[Expired][TN & NC only] First Tennessee $300 Checking Promotion

This bonus is no longer available, view the best offers by clicking here.

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $300
Availability: TN & NC only
Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum specified
Additional requirements: Use promotional code “ONLINE”
Hard/soft pull: Soft
Credit card funding: Up to $300
Monthly fees: $5-$9, waive able
Early account termination fee: Six months, otherwise bonus is clawed back
Expiration date: March 31st, 2016

Contents

1 The Offer
2 $50 Referral Bonus
3 The Fine Print
4 Avoiding Fees
5 Our Verdict

The Offer

Direct link to offer

Receive a sign up bonus of $250 when you open a new checking account with First Tennessee and complete the following requirements
- Use the promotional code ONLINE
- Direct deposit (no minimum specified) is required within 60 days of account opening

$50 Referral Bonus

You can also get a $50 referral bonus, other people have been able to get both this bonus and the $250 bonus listed above. Here are the requirements for the $50 bonus:

Within 90 days of receiving your referral invitation, open a new First Tennessee personal checking account with at least $100, AND complete two direct deposit transactions of at least $100 each within 60 days of account opening

You need to submit the referral form first, then sign up for the other bonus. Make sure you use the same e-mail address for both. You can find referral links in the comments below. Please only leave your link once, if you’re found doing this more than once we will remove your comments and ban you from leaving future referral links.

The Fine Print

Offer is good from February 5, 2016 to March 31, 2016
To receive your bonus, you must open the checking account online and ensure the code ONLINE appears in the online application where “Offer/Promo code” is requested
Opening deposit of at least $300 is required
Offer is only valid for households in Tennessee and North Carolina
At least one direct deposit must post to your account within 60 days of account opening. Opening deposit cannot be transferred from existing First Tennessee accounts
The $250 bonus will be credited to your account within 6 weeks of meeting all requirements
Limit one bonus per household. Cannot be combined with other checking offers. This offer is for new checking households only, or for households who have not had an open First Tennessee consumer checking account in the previous 12 months. This is now being enforced
Account must be kept open and in good standing for at least six months
Account openings are subject to bank approval and may be declined based on certain factors.
All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

There are four accounts that can be opened for this bonus: Express Checking, Premier Checking, Classic Checking, Select Checking.

Express Checking $5 Monthly Fee

This is waived as long as you have at least one direct deposit in the month.

Premier Checking Account $9 Monthly Fee

This is waived if you have a minimum of $5,000 in combined monthly balances (checking, savings, bank IRAs or CDs).

Classic Checking $6 Monthly Fee

Cannot be waived

Select Checking $9 Monthly Fee

This is waived if you have at least one direct deposit and 15 customer-initiated debit transactions.

Early Account Termination Fee

Fine print states that the account must be kept open and in good standing for six months, I assume they take the bonus back if you don’t fulfill this requirement.

Our Verdict

This bonus used to be available nationwide, I assume if you signed up before the now you’ll receive the bonus even if you don’t live in the targeted area. Still a great bonus if you do live in the target area, as such we’ve added it to our list of the best state specific bank bonuses. One thing to remember about this bonus is that they seem to batch process the bonuses at the end of the month.

If you have any questions about this bonus, make sure you read through the old post that had ~500 comments first to save me some time answering questions that have already been answered.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:

Thanks to reader info for the heads up