Deal has expired, view the best current checking bonuses by clicking here.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:Â $300
- Availability:Â MD, DC & VA only
- Direct deposit required:Â Yes, $500+Â required, must be maintained for a further four months after initial deposit
- Additional requirements:Â eStatements
- Hard/soft pull:Â Soft
- ChexSystems:Yes, few datapoints of them being sensitive. Other datapoints indicate they are not.
- Credit card funding:Â Up to $250, Visa or Mastercard onlyÂ
- Monthly fees:Â None
- Early account termination fee:Â $25, 180 days
- Household limit:Â None
- Expiration date:Â November 17th, 2018
Contents
The Offer
- Sandy Spring Bank is offering a bonus of $300 when you open a new checking account and complete the following requirements within 60 days:
- Sign up for eStatements
- Establish direct deposit of $500 or more and continue to receive this for at least 4 months
The Fine Print
- To receive the $300 bonus,
-  Open any checking account (excluding Student Banking) online or mention the offer when you call our client service center or visit our community offices between November 1, 2018 and November 17, 2018.• Sign up for electronic statements and establish direct deposit of at least $500 within 60 days of account opening from a paycheck, pension, social security or other regular monthly income electronically deposited. Transfers from one account to another or deposits made at the branch or ATM do not qualify as direct deposits. Then continue to receive a monthly direct deposit of at least $500 for 4 months.
- Limited time offer available only to individuals who currently do not have a personal checking account with Sandy Spring Bank or have not had one within the last 90 days.
- Offer subject to change and cancellation without notice and cannot be combined with any other offer.
- Only one bonus per individual.
- Bonus will be deposited within 125 days of account opening, into the checking account meeting the bonus requirements.
- Accounts must be in good standing.
- All applicable taxes are the sole responsibility of the recipient.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
The my free banking account has no monthly fee and also no monthly minimums.
Early Account Termination Fee
According to this comment the early account termination fee is $25 if the account is closed within 180 days.
Our Verdict
Previous bonuses have been for only $150. This is double that, it does require direct deposits for a total of five months but so did the last offer at only $150. One of the nice things about this bonus is that there is no monthly fee requirement. Keep in mind that ChexSystems sensitive data points. As always please share your experiences in the comments below. We will be adding this to our list of the best bank account bonuses.
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
This has been extended to April 30
That bonus is only for $150, we have it here: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/md-dc-va-sandy-spring-bank-150-checking-bonus-direct-deposit-not-required/
Just received this bonus today after inquiring about it. I believe I should’ve received the bonus earlier because they responded with: “there was a system error regarding E-Statements. Now that the error has been corrected we have credited the bonus to your account.”.
Opened 11/4
DD $250 11/13
DD $250 11/23
DD $500 12/7
DD $500 12/21
DD $500 1/4
DD $500 2/7
DD $500 2/21
DD $500 3/7
Bonus 3/26 after sending SM
Reveived $300 today with legit DD.
Same! All with legit DDs. I’m not sure if this was “for at least 4 months” because the March payroll hasn’t hit it yet. I just set it up as part of my biweekly payroll, so for what it’s worth:
Opened 11/19
DD $500 12/31
DD $500 1/14
DD $500 1/28
DD $500 2/8
DD $500 2/25
Bonus $300 posted 3/5/19
I received the $300 bonus! I used Chase checking and Alliant CU for my monthly deposits in Dec, Jan, and Feb.
Thanks again,
William Charles
Do you remember exact date you opened account? Mine was 11/7 and still no bonus even with legit DD’s.
It was a few days before expiration. What is your statement date?
It’s every 5th for me
Me too. Were each of your deposits $500 or more each month?
Yup. Legit employer DD’s too. Terms state within 125 days of opening so I’ll wait a bit before I contact them.
My official opinion is one Chex inquiry per month is alright with Sandy Spring, but if your doing more than 1 per month, you’re probably out. (Keep in mind, if you do PNC, BofA, Chase, HSBC, or a few of the other giant banks, those do not incur a Chex inquiry – they do EWS)
This is exactly what
Lily Ol Me said with 3/90 days is the limit, as my S.O. had exactly 3 other Chex inquiries in the last 3 months when she got approved. I had 5/90 days, and denied. I am not counting Sandy Spring inquiry, as I assume when they pull it, it wouldn’t be there or ignore it. I would say this is highly credible information – 3 other banks in the last 90 days is OK, but no more.
Going back further, not counting the Sandy Spring inquiry, S.O. was APPROVED at 6 inq. in prior 6 mo. (6/6), and 12/12 in 10/2018. I was not approved at 5/90d, 15/6, and 27/12, in 11/2018. In 11/2016, I was not approved at 7/90d, 13/6, 15/12. (Only +2 at 12 because early 2016 is when I started pushing bank bonus mining hard)
There is also such a thing as a score for Chex, must be requested separately, and when I pulled it before it was not very pretty. But the denial letter makes no reference to score, so I would guess they just are eyeballing inquiries.
Although 1 new account a month is a lot to the average person, it still makes them inquiry sensitive, because most banks ignore any number of non-derogatory Chex entries. (thank goodness)
I have several duplicated inquires I will probably to dispute to get removed off Chex, but I still would be well over one a month. Sounds like I need a 3 month hiatus to get in. I hope this saves someone from the trouble, unless your Jonesing for $250 in credit card funding that takes 3 weeks to get your money back.
This may have been what happened to me as well but they spun it saying they couldn’t verify my identity/address (moved recently to VA). My account was locked with a blaring negative balance a couple days after opening online successfully. I had opened 5 accounts in the past 3 months at this point. Went to a branch next to me with docs to prove my identity, new address, etc. Banker made a few calls and what not and account was good to go by the next morning. But everything needed to be redone such as reordering a debit card and resubmitting Ach information from my external bank (trial deposits were reversed). So my account was probably closed only to be be reopened because of a manual phone call. But there no mention of Chex to me so I can’t confirm if this was the real reason behind everything.
Sounds like yours was more of a identity issue, especially since you recently moved. When you say you opened five accounts, are you counting Sandy Spring? That would bring you down to four if you are. And if you opened a EWS bank account, it would not count towards the three. The magic number.
Or, they just overrode the chex are because of the identity error? Very possible. Especially since you showed your face in a branch.
Some sending banks are very sensitive to reversed ACH trial deposits. I always wait a while before setting those up on new accounts that I’m unsure will stay open.
5 not including Sandy Spring (4 being chex only, 1 being chex/ews). But yeah I have no way to know but now I suspect the real reason was Chex coupled with secondary ID verification issue. I also will add I did not use CC funding if that somehow plays a part in all of this.
And this was my first time having trial deposits reversed so now I know to be safe and wait at least one week+.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/banks-credit-unions-dodont-pull-early-warning-services/
A few of these banks pull both EWS and Chex… Fifth Third, Ally, etc. So they would count toward the magic 3 number of Chex inquires.
Gadget, good detailed info. Based on my history leading up to Sandy Spring opening on 11/4, it seems there’s a chance I was over 3/90 though. I opened Fulton checking 8/3, People’s Bank 8/5, Arundel Federal 8/6, Fulton savings 10/2 (not sure if separate Chex but I think it would be), M&T 10/16, Wells Fargo biz 10/18, Sandy Springs 11/4. Maybe not all of them pull Chex.
Strange one.
Approved on 11/17
Received denial letter 11/30 dated 11/19 cites Chexsystems
Can still log into account online and my initial deposit is there.
Actual DD posted today, coded as “ACH CREDIT [Employer Name]-OSV EDIPYMENTS”
Any simulated DDs post similarly? Hoping to give others a “best guess” as to whether CapOne, Ally, etc. will trigger the requirement.
Detailed descriptions:
Cap360: ACH CREDIT CAPITAL ONE N.A. CAPITALONE date
Incredible: ACH CREDIT RIVER VALLEY BK IBTRANSFER date person’s name
Wells Fargo: ACH CREDIT WELLS FARGO IFI DDA TO DDA date
This is for SO’s acct. Sticking with these 3, but WF is the most promising. Any or all might work.
The short description is more scary, in order:
Capital One Transfer
River Valley Ibtransfer
Transfer from DDA to DDA
Sandy Spring Denial DP
I live in MD, less than two miles from a branch.
Lots of cards and checking accounts since I started churning in July of 2018.
11/5/18: Applied online, immediately received approval email.
Radio silence both sides
11/23/18: Bank emailed me a “brief closed account survey”
11/23/18: I call CSR and say “Wha?” CSR says, “Sorry account is closed you’ll get a letter in a week.” I ask what to do she says “Sorry, decision made, no recourse, no I can’t give you details.”
11/26/18: Denial letter arrives in mail. Cites Chex. Includes bank check for refunded deposit. The date on the check was 11/13/18!
How many checking accounts did you open in the last 12/24 months?
Called and confirmed that DD $250 biweekly won’t trigger the bonus.
It has to be min. $500 in a single transaction per month.
I’m skeptical but I’m going to change my DD now just in case that is in fact true.
Thanks, Kiwoop. This is helpful.
I finally got my account completely set up and online access. After still hearing nothing, I called customer service. They told me I needed to go in branch and show ID to complete setup. I did so with no issues and then enrolled in online banking afterwards. I’ve opened 9 accounts this year before I applied for this one. I opened 14 accounts last year.