[Expired] First Tennessee $300 Business Checking + $150 Savings Bonus Bonus [FL, TN, NC, SC, TX, VA]

This bank is now called First Horizon, more information here.

Bonuses have been extended until October 31st, 2019.

Originally posted on October 12th, 2017. Reposting on November 13th because they now have a $150 savings account bonus attached as well.

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $300
Availability: Must open in-branch; Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia have branches [Branch locator]
Direct deposit required: No
Additional requirements: See below
Hard/soft pull: Soft
ChexSystems: Unknown for business accounts
Credit card funding: N/A since you must open in-branch
Monthly fees: $25, avoidable
Early account termination fee: Bonus forfeit, six months
Household limit: One per company
Expiration date: ~~December 31st, 2017~~ ~~April 30th, 2018~~ ~~July 31st, 2018 September 30th, 2018 December 31st, 2018 March 31st, 2019 June 30th, 2019~~ October 31st, 2019

Contents

1 The Offer
2 The Fine Print
3 Avoiding Fees
- 3.1 Early Account Termination Fee
4 Our Verdict

The Offer

Direct link to offer

First Tennessee is offering a $300 bonus when you open a new bizessentials standad checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Open with a minimum deposit of $5,000
- Complete 5 qualifying payment transactions within 30 days of account opening (checks, debit card purchases, ATM withdrawals, automatic bill payments, and online bill payments initiated through the bank’s Business Banking Online services)
They are also offering a $150 Visa gift card when opening a BizEssentials Savings account and completing the following requirements:
- Maintain account in good standing for six months
- Open with at least $2,500. Opening deposit cannot be transfered from existing First Tennessee accounts

The Fine Print

Open your BizEssentials® Standard Checking account by 12/31/17 with a minimum opening deposit of $5,000 AND complete 5 qualifying payment transactions within the first 30 days of account opening to receive the $300 bonus.
Qualifying payment transactions include checks, debit card purchases, ATM withdrawals, automatic bill payments, and online bill payments initiated through the bank’s Business Banking Online services, in any combination.
Offer is non-transferable.
Limit one business checking bonus per company (you can print out a certificate so not sure how this is enforced?)
Opening deposit cannot be transferred from existing First Tennessee accounts.
Offer and account opening subject to bank approval.
Customer agrees to maintain account in good standing for minimum of 6 months.
The $300 bonus will be credited to your account within 6 weeks of meeting all requirements and will be reported as income on Form 1099-INT.
Sales Representative: Please use Coupon Redemption System. Promo Code BZD300.

Avoiding Fees

According to the fine print only the bizessentials standard checking account is valid for this offer. This account has a $25 monthly fee that is waived with a $10,000 daily balance or $25,000 in combined balances. The BizEssentials saving account does not have any monthly fees to worry about.

Early Account Termination Fee

The fine print states that the account must be kept open and in good standing for 6 months. We can assume that they will take the bonus back if you don’t fulfill this requirement.

Our Verdict

I believe that $300 is the largest business checking bonus they have offered before, previous offers have been for $150. Offer basically requires a deposit of $10,000 and then to maintain that for six months (to keep the account fee free) and 5 debit card transactions, not particularly difficult. They also have a $300 personal checking bonus worth considering. I will be adding this to our best business checking bonuses. I also think the savings bonus is worth doing as well, it doesn’t look like the $2,500 needs to be kept on deposit so it should be possible to open the account and then transfer most of it out.

Big thanks to reader, Vijay who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.

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