Published on February 3rd, 2020 | by William Charles

[GA, NC, SC, VA] South State Bank $200 Checking Bonus – Direct Deposit Not Required

Update 2/3/2020: Bonus is back and has been increased to $200 from $100.

Update 9/22/19: Bonus is back and valid until November 30th, 2019. Hat tip to DDG

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $200
Availability: Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Need to live near a branch according to this comment [Branch locator]
Direct deposit required: Direct deposit or automatic draft of at least $25
Additional requirements: Yes, 15 debit card transactions
Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
ChexSystems: Unknown
Credit card funding: Up to $1,000
Monthly fees: $8, avoidable
Early account termination fee: None
Household limit: None mentioned
Expiration date: ~~September 29th, 2017 November 30th, 2017 May 31st, 2018~~ ~~July 31st, 2018~~ November 30th, 2019

Contents

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

The Offer

Direct link to offer

South State Bank is offering a $200 checking bonus when you meet the following requirements within 60 days of account opening:
- Use promo code GET200
- Have total qualifying direct deposits of $250 OR monthly automatic draft of $25
- Make a minimum of 15 debit card purchases or payments

The Fine Print

Eligibility & Qualifications for the Promotional Rebate Offer: To receive the $100, you must meet each of the following criteria:
- At account opening, you cannot be: an owner, or joint owner, on a South State Bank personal checking account or a South State Bank employee. You must open the account with a minimum opening deposit of $25.00 (excluding the Promotional Rebate amount).
- Within 60 days of opening the checking account have either: monthly cumulative direct deposits of at least $250 which includes salary, pension, Social Security, or other regular recurring monthly income. (Note, however, that internal account transfers, deposits made at banking locations, by mobile deposits and ATM deposits do not qualify as a direct deposit.) OR one or more automatic draft of at least $25 to a non-South State Bank account.
- Have 15 or more posted and cleared debit card purchases/payments from the account.
Promotional Rebate Payment: If you meet all of the Eligibility and Qualifications above, we will credit the Promotional Rebate to your Account within 2 business days of the completion of the 60 calendar day qualifying period. The Promotional Rebate will be reported to the appropriate taxing authorities, as required by law or regulation.
All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

South State Checking

This account has no monthly fees when you enroll in eStatements

Choice Checking Account $8 Monthly Fee

This is the easiest account to keep fee free fr most people. It has a $8 monthly fee that is waived if you do any of the following:

5 debit card purchases/payments per statement cycle or
$250 in combined direct deposits, or
$1,000 average daily balance

Early Account Termination Fee

I didn’t find any mention of any early account termination fee in the fee schedule.

Our Verdict

Reasonably good deal as no direct deposit is required, obviously not the biggest bank account bonus but still worth doing if you’ve done the more lucrative bonuses. As always if you have any experiences with this bank or bonus then please share them in the comments below.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:

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Looks like there is no online application :/

ChaseJuggler

Their reviews look awful for some of the NC branches. I think I’ll pass on this one.

Good luck to anyone who takes a shot at it!

Patrick

I submitted my info Saturday and received a reply today:

“Thank you for contacting South State Bank. We appreciate you considering us for your banking needs; however according to the listed address, this location is out of our service area. If you are planning on relocating to our service area, please reply and let us know which city so we can forward your inquiry to the correct contact person. Also, can you let us know how you found out about this promotion? We look forward to your reply.”

I live in Raleigh NC. No branches near Raleigh, so that could be the reason. I wander if they were fishing to see where I got the promotion for marketing purposes, or to see if it had made it out on the web. Didn’t work out this time, but thanks as always DOC.

William Charles

Thanks, Patrick.

parkdanil

That’s weird, I’ve passed their branch on falls of neuse a couple times. I live just north of you in Youngsville.

Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek 🕵️

parkdanil Keep in mind that comment is 3 years old. Two Raleigh branches are now on their website, and on the application, select Wake county, and a list of branches are on the drop-down.

FYI William Charles – At least this bank clearly lists the counties and cities they consider in footprint on their application pull-down menus. Wish other banks did this.

Parkdanil

Oh whoops, didn’t notice the timestamp :p

Rab

Soft pull..opened it today

William Charles

Thanks, added to post.

Rab

Also, should keep it open 90 days or a $25 etf

The $100 offer is back.
https://www.southstatebank.com/get100/

Dan Clark

Choice Checking option is showing 15 debit card purchases/payments per statement cycle instead of 5. South State Checking is an easier account to avoid a monthly fee. All that is required if e-statements. ( https://www.southstatebank.com/personal/personal-banking/personal-checking-accounts/ )

T-Paul

Seems like they charge $3 for each of the transfers.

Also, they have branches in VA

irshad

I was told that they are a very small bank and dont have online application. An agent will call back after you enter your information and they will ask for all the info needed to open an account.
And southstate checking account is free to maintain if you choose to opt-in e-statements.

Sarah Seagle

This is not true. I just today opened an account online.

Kevin

Seems like bonus is dead

arch

This offer has apparently expired as “sorry, page can’t be found”

Nick

FYI, this bonus is dead – no longer on their website…

Brian

William Charles Bonus is back through 11/30/19:
https://www.southstatebank.com/earn100/

Same requirements as last time. However, you can open online now. As an added bonus, there is credit card funding – up to $1,000 and all issuers (Visa, MC, Amex, Discover) were listed as options.

Unfortunately, I can’t say whether it posts as a purchase or not since I got denied for the account. I got an email specifically citing Chex – they even listed my Chex score (my first time seeing that). I’m around 18/12 with inquiries.

Ben

Denied due to Chex.

Zack

DoC’s link to the offer is broken.

Edit: the end of the URL should be “earn100”, not “get100”.

William Charles

Fixed thanks

cbays82

Was able to fund $1,000 with amex BBP. Showed up as “Other-Miscellaneous” not cash advance! William Charles

Crystal

Can you elaborate on what you mean by funding with the Amex BBP?

Gigabyte

You can fund the checking account using a credit card during sign-up. Great way to earn points or cashback if the transaction is coded as a purchase and not cash advance.

Tommy

New Promotion:
You can earn $200 when you open a checking account with us!1
To earn $200, open any personal checking account and meet the following qualifiers within 60 days:
1 Use promo code GET200 when opening your account online or in a branch.
2 Make a minimum of 15 debit card purchases or payments.
3 Have a monthly total of $250 qualifying direct deposit OR automatic draft of $25.

https://www.southstatebank.com/get200/?gclid=CjwKCAiAg9rxBRADEiwAxKDTugR5yLXaxsjYTbBEAX0JPLBSc_l0yHLYHe6uQfWpAsvR-4Q7Ss-xDxoCKq8QAvD_BwE

[GA, NC, SC, VA] South State Bank $200 Checking Bonus – Direct Deposit Not Required

The Offer

The Fine Print