[FL, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, VA only] First Tennessee $150 Visa Gift Card Business Checking or Savings Promotion

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $150
Availability: Must open in-branch; Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia have branches
Direct deposit required: No
Additional requirements: See below
Hard/soft pull: Soft
ChexSystems: Yes
Credit card funding: N/A since you must open in-branch
Monthly fees: $0–$7.50, waiveable
Early account termination fee: Account must be kept open for six months, or bonus forfeit
Expiration date: December 31, 2016

Contents

1 The Offer
2 The Fine Print
3 Avoiding Fees
4 Our Verdict

The Offer

Direct link to offer. Direct link to Checking certificate. Direct link to Savings certificate.

Receive a $150 Visa gift card when you open a new BizEssentials Basic Checking account with First Tennessee and complete the following:
- Present a copy of the offer certificate upon opening the account in-branch, with promo code CKSMBS
- Have a minimum opening deposit of $500
OR, receive a $150 Visa gift card when you open a BizEssentials Savings account with First Tennessee and complete the following:
- Present a copy of the offer certificate upon opening the account in-branch, with promo code SMBSSV
- Have a minimum opening deposit of $2,500

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The Fine Print

Offer expires 12/31/2016.
Must present the appropriate offer certificate for the account you are opening, which must be done at a First Tennessee branch.
Must have an opening deposit of $500 for BizEssentials Basic Checking or $2,500 for BizEssentials Savings.
Offers are non-transferable and cannot be combined with other offers.
Limit one gift card bonus per company.
Bonus gift card will be mailed to customer 4-6 weeks after account funding, and will be reported as income on Form 1099-INT for deposit accounts.
Checking and Savings opening deposits cannot be transferred from existing First Tennessee accounts.
Account must remain in good standing for 6 months.

Avoiding Fees

BizEssentials Checking, $7.50 Monthly Fee

This is waived if you have a minimum daily collected balance of $5,000.

BizEssentials Savings, $0 Monthly Fee

No monthly fee.

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

You don’t get a straight cash bonus, which is a negative, but the requirements for this are relatively easy for the BizEssentials Savings account. There’s no fine print stating that you need to keep $2,500 in the account for 6 months, so you can theoretically open the account with $2,500, wait a little while, and transfer most of your funds out. The BizEssential Checking requires you to tie up $5,000 for 6 months to avoid fees and is not worth it.

Technically, there is no explicit state limitation indicated on this offer, but you need to open the account in-branch, which limits its availability. For example, the only First Tennessee branch in Texas is Houston, making this uneconomical for most Texans.

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