keeping 1K in the 5% emergency fund for now

      • There's inactivity fee after 1 year which is separate from monthly fees for the higher tier checkings

    • Why not fund a 5% Emergency Savings account with $1K using a CCR like I did and then keep your membership? That way, you won't pull a fast one on their nice staff. 😉

  • Need clarification on the extra $50 Bonus

    Approved for new checking $175 offer + $50 new member bonus.

    $1005 AmEx Biz DD posted as ACH Deposit and triggered the $50 tracker to update for the DD. Is another DD required to trigger the $175? Some DPs were a single DD, others were multiple. Thanks

  • p1 and p2 just got bonuses posted on the 15th. consistent with what cs told me (posted 15th day after the month of the review period, or next business day)

  • Should I try pushing SoFi as well?

    Opened my account on 6/24/25
    $1,005 Wise Push on 7/8/25
    $50 Bonus Posted on 7/8/25
    No $175 bonus on 7/15 like I should have gotten?

    Is anyone else running into wise not working?

    • No Wise doesn't work for DD. That's all I had did and both csr stated so when messaged after bonus should have posted. Also did a CFPB complaint, that got routed to Florida bank overseer and ultimately in hands of Fairwinds Exec office and they confirmed this as well. :(

      • Nope nothing posted still with only wise

        I’ve reached out to them, waiting to hear back

        Are you running into the same issue?

        • Sorry to hear about the troubles. Hopefully you can get an answer soon.

          I'm trying to avoid the same issue since I planned on using Wise. Going to see if Wise counts towards the "make a direct deposit" qualification for getting the extra $50. I would imagine if it does it should count for the referral bonus as well.

          Did you put in "Payroll DD" on the description or no? Did it code as ACH?

          • Oddly enough Wise with the memo as “payroll dd” triggered the dd requirement for the extra $50.

            I did receive that when using wise to trigger dd.

            But I did not receive the $175 for the referral bonus.

          • Customer service responded and credited me the missing $175!

            I don’t have to get NCUA involved lol

          • Did they ask you for a paystub? They're asking me to produce it and then they'll do an inquiry. My rep was Ingrid.

          • Nope they did not ask me for a paystub

            I also had real DD hit the same day they manually credited me the bonus though.

            So I did wise and real DD

  • @2 The referral campaign has ended. Page shows the following.

    "The Refer & Earn campaign is over,
    but you can still join and we'll help you on your journey to achieve financial freedom."

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