Update 5/14/23: New $450 link. Does say use code found in the mailer, but the landing page says the code is CB so unsure if that is enforced.
Update 3/1/23: new $350 link
Update 2/27/23: the $350 and $450 links are expired. Here’s a lower $200 link.
Update 1/22/23: here’s a $450 link (ht jd) and another link (ht DailyGrindit)
Update 12/2/22: Bonus is down to $350 with promo code CJ, new link here, valid through 1/27/23 (ht Jim). There’s another link here for $250/$350 which is valid through 2/24/23.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $100/$150/$200/$250/$350
- Availability: CT, DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA, VA, WV
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $500
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Yes
- Credit card funding:
None - Monthly fees: Avoidable
- Early account termination fee: $50, 180-days
- Expiration date:
JulyAugust 15, 2018 September 5, 2018 October 31st, 2018November 26th, 2018 January 16th, 2019 February 25th, 2019 April 1st, 2019May 13th, 2019March 2, 2020 September 15, 2020January 11, 2021April 5, 2021 October 5, 2021 April 30, 2022May 27, 2022June 28, 2022February 24, 2023 - Household limit: None listed
Contents
The Offer
Input your zip code and see what offers show for you:
- ($350) Open an M&T MyChoice Premium checking account and receive a sign up bonus of $350 & maintain a $10,000 average daily balance in November 2022 and December 2022. Promo code TK. Can also get a $100 bonus when you open a MyChoice Money Market account.
The Fine Print
- We will credit one cash bonus to the account if the account receives a total of at least $500 in qualifying direct deposits within 90 days of account opening.
- Qualifying direct deposits include, but are not limited to, recurring electronic deposits such as payroll, pension or Social Security. Person-to-person, bank transfers or other electronic money transfers such as those made through internet payment services do not qualify.
- Bonus will be credited to the account within 90 days of direct deposit activation as long as the account is in good standing and all of the eligibility requirements are satisfied at the time we seek to credit the bonus.
- Only one Premium Checking Bonus and one Direct Deposit Bonus will be awarded per customer regardless of the number of accounts opened.
- The bonus(es) are not available to existing personal M&T checking account customers, or those whose accounts have been closed within 180 days, employees of M&T Bank or any of its affiliates, or customers who have received a bonus in connection with a personal M&T checking account within the preceding twelve-month period.
- A $50 early close-out fee applies if the account is closed within 180 days of opening.
- Bonus offers may vary by product and region, are not transferable and are reportable for tax purposes.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them.
Avoiding Fees
EZChoice Checking
This account has no monthly fees.
Basic Banking
This account has a non-waivable $3 monthly fee.
Classic Checking
This account has a monthly fee of $4.95 that can be waived with any one of the following methods:
- Have at least 1 direct deposit to your M&T Classic Checking with Interest account
- Keep an average daily balance of $500 or more in the account per monthly service charge cycle
- Make 10 or more debit card purchases or payments
- Keep combined balances of $1,500 or more in eligible personal deposit accounts
MyChoice Plus Checking
This account has a monthly fee of $14.95 that can be waived with any one of the following methods:
- Keep an average daily balance of $2,500 or more in the account per monthly service charge cycle
- Have direct deposits to your MyChoice Plus Checking account totaling at least $1,500 per monthly service charge cycle
MyChoice Premium Checking
This account has a monthly fee of $24.95 that can be waived with any one one of the following methods:
- Keep an average daily balance of $7,500 or more in the account per monthly service charge cycle
- Keep total combined balances of $25,000 or more in eligible personal deposit accounts, loans and home equity outstanding balances, investments6 and business deposit accounts
Early Account Termination Fee
Looks to be $50 now if closed within 180 days.
Our Verdict
The direct link above is just a generic M&T website link, so the bonus should work for any zip code deemed eligible (not sure what the “not transferable” means in the fine print). I’m assuming this bonus is available in the the states listed above, as was the case last time around (note it won’t work in all areas in those states). Let us know if you see eligible areas elsewhere. Remember, you can’t do this if you’ve gotten a bonus within 12 months.
Thanks to reader Michael for letting us know about this bonus. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.
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
Bonus history
- Update 10/14/22: $450 bonus is back.
- Update 10/13/22: $350 bonus is back, not as good as the $450 bonus. Valid until October 28, 2022
- Update 9/5/22: The $450 is expired. Seems only $200 is now available (link).
- Update 7/10/22: New $450 offer link here. Promo code UB. (ht Elena)
- Update 6/9/22: New $350 offer link, use promo code CC. (ht TallyTime)
- Update 4/28/22: $350 checking bonus + $100 direct deposit bonus now available online. Promo code TY
- Update 4/12/22: Instead of a savings bonus you can get a $100 direct deposit bonus
- Update 4/11/22: There is also a $100 savings bonus now as well. Hat tip to reader MC
- Update 4/2/22: Extended through June 30th
- Update 2/21/22: Extended through April 30, 2022. Hat tip to reader alopez14
- Update 1/13/22: Looks like there is a $450 bonus as well.
- Update 1/11/22: Extended through 1/28/22.
- Update 4/7/21: Extended through July 12, 2021
- Update 1/14/21: Extended through April 5, 2021 now
- Update 7/1/20: Extended through September 15, 2020. It seems like promo codes are now state restricted. E.g TH doesn’t work in NJ/NY.
Update 3/11/20: New $250 checking/$100 savings bonus with promo code TK. Hat tip to Peckerwood17. Valid until 6/1/20Looks like the TK promo code has not been extended.- Update 1/15/20: There is a $400 bonus now.
- Update 1/7/20: Deal has been extended until March 2, 2020.
- Update 11/8/19: Deal has been extended until January 6th, 2020.
- Update 8/20/19: Deal has been extended until November 4th, 2019.
- Update 7/10/19: Deal has been increased to $300 for MyChoice Plus or Premium & $200 for EZchecking & basic. Hat tip to readers Sean A & Allen W
- Update 7/2/19: Now available until August 19th, 2019
- Update 5/14/19: Deal is now available until July 1st, 2019.
- Update 4/7/19: $350 bonus now available in branch. Hat tip to reader Gerald
- Update 2/26/19: Bonus has been extended until April 1st, 2019.
- Update 1/17/19: Offer has been extended until February 25th, 2019.
- Update 11/28/18: Offer has been extended until January 16th, 2019.
- Update 11/01/2018: Offers extended until November 26th, 2018
- Repost 09/17/18: There is now a $300 in branch offer. Details below. Hat tip to Lazy Traveler’s.
- Repost 8/19/18: Offer extended through September 5, 2018.
- Repost 7/19/18: Offer extended through August 15th.
do i need to maintain 10k in each checkin and savings so total 20k to get this promotion? or 10k is good?
yes, 20k total
It seems like with 5%apy accounts it isn’t really worth doing these bonuses if you have to tie up 7-10k to get bonus and avoid monthly fees and/or ETF. 10k at 5% is $41/mo
Much of it depends on your situation, but the bottom line for me is $350>$123. You only need to leave the $7-10K in until the bonus posts, then convert the account to their ezchoice checking and take out all but $1 for the final three months to avoid the ETF.
anyone have a screenshot of the march april promo?
https://web.archive.org/web/20230203040428/https://campaigns.mtb.com/premium-cash-bonus
Appreciate it. It’s only showing $350 instead of the $450 for some reason there 😞
I believe the offer was only $350 during those months.
in NYC zip, I’ve never received M&T mailers. Branch manager down my block was surprised why family members all receive Chase, BofA, TD, Citizens – but never M&T. (btw, I recall no WF, Cap1 or KeyBank, neither).
Manager said that even if he entered CB, he still needs to see mailer (cuz “system knows” whether they’d mailed me). He only found $100 checking bonus he could do me for as a walk-in…He also offered 4.88% (5% APY) on either 12-month or 17-month CD – which requires no checking account, or relationship
So did he do you for as a walk-in?
From Brooklyn, NY. i got mailer, with zero mentioning my name or address on actual promo paper…. and yet, again, he may be right, in 90% managers are wrong, and have no clue what they are talking about especially if it’s in regards backoffice (promo, technical etc…)
Regional banks aren’t too bright
M&T also currently has a somewhat better $500 bonus offer to open a business checking account. It also expires on the same day as this one (6/30). Has anyone able been able to sign up for both at the same time? (since this offer is not open to existing customers- would have to open same time).
This offer isn’t open to existing personal checking customers, so you should be able to open them serially.
Not as good as the direct deposit offer from before. Previous offer was that you only needed to open a MyChoice Premium account, make a $500 DD for $150, then hold $10,000 for 90 days for the remaining $300.
This new offer doesn’t require a DD (for which most bank ACH’s work to trigger), but it does require you hold $20,000 for 90 days. The $10,000 in the checking account will gain 0% interest. However, the Money Market account has a 6-month introductory offer for interest of 3.92%, which is better than most banks (including Ally!). So, you at least won’t lose out on interest on half the money, in fact you will gain money over a bank like Ally.
For the 90 days: you will be losing out ~$91 for the money held in checking, and you will be making an additional $4 vs Ally. So this is really a deal for $363.
The deal between Jul-Nov 2022 had the same issue, lost interest on $10,000, just bank interest rates were lower at that time (3.25% at Ally if I recall correctly, for a loss of $79).
TY tdd! Deserves a spot in “OUR VERDICT”
OUR VERDICT: You deserve a spot in remedial summer math at your local middle school cafeteria
anyone figured out the yield, if safely played?
My yield includes several spoons, including one labeled 𝕋𝕆ℕ𝕐 in colorful block letters.
Leave your mailing address and I’ll mail you one.
Your shtick is getting a little bit stale.
Your pick is wedding a brittle split snail.
“customers who have received a bonus credited to a personal M&T checking account within the last 12 months ” does this mean I am eligible if I got a bonus 13 month ago but kept the account open till 8 month ago? In other words, this “12 months” is from bonus date not account close date? Thanks.
the answer is in the sentence right after the one you quoted
Offer also available now in MA, ME, VT, and NH (zip codes in all those states worked).
I’m guessing it’s because of the merger with People’s United Bank (https://newsroom.mtb.com/2022-04-02-M-T-Bank-Corporation-Completes-Acquisition-of-Peoples-United-Financial,-Inc).
Updated thanks
Looks like if someone can refer it excludes the 12 months The bonus(es) are not available to existing personal M&T checking account customers, employees of M&T Bank or any of its affiliates, or customers who have received a bonus credited to a personal M&T checking account within the last 12 months (Refer Friends Program is excluded from this 12-month period).
i don’t think those words mean what you think they mean…using a referral overrides the 12 month cooldown? inconceivable!