Update 1/8/24: Bonus is now $325 and extended to March 31, 2024.
Update 12/22/23: Offer expires January 2, 2024 and is now $375.
Update 10/28/23: Bonus now $350. Hat tip to Etheostoma
Update 5/1/23: Bonus now $225.
Update 2/27/23: Bonus reduced to $275.
Update 12/2/22: Bonus now $325. Better to wait for $375 to return.
Update 9/17/22: Bonus is now $250. We have removed this from the best bank bonus page as previously it was $375.
Update 7/4/22: Extended through September 30, 2022.
Update 6/11/22: Bonus has been increased to $375.
Update 5/2/22: Bonus is now $350 instead of $300. Direct deposit requirement reduced to $500 from $1,000.
Update 4/2/22: Extended until June 30, 2022.
Update 1/6/22: Extended until 03/31.
Update 9/8/21: Deal is back and valid until December 31, 2021.
Update 7/25/21: Deal is back and valid until Sep 30.
Update 4/12/21: Deal is back until June 30, 2021.
Update 1/6/2021: Deal is back and valid until March 31, 2021. Online opening no longer offered. Hat tip to reader AllwaysLearning22.
Update 9/16/20: Deal is back and now requires $2,000 (or $1,000) in direct deposits unfortunately. Better to wait for the no direct deposit deal to return.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $375
- Availability:Â Only in the following states: FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MI, NC, OH, TN, WV, SC (may be only for those within a 50-mile radius of a branch). A lot of the time you’ll need to go in branch to complete the account opening.
- Direct deposit required: $500+
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull:Â Soft
- ChexSystems: Yes
- Credit card funding:Â None
- Monthly fees:Â None
- Early account termination fee:Â None listed
- Household limit:Â None
- Expiration date: S
eptember 30th, 2017 December 31st, 2017.March 31st, 2018Â June 30th, 2018September 30th, 2018ÂDecember 31st, 2018March 31st, 2019ÂApril 30th, 2019 June 30th, 2019 October 31st, 2019.August 31, 2020.September 30th, 2020October 31, 2020 December 31, 2020March 31, 2021 Note these offers are known to expire earlier than the expiration date so do not leave it to the last minute.
The Offer
- Fifth Third is offering a $350 bonus when you open a new Fifth Third Essential checking account when you complete the following requirements:
- Make direct deposits totaling $2,000 or more within 90 days of account opening
The Fine Print
- Offer not available to existing checking or Express Banking customers or to those with a Fifth Third Checking or Express Banking account that has been closed within the last 12 months.
- Bank reserves the right to limit each customer to one new account-related gift incentive per calendar year.
- Essential Checking account must be opened between 1/1/2021 and 3/31/2021.
- Bonus will be deposited into your new checking account within 10 business days of completing requirements.
- Basic Checking, Express Banking and Business Checking accounts are excluded from this offer.
- Bonus may be taxable as interest income and reported on IRS Form 1099-INT.
Avoiding Fees
Some states are able to open the Free Checking Account with Extra time (now called Momentum checking), that’s the best option if available. Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan all have the free option. Other states have another free checking offer.
Early Account Termination Fee
This account does not have an early account termination fee
Our Verdict
Fifth Third used to to offer a $300 bonus with no direct deposit or a $500 bonus with a direct deposit but neither of those offers have been seen since 2019. The standard bonus has been $300, so this is an increased offer by $50. We will be adding this to our best bank bonus page.
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
Post history:
- Update: Some offers now requiring direct deposit, make sure to triple check your offer.
- Update 6/12/20: Deal is back and valid until August 31, 2020. It looks like they are split testing offers though as I’ve seen offers for $50, $150 and $250 depending on the device I used. Make sure you see the $250 offer before applying, the $150 also has a direct deposit requirement whereas the $250 offer does not. You can try using a VPN or clearing cookies to get the $250 offer to show. Hat tip to reader newbie & Ben
- Update 1/4/20: Deal is back and valid until April 30th, 2020. This replaces the $500 deal. A lot of people will prefer this deal as it only requires $500 to be deposited rather than $20,000.
- Update 7/1/19: Deal has been extended until September 30th, 2019
- Update 5/20/19: Deal has been extended until June 30th, 2019. Hat tip to YAR
- Update 1/6/19: Bonus is $250, I’d still recommend waiting for a bonus of $300 instead. There was also a recent $200 + $200 deal as well.
- Update 07/01/18: Bonus has been extended until September 30th, 2018 but reduced to $200. I’d recommend waiting for the bigger $300 bonus to come back.
- Update 04/02/18: Bonus is now $250 instead of $200. Can be opened online (e-mail yourself a coupon and then follow the prompts)
- Update 01/07/18: Bonus is back but is now only $200 instead of $300. Might be worth waiting for a bigger bonus to come along.
Bonus has been increased to $300 and can be opened online again! Hat tip to reader Yaobang. Looks like $300 offer is only showing for some people, try incognito mode or google search for ‘Fifth Third’ or ‘Fifth Third $300’ and see if there is an ad for the offer or look at the comments for more ideas.
How to calculate the 13-month waiting period — Received a $450 offer code today that expires 3/30/24. Terms say that you cannot have owned a Fifth Third checking account that closed within the past 13 months. Account was closed 2/24/23. Does anyone know if the 13 month period is counted by the day so that I could open a new account at the very end of March? Or does it really mean that prior account had to close in January 2023 or earlier if I open a new account in March 2024?
I always calculated from the closure date. In your case, 3/25/2024 should meet the closure threshold requirement. I would open the new acct on 3/29 just in case.
Concur. Your earliest opening date is 3/25.
Thank you!
Do not ask for $450 codes in the comments, if people have them and want to share they can offer.
No selling codes either.
I received a $450 code in the mail today and won’t be using it. It expires 3/30. Email me at [email protected] if you want it for free; I’ll edit this comment once it’s taken.
Option to edit is now gone (I have no idea how this site works lol), but, this has been taken ^
You can edit for 10-15 mins
can this $450 code been used by more than one person?
No, it cannot.
After ID verification/scan with cell phone, the application page turned to blank and there is nothing on it.I was using Chrome on Mac..Does anyone see this when applying? Thanks!
3/16/24 – $450 mailer opened in branch (tried to open online but got mssg that I need to open in branch. I previously had an acct with them 13 mths ago with drivers license from different state)
3/20 – $2k Chase ACH
3/21 – $450 bonus posted
Momentum Checking $325 Bonus through link
03/16 Account Opened
03/18 $519.72 Wise Push
03/21 — No bonus yet.
Seeing everyone’s bonus post here the next day has making me think that my Wise push maybe didn’t register as a DD. Not sure if I should try to push $500 again using a different method or wait it out.
03/18 Account Opened
03/18 $501 SoFi Push
03/19 $325 Bonus posted
3/7 account opened
3/11 $1205 push from Chase
3/12 $1803.50 push from Chase
3/13 $450 bonus posted
3/14 until today – still trying to get my funds out. I tried to push it out back to Chase, but for some reason keep getting an error message and they have been no help at all. Got nearly $3500 tied up in there that I can’t get out now. Maybe pulling it out from Chase would have been the better option?
Momentum Checking $450 Bonus (via mailer) DP:
Opened 2/5/24
$3k total DD 2/28/24
Bonus posted 2/29/24 (a day later)
Easiest and fastest bank bonus ever!
I just push $1600 from capital one to 53 bank. it shows “Web Initiated Payment At Capital One”. Does it mean it is not treated as direct deposit?
03/08 Open Account + Link Trial Deposits
03/11 $50x.xx Fidelity Push
03/12 $325 Bonus Posted
Old DP; hopefully useful.
Had a mailer for $450 bonus for Personal checking. Generated code for $500 Business checking. Opened both accts in branch same day.
7/18/23 opened personal acct in branch
7/25 Ally push $2001
7/26 bonus posted $450
7/18/23 opened biz acct in branch
7/18 deposited $5100 cashier’s check
10/17 bonus posted $500
I applied online using a mailer promo code. I have credentials since I have churned this before. I got a message at the end of the application to schedule a branch visit within the next 7 days that they need more information, and bring photo ID. Has anybody experienced this recently? I am wondering if they ban you after churning 5 times? They did NOT pull chex on this application, so it shouldn’t get pulled if you get this message.
Their system does that occasionally to those with previous credentials for some reason. It’s happened to me in the past. I think it’s just an extra ID verification step that requires eyes on from a banker. In my experience, the bankers at 5/3 are pretty chill about churning.
Thank you