Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $250
- Availability: Must apply at their Rochester, NY branch (inside CityGate)
- Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum specified
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- Credit card funding: None, since it’s in branch onlyÂ
- Monthly fees: $0
- Early account termination fee: Bonus forfeit if closed within 180 days
- Expiration date: March 31st, 2016
The Offer
- Open a qualifying checking account in branch at Five Star Bank’s new Rochester branch and receive a $250 bonus when you complete the following requirement:
- Establish a qualifying direct deposit (no minimum specified) within 60 days of account opening
The Fine Print
- Qualifying checking accounts are as follows:Â TotalValue Checking, Basic Banking Account, TotalValue Safe Checking, TotalValue Senior Checking, TotalValue Plus Checking or a TotalValue Premier Checking
- Your direct deposit needs to be a recurring electronic deposit of your paycheck, pension or government benefit (such as Social Security) from your employer or the government
- The bonus will be deposited into this checking or NOW account within 90 days from the last day of the month your account was opened
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Bonus will be forfeit if you close the account within the first 180 days. The best account to open is the TotalValue Checking as it has no monthly fees and no monthly minimums.
Our Verdict
Obviously this bonus only makes sense if you live near the branch, that way you should be able to confirm if it’s a soft or hard pull before opening the account. I doubt you’ll be able to initially fund with a credit card since you must open in branch, but I’d be happy to be proved wrong.
We’ve added this bonus to our current complete listing of all bank account bonuses which can be viewed here. I haven’t added it to our list of the best bank bonuses available (listed here) due to the fact it has such a small footprint and we don’t know much about how it works.
