Extended to 30 September 2025
extended through June 30, 2025
Extended to 12/31/24
Update 6/18/24: Extended to 9/30/24
Update 3/26/24: Extended until 6.30.24
Update 12/22/23: Extended until March 31, 2024.
Update 8/3/23: Extended until December 31, 2023.
Update 7/13/23: This is now a $600 checking bonus.
Update 4/30/23: New link. Valid until July 31, 2023
Update 2/13/23: Deal is back and valid until Apr. 30th, 2023. Hat tip to reader Ethan
Update 11/13/22: Deal is back, now with a $200 savings bonus. Hat tip to das1996
Update 3/3/22: This is available in more states now, terms now state ‘IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, OH and WI.’ Hat tip to reader Michelle B
Update 11/3/21: Deal is back, but sadly only $400 instead of $500. In addition the terms state you can’t have received a bonus in the last 24 months or had a checking account in the last 12 months.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $600
- Availability: IL, IN, MN & WI only
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $500+
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Yes
- Credit card funding: Up to $1,200, no American Express cards.
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Bonus forfeit if closed within 12 months
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date:
May 31st, 2021 June 30, 2021 March 31, 2022December 30, 2022
Contents
The Offer
Direct link to offer (must use promo code 1400 for both bonuses or use code 1300 for the $400 checking bonus)
- Associated Bank is offering a bonus of up to $600 when you open a new checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Receive recurring direct deposits totaling $500 or more within 90 days of account opening
- Bonus you receive depends on your average daily balance (days 31-90):
- Total average daily balances of $1,000-$4,999.99 will earn $300,
- $5,000-$9,999.99 will earn $400,
- over $10,000 will earn $600.
They are also offering a $200 savings bonus when you open a new account with a minimum of $25,000 remaining on deposit for 90 days
The Fine Print
- Offer limited to a new personal Associated Bank checking account opened and funded through May 31, 2021.
- Receive up to $500 bonus with required minimum opening deposit (Associated Access Checking: $25, Associated Balanced or Choice Checking: $100; deposits from existing accounts do not qualify) and direct deposits totaling $500 or more within 90 days of account opening.
- Determining your bonus: 90 days (or the previous business day), after opening your checking account, we will calculate the sum of the average daily balance for all your open Associated Bank deposit accounts for days 31-90. Total average daily balances of $1,000-$4,999.99 will earn $200, $5,000-$9,999.99 will earn $300, over $10,000 will earn $500.
- All personal Associated Bank checking, savings, money market, IRA and/or CD account balances are included in the calculation to determine your total average deposit balance. Accounts must be titled with the same primary account holder to qualify for the bonus. Deposit balances from business, HSA, investment, minor or private banking accounts are ineligible.
- The bonus will be deposited into the new Associated Bank checking account within 120 days of account opening.
- Account must be open at the time the bonus is paid and must remain open for a minimum of 12 months.
- If the account is closed within 12 months, Associated Bank reserves the right to deduct the monetary bonus from the account prior to closing.
- Offer limited to one per customer and cannot be combined with other offers.
- Offer limited to one per customer and cannot be combined with other offers. New customers opening online are limited to IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, OH and WI. Offer not available for customers who have received a new personal checking account monetary bonus within the last 24 months and have or have had an Associated Bank checking account within the last 12 months.
- Associated Bank colleagues are not eligible.
- Primary owner on the account must be 18 years or older to qualify.
- Person to Person payments and transfers from external accounts do not qualify for the required direct deposit transactions to receive the monetary bonus.
- For tax reporting purposes, the bonus will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099-INT.
- The offer is subject to change, at Associated Bank’s discretion, at any time without notice and other exclusions may apply.
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Associated access checking account has no monthly fees to worry about. You do need to opt into eStatements otherwise you’ll be charged $4.
Early Account Termination Fee
There is no early account termination fee, but the account needs to be open for 12 months or the bonus is forfeit.
$50 Referral Bonus
You can also refer friends if you visit here. Previously you’ve been able to get referred and also get the bonus, it looks like that will stack as well because the brewers referlive page specifically mentions the $500 bonus. In addition person signing up for the account can get a Christian Yelich bobblehead (these are going for $20-$50 on eBay, but I imagine price will come down). Please do not ask for or share your referrals in the comments. Instead you can use this dedicated page.
Our Verdict
We’ve seen previous bonuses of $175 + $100 and $400. This new offer is for more money and you don’t need to open a savings account (but you do need a high average daily balance for 30 days, but still less than the previous $400 offer). The other offers had direct deposit optional though. I still think this is the best offer by far and will be adding it to the best bank bonus page.
Hat tip to reader Arthur D
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
Adding a DP – opened checking account for P3 and funded $500 with Chase Sapphire. It coded as cash advance.
Tried to open a joint savings account just now through my login with me as an existing customer (opened in branch OOS earlier this year) and P2 as the new customer. My information was auto-filled. Added P2 as a joint applicant, checked the box stating that her address was the same as that of the primary applicant (our OOS address), filled in her SSN/DL info, and tried to move on to the next page. Got an error (“Unfortunately, we are not able to open accounts in your area”), with the state in P2’s address (CA) highlighted in red (“State/Province is invalid”). Nothing in my address was flagged.
Do you have any thoughts? The only other thing I can think of is to open the savings account on my own and then try to add P2 either by phone or by calling my banker at the branch where I initially opened — but that seems like it would attract unwarranted attention, and is probably unlikely to work.
It’s been many years since I did the joint account to bring in P2, I cannot remember the details now. It’s possible they are cracking down on OOS and I might be in the soup next time I try to open a new checking account.
Sorry to have been the bearer of (potentially) bad news. Since we have not heard any similar reports from folks using the credit card trick, my guess is that this is restricted to completely new customers like my P2. But time will tell, I guess.
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek
Extended to 30 September 2025
Ok so problem: apparently the promo code wasn’t applied when I applied online through the link. Has anyone else experienced this and know what to do? It’s tough to search through the post history for this scenario. The Rep says my best bet is to a call a branch and see if they can add it
Ugh, called one branch and they said I just need to do the reqs for the promotion to show. Didn’t seem like they knew what they were talking about so I called a second branch. Second branch said that actually first branch did enroll me but then checked with a supervisor who said I am not eligible because OOS. Seemed like she put a note on the account too. I think they are misreading their own rules and don’t know what they are talking about.
Wondering if this warrants getting CFPB involved. Would suck to have opened the CC for only the measly $150 bonus.
Called branch rep back to contest reading of the terms, but after checking with back office they held that “new customer” means “new deposit relationship” and that my CC was new anyways.
To me that is not what the terms say so I am thinking of getting CFPB involved. But not sure what CFPB pressure could do since I haven’t “done” the bonus yet; would Associated Bank be likely to enroll me in the promotion?
Can I get your thoughts?
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek
Pickle Rick🔗
mothman69
Celia
Also a bit worried that contesting about this could lead to changes in the terms in the future
Sorry for double tag, Celia. This comment went to review and I didn’t think it would go through
Did you save the “Account Summary” pdf from your account opening? If so, what does it say for the account type?
Gotcha. Yeah the promo code definitely wasn’t applied then. Wasn’t sure if it was a case of CSRs giving incorrect information.
I think if the promo code wasn’t applied as part of the opening, you might be SoL. Unless you have screenshots of the application process showing either the promo or the URL containing the promo code query string, unfortunately I don’t see you winning a case. It’s up to the bank’s discretion at this point.
What the back office said seems nonsensical to me though. The terms don’t state “new customer”. They just say you have to open a new checking account. Further, the CC doesn’t invalidate the made up “new deposit relationship” requirement, so wtf are they even on about?
Darn, I did not screenshot the intermediate page. Thank you for your advice. Unless someone thinks different, I think I will just close the checking account (which might motivate them to enroll me) and wait for the 12 month timer to reset before churning, which would mean my CC wasn’t a complete waste.
The terms they are referring to are about the state restrictions of who can open online. According to their fake interpretation, if I am a “new customer” i.e. have a “new deposit relationship”, then I can’t enroll online OOS.
Those are some real mental gymnastics. Their fake opening restriction, which clearly doesn’t apply as you were already able to open the account, doesn’t make them unable to attach the promo.
I do agree with you on closing the account, but that’s just my two cents.
As you’ve already experienced you probably won’t be able to get anyone to fix the missing promo code and a CFPB complaint won’t help with that either. Best to close the account and chalk it up as a loss. Sometimes things like this happen when trying to sneak in from OOS.
mine was listed as Access Checking Promo – 1351
Hmm, was just a thought. Since you already involved the bank, your best bet might to be just to run through promo requirements and see what happens. If you took screenshots, you might be able to argue it if it doesn’t show. Not sure it helps, but the terms in my offer stated: Offer limited to one per customer and cannot be combined with other offers. New customers opening online are limited to IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, OH and WI.
I would think that CFPB would only help if all the terms were completed.
So there are a ton of old DPs about people’s money getting locked up when they tried to move in the large amounts for the $10k hold requirement. Does this still happen or did they fix their system or did we learn a way around it?
So if I wanted to do a CD for the hold requirement, I would need to push $10k to my Associated Bank checking account, then open the CD and transfer from my checking?
For anyone doing this now – do you see “Promo Code 6020” when you start the process?
There is no way to enter 1400 that I could see.
Thanks.
You should use the promo code that is being prefilled by the bank’s webpage, which appears to be 6020 now. Don’t go off the DoC webpage notes as they are likely old and outdated.
David Pilcher
Thanks, that’s what I did. I try to screenshot everything along the process as well in case the CFPB is involved later on.
DP
03/03/25 Opened with a $25 deposit
03/14/25 $10K real DD
03/28-06/06 Recurring DD >= $500, every 2 weeks
06/05/25 $600 bonus posted
For those doing OOS trick via CC, you can just begin the app like normal then sign-in inside the app, rather than sign-in first and navigate within the portal to apply for an account. That way, you can have more confidence that the promo will be applied (even though other people say any new account is auto-enrolled).
Also I was approved for checking same day I as I got access to online banking (several days after CC app)
I got approved today after trying again (denied 07/24 1st time). Ohio.
Some thoughts:
I did not apply for a credit card first. Just went for the checking.
Promo I saw and made copies of during the sign-up were “Promo Code 6020”.
After I was approved, I went ahead and did a 7 month CD for 4.13/4.25%. Why? It’s a good rate, and beats keeping any significant money in their savings or checkings. I called first and spoke to their back office – they, as well as the terms of the “across all accounts” confirmed that the 10k in a CD would qualify one part of the bonus requirement.
I did not try Visa funding due to reports below it would code as cash advance..
Direct Deposit – I’ve never seen anything like this – they have a tool that will connect to your payroll department automatically. I am a federal employee and they were able to connect to DFAS and update my direct deposit automatically.
While I was in there I noticed they have the same credit cards basically as USBANK’s Cash+ as well as the Altitude Go!. Can’t hurt to have more Cash Plus cards, and $150 for $500 will make the total bonus:
$600+$150+$247.92 (7 months interest on 10k).
Since I have to keep the account open for a year anyway, it’s almost 1k back with the CC bonus & CD interest. Not bad. I am cautiously optimistic.
Applying for a credit card first is just a workaround we OOS applicants used to get into online banking, and then apply for checking as a current customer. You didn’t have to do that since you are already in footprint.
Associated works with Elan, a USB subsidiary, as their credit card provider. Same underwriting as USB, statements look the same, and their cards are very similar. Their Max Cash Preferred cards are nice in that you don’t have to reselect your categories every quarter. The tradeoff is that if you redeem cash back, you have to use an account with the partner bank and it takes a few biz days. If you close your deposit accounts with the partner, then you have to use a different method to redeem.
I was in footprint last July and got denied. It’s really just a crapshoot here. I thawed all 3 + Chex in July too. The get the credit card first thing I did do with USbank. I only mentioned it as some of the OOS folks said they did that – that’s the point of a datapoint.
I mean, that’s not really the point of a DP lol. You’re not OOS, so saying you didn’t have to use the OOS workaround is redundant.
That’s not to say that your overall DP isn’t helpful btw. It’s thorough and appreciated.
Pickle Rick there are 0 Associated Bank branches in the state of Ohio sir. I am out of state, but not out of “footprint”. It was the same story July of ’24 when I was denied.
You’re splitting hairs and missing the point. We generally use OOF and OOS interchangeably.
If you’re in footprint, you don’t need to use a workaround to apply. You can just apply. For those of us OOF/OOS folks, we have to use the workaround because the regular application is restricted to states in footprint.
Being told I’m splitting hairs by someone who is equally pedantic. Got it.
NONE of what you mentioned explains why I was denied in July 2024, and MOST of the replies here for out of state (which I am) talk about getting the credit card first. You do know how to hit “View more replies” at the bottom do you not? You think I just replied without reading the comments first?
This thread also states to put in code 1400.
I came in to provide my datapoint, but you couldn’t let it go.
You seem to live in this thread Rick – enjoy. I’m out.
Lol you’ve clearly got a firm grasp on the context of our earlier DPs. No sweat off my back. Bye, Felicia.
Who has time to sit in the Associated Bank comments section on DOC? Hey, Rick, maybe you can reply to another 900 people.
Do you work for Associated Bank?
What happened? I thought you were out?
Another way to redeem is add them to Amazon for checkout. Elan/USBANK work this way at least.
Yeah, that’s one of the different methods I was talking about
Congrats Rick. Well done.
Anyone know how far they go back when determining eligibility. Vaguely recall having a Discover Savings account over 20 years ago. Don’t want to bother moving around 50k for no reason.
Wrong post?
Did you comment on the wrong page?
Wrong thread. Sorry. Too many pages open determining which deal to work on next.