Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.
Update 3/30/22: Deal can now be opened online and doesn’t require a direct deposit. Hat tip to reader Another DP. Also available in more states
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:Â $200
- Availability: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania or West Virginia
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements:Â eStatements, 10 debit card purchases
- Hard/soft pull: UnknownÂ
- ChexSystems: Unknown, sensitive
- Credit card funding: Up to $1,500
- Monthly fees:Â None
- Early account termination fee:Â Unknown
- Household limit:Â None listed
- Expiration date:Â
May 31st, 2019None listed March 31, 2022
Contents
The Offer
Direct link to offer | Online offer
- Civista is offering a bonus of $200 when you open a new checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Use promo code C22
- Enroll your account in eStatements
- Make $500 in total deposits within 60 days
- Make 10 debit card purchases within 60 days
The Fine Print
- Qualified direct deposit and debit card purchases must post to your account within 60 days of account opening.
- Minimum opening deposit is $50.00.
- Offer valid for new personal checking customers and excludes existing Civista personal checking account owners and those who have closed within the last six months.
- Employees of Civista Bank, its affiliates and its subsidiaries are not eligible. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer.
- eStatement is promotion account standard. Optional paper statement may be substituted upon request but would disqualify account holder from this promotion. A $2.00 paper statement delivery charge may apply.
- The reward will be deposited into your new account within 90 days of account opening after meeting all promotion qualifications, and identified on your monthly statement as “Checking Promo Reward”. Bank will report the value of the offer to the IRS as interest earned. You will receive a 1099-INT form from us. Consult your tax advisor.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
They offer a free checking account with no monthly fees to worry about
Early Account Termination Fee
I wasn’t able to find a fee schedule so not sure what the EATF is if there is one.
Our Verdict
We don’t know if it’s a hard or soft pull, so can’t really say whether it’s a good or bad deal. Considering you need to open in branch, it should be possible to ask before signing up. As always if you go for this bonus share your experiences in the comments below.
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
received the $50 initial deposit check. account log in disabled by them.
Has anyone received their initial deposit back? Did you have to call them or was it automatic? How did they refund it (back on the credit card, ACH transfer back, mailed check)?
Not yet, I still online account access and can see my $500 available. So I requested a Debit Card (online) and plan to fulfill the bonus.
Obviously if I call them and say hey you never closed my account. I am sure they will. So I am holding out and hoping no one calls so that the bonus auto posts. lol
They seem to have closed mine as I can no longer login online.
If anyone else has any DPs on returning of deposits, that’ll be appreciated. I can always call them, but I’d rather not if it is going to show up automatically in 7-10 days.
Good luck to you,

AllenW!
I’m sure mine will be closed. When did you apply?
If you don’t have access And it’s been 4 business days and you don’t see it refunded. Then I assume they are sending a check you’re way.
My account was disabled today. Rats.
Yup now I see the same. I think we’ll end up getting a check in the mail.
Spoke to soon. Can’t login now. I think we’ll get a check in the mail. I’ll watch the cc in the next few days.
Mine too about a week ago. Worth a shot
Yea, got $25 @ 2.5% Spend on my Alliant CC though. So not a total waste.
Denied. “We have received your new account application and are unable to open the account at this time.” … They said they could not verify my ID. Well, promos over anyways so useless to try again.
Denied with no explanation: We have received your new account application and are unable to open the account at this time.
Could someone please advise, if we open this account with Credit card funding and they later deny the account due to Check, how do we get back the money which was funded using Credit card? Do they send a check? I’m assuming if the account was closed , we won’t be able to use ACH to withdraw the money.
Basically I’m only looking at this to meet the Credit card spend requirement. Don’t care as much about the bonus. Don’t see a lot of bank accounts these days that take credit card funding and I really need to meet spend requirements for like 3 cards.
My application went pending and was subsequently denied, my CC charge never went through. Will exclude this bank from my consideration when I will be getting a mortgage here soon.
As a counter DP i am still alive but have not bothered with bank bonus chasing for a while… But more importantly, $600 deposit on alaska business coded as purchase.
I expect to be closed later today due to Chex. Does anyone know how they are handling opening funding refunds? If anyone had asked them already mind sharing?
They debited my bank account today (entered routing and account number, not debit card), a day after telling me my account is closed. Oddly enough, I still have access through the app to my account, which is definitely not closed yet. This will be an interesting experience. Glad I only did the $50 opening deposit…who knows, maybe I’ll slip through the net?
Got the Chex Email today denied.
However like you, I can login and see the $500 there. I assume they will wait for it to Post and then either reverse or write a check back. That’s an assumption to why we can still see it.
Since I wont be calling bc i dont want the extra attention. I will just wait and see.
I was wondering if their online system is separate from their in store department.
I see -500 when I logged in, so it looks like they are returning the opening funding back to the CC.
I still have $50 available. Lol this bank is strange.
Lol just checked mine again and today I see the $500. $0 shows available.
Kinda odd. But they’ll probably work it out. I would keep an eye out on your refund though ensure you get the correct amount back where ever they send it to.
Today the Card Funding show “Available”. I went to Manage Cards. Notice no Debit cards was issued. So I requested one just out of curiosity to if I will receive it. If I do. I will do the requirements lol.
I definitely wont be calling if I do not get a card. I am hoping its just automated and will send a Debit card.
Same here the $50 initial funding is there and when I login online everything looks fine. I transferred $500 from an external bank that hasn’t shown up yet, though its been debited from my other bank. Crossing my fingers it magically appears.
In the back of my mind. I hope they just drop the ball and let the account live on and auto post the bonus. Lol wishful thinking. We still would need the debit card. No one call and cause eyes and let’s see what happens
Yeah, going to give this a month more to see if I get the debit card. If not by then, I’ll likely reach out and get my initial deposit back.
I was able to request a debit card through the app today and link the account to Fidelity. If I get the card, I’m going to push $500 and see what happens
Applied yesterday and got a pending status. This morning, I got the following e-mail:
Thank you for your interest in a new account with Civista Bank. We have received your new account application and are unable to open the account at this time.
If you did not submit an application online or have any questions or concerns, please contact us at 614-210-2447
Applied and was “approved” pending manual review, but fully expect a denial based on other comments here.
Was denied the next morning. P2 was approved, however CC funding didn’t work and she was asked to go to a bank to finish the app. Will not mess with this bank again, huge waste of time.
This bank is dumb. Denied. Apparently they don’t want anyone’s businesses based on DP’s here.