Update 5/17/22: Extended until June 30, 2022.
Update 1/5/22: Extended until June 30, 2022.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $400
- Availability: NC, SC, TN, VA
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $2,500+ within 90 days
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Yes, not sensitive
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Bonus forfeit, 180 days
- Household limit: Two per household
- Expiration date: December 31, 2021.
Contents
The Offer
- HomeTrust Bank is offering a bonus of $400 when you open a new checking account with the promo code UPTO400. Bonus is broken down as follows:
- Get $150 for qualified direct deposits totaling $2,500 or more in the first 90 days.
- Get $150 for an opening balance of $10,000 or greater and maintaining that balance for the first 90 days.
- Get $100 when you make at least 15 debit card purchases totaling $500 or more in one statement cycle in the first 90 days.
The Fine Print
- Direct Deposit bonus: Earn $150 for direct deposits totaling $2,500 or more across two consecutive statement cycles within the first three statement cycles from account opening.
- Your direct deposit needs to be regular monthly income, such as an electronic deposit of your paycheck, pension, or government benefits (such as Social Security) from your employer or the government. Transfers from one account to another or deposits made at a banking location or ATM do not qualify as Direct Deposit.
- $10K+ Account Balance bonus: Earn $150 when you deposit and maintain a $10,000 minimum daily balance in your new account for the first 90 days.
- Debit Card Activity bonus: Earn $100 when you make at least 15 debit card purchases equal to, or greater than, $500 in one statement cycle within the first three statement cycles.
- All transactions must post and settle to qualify. Bonuses will be credited to your account on the 15th of the month after each specific bonus requirement has been met. Bonuses may be credited at different times depending on account activity but will be credited no later than 120 days from account opening.
- Offer cannot be combined with other offers and is limited to two (2) incentives per household. Customer must have a physical address within the HomeTrust Bank market footprint. Offer not available to households that have had a personal checking account at HomeTrust Bank within the last five years. If your account is closed within the first 180 days, an account closing fee equal to the bonus payment (between $100 and $400) you received will apply. HomeTrust Bank employees are not eligible to participate in promotion.Offer may be withdrawn at any time. Payments are subject to IRS tax reporting requirements. For fees applicable to your account, please view our Fee Schedule. For additional terms and conditions, please view our Deposit Account Agreement and Online or Mobile terms and conditions.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Simple checking has no monthly fees to worry about. There is a $4/month inactivity fee that “Applies to checking accounts with balances less than $100, after three months with no activity”
Early Account Termination Fee
Bonus forfeit if closed within 180 days of account opening
Our Verdict
Previously they had a $100 bonus with no direct deposit and a $200 bonus with a direct deposit. This bonus is much bigger, but $150 of it is really a savings bonus with the $10,000 deposit requirement. In any case it is worth doing and we will add it to the best bank bonus page.
Hat tip to reader Ben
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
Not available in my VA zip code. 250 miles from nearest branch. I suppose you’ve got to be in the branch’s footprint to apply.
Did anybody ever receive a 1099 for the bonus? I called and when the rep pulled my info they said my interest earned was $0 and there was no 1099 generated. Seems like they didn’t generate them for bonuses this year.
Ah, I suppose I should reach out by email as well. Were they able to send you the 1099-INT?
Anybody received 1099 from this bank?
Reached out to HomeTrust earlier this week. 1099s were mailed on Jan 31 and are not available online. Agents did not have access to view or request duplicate 1099-INTs until today so they couldn’t confirm whether the 1099 included the bonus amount(s) or not.
was thinking of doing this one as I have had some money open up. and it now is not available to a household that has had an account in the last FIVE YEARS
William Charles
Better than Discover… first EVER, regardless if you got a bonus before.
Thanks, added to the fine print
FYI – HomeTrust requires you to send in a notarized letter or go to a physical branch location to close an account. The notarized letter can be submitted via email, fax, or snail mail.
Good to know. Glad they randomly closed my account after I received most of the bonus.
Yeah it’s absurd they can open accounts without any such hassles online but need a notarized letter to close. But luckily they auto closed account with balance at 0 for a couple months 😉
Found this out today when I tried to close by phone. Next time I’ll just drain the account after bonus posts and let them auto close, rather than leaving $100 in there for the full 6 months.
Why not continue to get ten free 50 cent Amz reloads each month? I am slightly out of footprint, but one of two HH members has an acct, so they are going to have to force me out. I can’t rinse & repeat.
The only sad part is that they do report the debit card refunds as interest.
What do you mean 10 free Amz reloads? Do they round down or something?
So, BEFORE, you could do ten 50-cent reloads, and get $5 back at the end of the statement cycle. The only downside was they did report the $5 per month on 1099 as interest. Did that for at least two years, with no issues.
Now that the program changed, I closed the account. I cannot apply for another account even if I wanted to, as the website won’t accept my zip code. They are dead to me.
Their new program is a rounding program PLUS a minimum monthly spend. Enjoy! I wasn’t going to play the 1-cent debit game and buying money orders to fulfill the major spend. If someone else can pull it off, go for it!
Also, I closed the account via SM/email with a zero balance last month, IIRC, so the root comment about closing with a notarized letter is no longer an issue. He was likely under the 180-day rule that some banks try to enforce or make inconvenient as hell to close… Like M&T, when you try to close too soon, but then won’t explain that stipulation and just let you flounder.
Interesting bonus.
So I opened the account on 5/9 and deposited 10k shortly after. I received the $150 bonus within a week or so if I remember correctly. Although I know I was supposed to keep the 10k for 90 days, I had other bonuses to get to. I transferred the funds out and took my chances since I had already received the bonus.
I completed the other two portions of the bonus and sat and waited. Eventually I got the $100 bonus for the 15 debit card purchases. The only thing left to be paid out was the $150 for the Direct Deposits portion.
I login yesterday only to find my account had been closed. Unfortunately I had not transferred the $100 out of my account. I actually received an account closure letter and to my surprise, a $100 check today.
So although I wish I would have gotten the full $400, I can’t complain about getting $250.
No explanation as to why the account was closed.
Nevermind, please delete
Has anybody tried Venmo or the like for the debit card purchase requirement? I imagine it’d work unless they manually review.
Also, I’d say it’s worth pointing out in the post that the Everywhere Connect account pays $5/mo when you make at least 10 debit card transactions and waives the $10 monthly fee when you make at least 5. I just went with the Simple Checking without looking into the Everywhere Connect Checking and regret my lack of due diligence.
Consolidated timeline DP:
– 2/18 – Application submitted with in-state physical address but out-of-state mailing address
– 2/24 – Account approved & opened
– 2/25 – $10K opening deposit posted
– 3/15 – $150 deposit portion of bonus posted (wasn’t supposed to post until 6/15)
– 3/22 – 3/25 – Combination of small and 1 large debit card purchases totaling $500
– 3/31 – $1.25K Employer DD posted (Statement 1)
– 4/15 – $1.25K Employer DD posted (Statement 1)
– 4/15 – $100 debit card spend portion of bonus posted
– 4/30 – $2.5K Employer DD posted (Statement 2)
– 5/19 – $150 direct deposit portion of bonus posted (had to follow-up with customer service after meeting terms as bonus didn’t automatically post on 5/15)
Will keep the account through the end of August to avoid ETF / bonus forfeiture.
Is the in-state address just some random address you put down?
Did you actually live in an eligible zip code or are able to play with the numbers to bypass the zip code eligibility pop up?
I believe HTB doesn’t let you change the “state” dropdown once you enter in the initial eligibility zip code