[Expired]KeyBank $300 Checking Promotion [AK, CO, ID, IN, ME, MI, NY, OH, OR, UT, VT, or WA only]

This offer has now expired, but you can view an even better current KeyBank checking bonus by clicking here.

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $300
• Availability: AK, CO, ID, IN, ME, MI, NY, OH, OR, UT, VT, or WA only
• Direct deposit required: Yes, a total of at least $1,000 within 60 days of account opening. Almost any ACH transfer should trigger this requirement, click here to see what has worked in the past.
• Additional requirements: Combination of five debit card purchases and or bill payments 
• Hard/soft pull: Soft
• Credit card funding: Up to $100
• Monthly fees: None – $18, waive-able
• Early account termination fee: $25 if closed within 180 days of opening
• Expiration date: October 9th, 2015

The Offer

Direct link to offer

• Receive a sign up bonus of $300 when you open a Key Advantage®, Key Privilege®, or Key Privilege Select Checking and receive a direct deposit of $1,000 or more and a combination of five debit card and/or bill payments within 60 days after account opening
• Receive a sign up bonus of $100 KeyBank Hassle-Free Account or other qualifying checking account and Make a direct deposit of $500 or more and a combination of five debit card and/or bill payments within 60 days after account opening

The Fine Print

• All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
• Offer is available to new bank clients who have not had any type of account with KeyBank within the last 12 months
• Direct deposit transactions are limited to payroll, Social Security, pension and government benefits, although in the past other direct deposits have triggered this bonus.
• Bonus will post within 90 days of meeting the requirements

Avoiding Fees

Hassle Free Checking Account

The best account to open for the $100 bonus is the Hassle Free Checking account which has no monthly fees or monthly minimums.

Key Advantage Checking Account

This is the best account to open for the $300 bonus, the monthly fee is $18 and is waived for the first three months. After that you need to do one of the following to avoid the $18 monthly fee:

• Maintain a minimum of $10,000 in any combination of checking, savings, CDs, retirement deposits, investments (including annuity balances reflected on your Key Investment Services LLC (KIS) account statement)⁴, credit cards¹, loans², and lines of credit², OR
• Have a KeyBank mortgage automatic payment deduction of $500 or more each statement cycle, OR
• If you are a Key@Work program member and have at least $1,000 in cumulative direct deposits each statement cycle

Early Account Termination Fee $25

If you close your account within 180 days, you are required to pay an early account closure fee of $25

Our Verdict

In the past KeyBank has offered $200 for the Hassle Free account, so I’d only recommend signing up for the $300 bonus. The difficulty is keeping the account fee free, if you have $10,000 spare you can deposit it into the account at the end of the third month and then close the account at the end of the six months to avoid the early account termination fee of $25. You’d lose out on about $25 in interest compared to a 1% checking account, but that isn’t too bad considering the $300 bonus.

The other option would be to complete the bonus requirements as quickly as possible and close the account as soon as the bonus posts, you’d need to pay the early account termination fee of $25 and possible one months fees of $18 as well.

We’ve added this bonus to our best of list due to how large the bonus it is and how easy it is to meet the direct deposit requirements. You can also view all of the current bank account bonuses by going here. One last thing to keep in mind is that some people are being targeted for a further $50 when they haven’t used their KeyBank checking account for awhile.