[Expired] [NJ, NY & PA] Ocean First Bank $300 Checking Account Bonus

This offer has expired and is no longer valid. Click here for the best new checking bonuses.

Offer has returned with a new promo code: 300FALL17. Hat tip to reader William B.

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $300
• Availability: New Jersey, New York & Pennsylvania
• Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum specified. Needs to post to your account twice and must be maintained for one year.
• Additional requirements: 30 debit card transactions
• Hard/soft pull: soft
• Credit card funding: yes limited to $100 now
• Monthly fees: Waive-able 
• Early account termination fee: Account must remain open for a year
• Expiration date: Unknown

The Offer

Direct link to offer

Whatever option you choose, make sure you use the promotional code 300FALL17

Option #1

• OceanFirst Bank are offering a sign up bonus of up to $300 on their checking account, broken down as follows:
  • Open a new Simply Great Checking account with a Visa CheckCard and get $50
  • Set up direct deposit within 75 days and get another $50 (needs to post to your account twice and needs to be maintained for one year)
  • Swipe your Visa CheckCard for signature or online transactions 30 times within the first 75 days and receive another $200 [Read: How To Meet Minimum Debit & Credit Transaction Requirements]

Option #2

• Open a Totally Free Checking account or an A+ Student Checking account along with a free debit card and receive $50 immediately
• Set up a direct deposit within 75-days and receive another $50
• Swipe your debit card for signature or online transactions 30 times in the first 75 days the account is open and you will get a bonus of 20,000 Uchoose Rewards points which is worth around $160 in gift cards, such as Amazon, Target or Walmart gift cards (must register for the Uchoose Rewards program)

The Fine Print

• Offer available for first-time checking customers as of 10/16/17 for a limited time and subject to change at any time
• Initial $50 Cash bonus paid at time of opening and only available to new OceanFirst Simply Great checking account customers who take and use a new OceanFirst Visa® Check Card. An additional $50 cash bonus will automatically be deposited into your account after 75 days only after setting up a direct deposit that has posted twice to your account.
• Direct deposit must be maintained for one year or the bonus will be forfeited
• The remaining $200 will be automatically deposited into your account after 75 days and only after swiping the new CheckCard 30 times, for signature or online transactions, within the first 75 days of account opening.
•  A different offer is available to new OceanFirst A+ Student Checking, Classic or Totally Free Checking customers who open and use a new OceanFirst Visa CheckCard. $50 is deposited when you open a new A+ Student Checking Account, Classic or Totally Free Checking account and an OceanFirst Visa CheckCard; an additional $50 cash bonus will automatically be deposited into your account after 75 days only after setting up a direct deposit that has posted to your account. 20,000 UChoose Rewards® points will be automatically credited to the customer’s UChoose Rewards account after 75 days and only after swiping the new CheckCard 30 times, for signature or online transactions, within the first 75 days of account opening.

Avoiding Fees

• Simply Great Checking account comes with a $7.95 monthly maintenance fee. Fee is waived with a daily minimum balance of $5000. Fine print says it’s waived first year.
• Classic Checking comes with a $5.95 monthly maintenance fee. Fee is waived with a daily minimum balance of $1000.
• Totally Free Checking and Student Checking accounts don’t come with monthly fees.

Note that there is a stated $5 monthly inactivity fee.

Geographic Availability

This offer only works online for residents of Ocean County, Monmouth County, Middlesex County and Mercer County. In the past, other NJ residents were able to apply in a branch and get the offer.

Our Verdict

Very good bonus here for those in the area. Even if you aren’t in the above-mentioned counties, it could be worth driving into the closest branch and taking part in this offer. Before driving in, it’s worth verifying that they’ll let you open an account in-branch with the bonus; it has worked in the past.

Here’s how to go about this offer:

1. Open the Simply Great checking account and fund it with $2,500 (or whatever the max is) with a credit card; add another $2,500 in the account for a year to keep it fee-free (leave a little more so that you have funds there for the debit card requirement)
   1. Alternatively, open the Totally Free Checking account to get the 20,000 points offer instead of the $200; 20k points is worth around $160 in gift cards, so you’ll lose a little there but you won’t have to tie up the $1k for a year to keep it fee-free
2. Set up a direct deposit; keep in mind you need two direct deposits and this must be maintained for one year so might make more sense to just ignore this part of the bonus
3. Buy 30 $.50 Amazon gift cards (slowly), or use other options to meet the debit card requirement
4. After a year, can close the account or you can downgrade it to a fee-free version so that you don’t need to leave any money in it to keep it fee-free

We will be adding this to our list of the best bank account bonuses found here. This offer has been around before, so you can read people’s experiences here.

Hat tip to reader Jack

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• What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
• How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
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