[Expired] [NJ] Columbia Bank $500 Checking Account Bonus

Update 6/11/18: $500 offer is no longer available online. Looks like the $200 bonus is still being offered though. Readers note that $500 offer is still available in-branch.

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $500
• Availability:  Must live or work in the State of New Jersey (account can be opened online)
• Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum specified
• Additional requirements: Bill Payment
• Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
• ChexSystems: Yes
• Credit card funding: Up to $500
• Monthly fees: None
• Early account termination fee: Account must be open at time of bonus posting
• Household limit: None listed
• Expiration date: None listed

The Offer

Direct link to offer

Open a new Columbia Bank Yield Plus Checking and receive up to $500 in bonuses, as follows:

• $200 just for opening the account
• $200 for receiving a qualifying direct deposit within 60 days of account opening
• $100 for making a bill payment within 60 days of account opening

The high-yield interest isn’t interesting since there are lots of accounts with better rates and without the required minimums.

The Fine Print

• This offer applies to new consumer accounts only. New money only.
• If you open a new Yield Plus Checking account with funds that are not already on deposit with Columbia Bank, you will receive a $200 cash credit to your Yield Plus checking account within 100 days from account opening. You are permitted to receive only one account opening cash bonus irrespective of the number of accounts you open.
• You will receive a $200 cash credit to your Yield Plus checking account after we have seen that a qualifying direct deposit transaction has been posted to your Yield Plus account within 60 days after the date you opened the account. Only one $200 credit will be made in total for qualifying direct deposit activity to this account within the first 60 days of account opening. You are permitted to receive only one of these bonuses irrespective of the number of accounts you open.
• You will receive a $100 cash credit to your Yield Plus checking account after we have seen that a Columbia Bank online bill payment transaction was debited from your Yield Plus checking account. The debit has to occur within 60 days after the date you opened the account. Only one $100 credit will be made in total for the Columbia Bank online banking bill payment activity. You are permitted to receive only one of these bonuses irrespective of the number of accounts you open.
• To receive any of the aforementioned bonuses, the account must still be open at the time we are ready to credit the funds and at all times the account was in good standing.
• The cash bonuses will be reported as interest to the IRS on form 1099-INT.

Avoiding Fees

There is no monthly fees on this account.

No early termination fee is mentioned either, thought the account must be open at the time of bonus posting.

Our Verdict

They’ve had a $200 bonus on their Advantage Plus Checking for quite some time. This $500 deal way better and is even easier to do since the Yield Plus Checking does not have the $500 minimum to keep fee-free. If you did the previous deal, you might be able to do this deal as well if your previous account is closed.

As far as I can tell, all you have to do here is:

• Open the account with $1 – this gets you $200 (might as well open with $500 for the credit card funding)
• Do one bill pay of any amount – this gets you an additional $100
• Get one direct deposit post of any amount posted to the account – this gets you an additional $200

Seems like most bank ACH’s have worked to trigger the direct deposit requirement, and the PDF sounds like that as well. You can get $300 even without any direct deposit.

Anyone from New Jersey can open an account online. Might be possible to do this deal from out of state by going in branch.

Oddly, this page shows it as a $300 bonus. I guess they aren’t counting the $200 direct deposit bonus there. The $500 bonus is mentioned clearly on the home page, the landing page, as well as on this PDF. There’s no promo code or anything; apparently, it just gets attached automatically to any Yield Plus account opened.

Deal looks too good to be true, to be honest, I feel like I’m missing something. We’ll add this to our state-specific best checking promotions list as it’s probably the best checking deal of all time if it works as advertised.

Hat tip to reader Harry

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:

• A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
• 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