Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $300 for checking, $150 for savings
- Availability: FL, NC and SC
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull:Soft
- ChexSystems:Yes, mixed dp on being sensitive
- Credit card funding:Up to $50
- Monthly fees: $25, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: Bonus forfeit, six months
- Household limit: One per company
- Expiration date: 10/31/19
Contents
The Offer
- Capital Bank 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® Checking account at the Basic level or higher by 10/31/2019 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.
- Opening deposit must be funds from a financial institution other than First Tennessee Bank National Association (“Bank”), which operates as First Tennessee Bank and Capital Bank, or its affiliates. Transfers from any type of account at Bank or its affiliates do not qualify.
- 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.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly 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. The basic checking also qualifies and the monthly fee is waived with a $5,000 minimum deposit.
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
Capital Bank is basically just a different name that First Tennessee operates in different areas. This deal is worth doing if you live near a branch. I’ll be adding this to our list of the best checking bonuses. Should also be able to stack this with the $50 referral bonus.
Hat tip to Drew W
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
(1) Bank operates as First Horizon now
(2) You have a duplicate post up for First Tennessee
(3) First Horizon no longer has a contract with Referlive so all referrals are dead until futher notice
Closed account via phone. It took 3 business days to close out completely.
How does the referral bonus work when doing this in branch? I used someone’s referral when I opened an account online last year, but how does it work going into the branch?
Do you need to keep $2500 in savings or can you transfer it out after opening the account?
Technically you can transfer it out right away. I just played it safe and kept it there until bonus posted which happened within a month. After that I moved funds out.
Thanks
Branch won’t open my “sole proprietorship” business under my social without an “Assumed Business Name” form that I need to take to the Clerk of Court to register my business… anyone else able to open account without this?
What state?
You do have the great website. Thanks. I just did but it shows “This offer is only available to residents of TN, MS, GA, VA, NC, AR.” I’m in California. Can I still open in the branch?
Yeah, you should be able to open the account, but ReferLive probably won’t work. I know at least one DP for a dude in FL on a personal account that referlive didn’t work. (What’s weird is FL has branches, but not on the list to use referlive.)
Hope you can get it and I can sign up by your link.
Pretty sure it won’t work if you aren’t in the right state, but feel free to try.
Here’s my DP:
1. Chex – Unsure. I had a personal checking account with them before I opened up my business account (in branch) so they just transferred over my information from the personal account. I checked my Chex report and no inquiry was listed for the business account. I’m unsure if they even use Chex for business accounts or the inquiry was omitted because of my prior relationship.
2. I opened a sole prop with just my SSN
3. Opened the BizEssentials checking account with a $5000 check in branch. Made various debit card purchases and bill pays to fulfill the bonus requirement (all $1 or less). Also opened up the BizEssentials savings account with $2500. Be sure that the banker uses separate promo codes for the checking and savings account.
4. Bonus credited 30 days after account opening. I withdrew the savings balance after this since there’s no time requirement and no monthly fee. Kept 5K in the checking account to waive fees (DoC post needs to updated as the minimum balance now is 5K to waive fees) and to wait out the ETF.
5. The $150 savings bonus came in the mail roughly 3 weeks after account opening.
6. As I posted below, another $150 referral bonus came roughly 6 weeks in the mail after account opening for a grand total bonus of $600.
Edit: Removed my referral email.
Can you send me the referral code? I will try to open in FL with out-of-state ID (sole-prop) next week.
I no longer have an account.
You can get a code by clicking the link on my website (just click my name). I am keeping my account because they excluded my area from signing up for bonuses, but I am in a valid state to refer.
“Open with a minimum deposit of $5,000” Does it need to be given at account opening, or is a few days later with ACH transfer ok? (They only accept cash or check for opening deposits in branch…)
At account opening.