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:Â $300
- Availability:Â Must open in-branch; Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia have branches [Branch locator]
- Direct deposit required:Â No
- Additional requirements:Â See below
- Hard/soft pull:Â Soft
- ChexSystems: Unknown for business accounts
- Credit card funding:Â Â N/A since you must open in-branch
- Monthly fees:Â $25, avoidable
- Early account termination fee:Â Bonus forfeit, six months
- Household limit:Â One per company
- Expiration date:Â
December 31st, 2017April 30th, 2018July 31st, 2018 September 30th, 2018 December 31st, 2018 March 31st, 2019 June 30th, 2019October 31st, 2019
The 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.
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
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
this bonus is still active! extended until 9/30/20
Yeah, called first horizon now: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ar-al-fl-ga-ky-ms-nc-sc-tn-va-first-horizon-bank-300-business-checking-150-business-savings-bonuses/
Extended till 3/31/2020.
Source: https://www.firsthorizon.com/landing/business/300-bize-checking-landing-bzd300
Additionally, it says “Monthly service charge waived with $5,000 daily balance”. May be its specific to Texas (Houston) and different in other states.
This has been extended until 31 Dec. but good luck opening it. I have had biz accounts with them in the past as sole proprietor. Two branches have told me that I need to go to the register of deeds and get an assumed name certificate before coming in to open account. Screw that. I just opened a chase biz last week no issue, so I don’t know what’s up with this bank. I’ll pass. Anybody else with similar experience?
From the landing page–Monthly service charge waived with $5,000 daily balance.
Much better than the $10,000 as stated in your post. Correction needed?
Same link….
expiration needs to be updated in the quick reference table
Hi, I am going to school in TN and opened an account online for a $200 bonus after a direct deposit. I funded it using a debit card. I did a transfer from USAA for $800 and then a few days later I did another one for $200. On the app it appears as though it was a transfer and NOT ACH. What should I do? What is the typical time to before the bonus is deposited.
DP for Business checking account
Opened in branch on 7/9/19
Deposited 5k into account
5 transaction requirement met on 7/24/19 (did a few more for safety)
$300 bonus post directly to account on 8/7/19
First 5 transactions consisted of 3 debit pin transactions and 2 ATM withdrawals. Overall, a straightforward bonus if branch is in your area.
Pertinent info
Called around to a few banks to see what documents I would need to open both business checking and savings accounts. 4 out of 5 branches said I needed a business license but found one that said I only needed EIN. Opened biz checking with 5k deposit and biz savings with 3k deposit in branch on 7/9/19. Just received $150 FTB gift card in mail today, 7/31/19, for the savings account. I did keep money in the savings entire time, but the terms don’t state anything about that being necessary.
Extras
– The biz debit card is printed in branch.
– As an experiment to see if I could open the account or get the bonus with just my SSN, I made excuses and said I did not have EIN paperwork with me. The banker still allowed me to open the accounts, and I was able to use the biz debit successfully when I left. However, he would call and have a sense of urgency about submitting EIN paperwork. So I ultimately submitted the paperwork 1 week after opening accounts and had to re-sign some paperwork with EIN instead of SSN. Personally, I believe that it is possible to do everything with only SSN. The paperwork also suggest such as it has line is for SSN/EIN. However, seems like you’re at mercy of the banker.
– I did not have my chase credit card and used a chase debit card instead. This posted as a cash advance
– Banker mentioned something about $400? bonus if you use merchant services but I did not have time to inquire about it.
Thanks Doc! This was my first experience with bank account bonuses. Will post comment regarding the FTB biz checking account when that bonus comes in.
As a heads up, I called around to 12 different First TN branches around Chattanooga (I’m in the ATL area) to understand what I need to bring to open an account. I was planning to add them in with a few other TN-only branch bonuses to really make the trip worth it. Every single one said that it’s a bank requirement for a ***business license***, which as a sole prop in GA, you only really get a DBA and IRS TIN. I thought about registering with the secretary of state for $100 (annual renewal is $50 per the CSR), but that would incorporate my little side hustle, and I don’t really know that I understand any downstream impacts well enough to pull the trigger there. Alas, seems I’ll have to sit this awesome bonus out. (It would’ve been $750 with the $300 checking, $150 savings, and two $150 referrals via my SO’s personal account and this would-have-been-new one.) C’est la vie.
FWIW similar thing happened to me, but I found one branch that let me do it with just EIN. Seems like YMMV by branch as usual. Will make a separate comment about my experience.