[Expired] [MN & IA only] Home Federal Savings Bank $250 Checking Bonus

Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.

Update 3/1/23: Extended until October 31, 2023.

Update 2/25/23: Deal available again

Update 10/17/21: Bonus is back and extended until 12/31/21.

Update 4/12/20: Checking bonus has been increased to $250, but money market bonus is not available. Also states Any person with more than 5 ChexSystems inquiries will not qualify for this promotion. Hat tip to reader Samuel

Update 10/21/19: Deal is back and valid until December 31st, 2019. Hat tip to reader EW

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: $200
  • Availability: Seems to be in branch only, most branches are in MN but there is one in IA as well [Branch locations] Can be opened online now
  • Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum specified
  • Additional requirements: See below
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
  • ChexSystems: Unknown (sensitive, terms say that anybody with more than 5 ChexSystems inquiries will not qualify)
  • Credit card funding: Unknown
  • Monthly fees: None
  • Early account termination fee: Unknown
  • Household limit: None listed
  • Expiration date: Qualifications must be met by June 30th, 2019 June 30th, 2020 August 31st, 2020 September 30th, 2020 December 31, 2020

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Home Federal Savings Bank is offering a bonus of up to $250. Bonus is broken down as follows:
    • $200 when you open a new account with a direct deposit of $500+
    • $25 when you add a debit card to your account
    • $25 when you enroll in eStatements and online banking

 

The Fine Print

  • New account owners must not have been a Home Federal checking account client in the last 12 months.
  • Checking account minimum opening balance is $25.
  • $100 reward will be credited to the account within 60 days of meeting the direct deposit qualification.
  • Qualifications must be met by 06/30/19 (direct deposit must clear by 08/31/2019).
  • CardValet requires the Debit Card be activated.
  • Clients with existing active online banking will qualify for the $50 reward
  • Reward will be reported as interest on IRS Form 1099-INT.
  • A $75 early closing fee will be charged by the bank if the account closes within the first 6 months.
  • This offer is subject to change and may be withdrawn without notice.
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

Advantage Checking – None

The advantage checking account has no monthly fees to worry about.

Money Market Account – $25

This account has a $25 monthly fee, this is waived with a $10,000 minimum balance.

Early Account Termination Fee

There is an early account termination fee of $75 if the account is closed within 6 months

Our Verdict

Previous best deal was $200, requirements are exactly the same but everything has been doubled. We still need to know if this is a soft or hard pull, if it’s a soft pull then I definitely think it’s worth doing. The money market bonus is a bit difficult because you need to keep the $10,000 deposited to avoid the monthly fee/early account termination fee.

Big thanks to reader, TJ who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
    William Charles
  • On February 25, 2023, 12:00
Tags: direct deposit requiredia bank bonusesmn bank bonusessoft pull

View Comments (90)

  • Here is how this one went for me:

    March 6th: Opened Account
    March 24th: Direct Deposit of paycheck of $900
    May 24th: Qualification period passed, no bonus deposited
    May 31st: Reached out to Customer Service via internal banking website support
    June 2nd: Still hadnt received a reply from their customer service department at all. They still hadnt posted the bonus (now over a week late) and were ignorning my customer service requests. Submitted a CFPB complaint.
    June 20th: CFPB referred the complaint to Office of the Comptroller
    June 29th: Bonus shows up in my account with still no contact from the Bank themselves.

    Took a bit of extra work and had to submit a complaint to get them to honor their own terms, so wouldnt recommend this bank (even for normal banking purposes).

    • FYI, even though you are able to open account online, during the application process it states you need to live or work in the listed counties, so OOS applications wont work.

  • Man, I'm surprised these guys don't balance the books with an abacus still. Had to call a specific person back to get the account owner verbally verified for setup - not amused that they then played the out-of-office game by returning a call on 4:29 on a Thursday and then being out of the office that Friday. Took until Wednesday of the following week after corresponding with another banker that there was still interest in opening an account. Lo and behold that Wednesday is before the day before Thanksgiving and at 4:15 pm the account was set up. Not fully though, as they needed to verify funding bank account with 2 small deposits that who knows when they'll send and can be almost certain nothing will be done with the account on a Black Friday.

    This good ol' banker attitude in 2021 is pathetic. What a joke.

  • Beware of dormancy fees for this checking account.

    Checking Account Inactive Fee (Monthly) ..…………………………….… $12.00*
    Account Balance less than $500 & no activity for 90 days, Fees
    may result in Account Closing

    Checking Account Dormant Fee (Monthly)…………………………….…. $25.00
    Account Balance less than $500 & no activity for 366 days, Fees
    may result in Account Closing

  • You can change your post about ChexSystem as they definitely use it and they definitely deny the offer if you are over 5 inquiries in ChexSystem. I missed the 5 in your writeup and also in their account opening small print. I didn't even know that I had 5 inquires honestly. The bank called me during account opening and asked if I realized that I had 5 and that I would not get the bonus. She said I could still open but would not get a bonus. At least they told me so I could make a choice.

  • I would highly recommend not doing this offer. You might be approved but this does not mean you will get the bonus if you have had 5 inquiries. It was also difficult to open the account as it was necessary to speak to a live person. I ran into other issues as well for both myself and P2.

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