Update 1/14/24: Extended until 4/30/2024.
Update 5/24/23: Extended until 12/31/2023..
Update 4/19/23: Direct deposit no longer required. Hat tip to Scott
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200
- Availability: PA, OH, IN, KY, or WV
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Unknown
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date: 5/31/2023
Contents
The Offer
- First Commonwealth Bank is offering a $200 bonus when you open a new checking account with promo code NEWACCOUNT and complete the following requirements:
- complete 5 or more customer-initiated transactions, including deposits and withdrawals, that post and clear the account within 60 days of account opening
The Fine Print
- Offer available to customers residing in First Commonwealth Bank markets (PA, OH, IN, KY, or WV) with no personal checking account relationship with First Commonwealth Bank at the time of account opening. To qualify for the $100 checking reward: 1) Open a new personal checking account by phone by calling 844.711.2265 or online at fcbanking.com by 5/31/2023 and use promo code ‘CHECKING200’ at the time of account opening; AND 2) Complete one (1) direct deposit of $500 or more within 60 days of account opening. Qualifying direct deposits may include electronically deposited funds by an employer or an outside agency such as a paycheck, pension, or Social Security.
- To qualify for the additional $100 savings reward: 1) Open a new Hometown Savings, American Dream Savings, Hometown Money Market or Relationship Money Market account by phone by calling 844.711.2265 or online at fcbanking.com; 2) Establish a “savings goal” using Money Manager; AND 3) Maintain a minimum daily balance of $500 in the new savings/money market account for at least consecutive 60 days. To qualify for the additional savings reward, you must first meet all qualification requirements to earn the checking reward, and the savings requirements must be met in full within 6 months of opening the qualifying checking account.Account opening is subject to approval. Minimum opening deposit requirements apply and vary by account type, ranging from $25 to $50 for checking accounts and from $0 to $1,000 for savings/money market accounts. Variable-Rate Annual Percentage Yield (APY) for the Hometown Checking + Interest, savings and money market accounts vary by tier. For example, as of 2/23/2023, the Hometown Checking + Interest APY by tier is: 0.01% for $500+, $2,500+, and $10,000+. The Hometown Savings APY by tier is: 0.02% for $0.01+, $1,500+, and $10,000+; 0.04% for $25,000+ and $50,000+. The American Dream Savings base APY is 0.03% and will be increased by 0.04%, up to a maximum rate of 0.15%, when additional accounts within the following product groupings are included in the Relationship: 1) Checking Account or Money Market Account, 2) Certificate of Deposit or Individual Retirement Account, 3) Consumer Loan (Installment, Home Equity, Personal Line of Credit, Mortgage or Time and Demand); Multiple accounts within the same product grouping will count as only one. The Hometown Money Market APY by tier is: 0.02% for $0.01+; 0.04% for $20,000+ and $50,000+; 0.06% for $100,000+, $250,000+, and $2,000,000+. The Relationship Money Market APY by tier is: 0.02% for $0.01+; 0.04% for $20,000+ and $50,000+; 0.06% for $100,000+, $250,000+, and $2,000,000+. The interest rates quoted are the current Non-Relationship rates. In order to qualify for the Relationship Rates, the primary or joint owner on the Relationship Money Market must also be a primary or joint owner on a Hometown Checking + Interest + Solutions account. Visit fcbanking.com for the current Relationship rates. Rates and APY may change after the account is opened. Fees may reduce earnings on the account.Earned checking rewards will be credited to active checking accounts within 60 days of all requirements being met. Earned savings rewards will be credited to active savings accounts within 60 days of all requirements being met, which includes the requirements to earn the checking reward. All earned rewards will be identified as “Promotional Credit” on your monthly statement. Offer is exclusive, not transferable, and limited to one checking and one savings reward per customer. Offer may be extended, modified or discontinued at any time. The value of the reward may be reported on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1099, and may be considered taxable income. Please consult your tax advisor regarding your specific situation.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
This account has no monthly fees to worry about.
Early Account Termination Fee
I wasn’t able to find a fee schedule so unsure if there is EATF.
Our Verdict
There is also a small business checking bonus, but this bonus seems to be open in more states.
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
Opened 1/26 in branch after chex denial online. 3/20 $200 bonus posted.
.
William Charles I think applying for the “Confidence Checking” makes them less likely to be chex sensetive, because the account is targeted towards people who may have a bad chex record.
Makes sense!
DP from Pennsylvania:
2024/01/23: Applied.
2024/01/24: Declined. Received a message, “We are unable to approve your request based on information provided by ChexSystems, Inc”.
At the time of application, my rough chex stats were:
8/3 months
15/6 months
23/12 months.
Kind of a bummer, because there’s a branch close by to me.
Try the confidence checking. Then wait a couple of weeks before doing the debit card transactions. If you try and do them all in one day they will call you and ask what you are doing.
These guys are Chex sensitive. Declined P1 and P2 for Chex
Declined as well
HP for membership?
Soft pull.
Finally got my bonus today. I had to CFPB them to get it.
They are like Truist, and want you to come in branch to fix most issues. I got push back when asking customer service about the bonus not posting on time. I CFPBed them, and they have not yet responded.
Could someone answer a question about CHEX given the following situation?:
Wed, 6/7/23: Applied online
Thurs, 6/8/23: Declined due to not having info from Experian (I didn’t realize I needed to unfreeze it).
So I called Customer Service – I unfroze and re-applied online.
Was approved.
Rceived “Welcome” email and account #.
Registered successfully for online access.
Was waiting for CC funding to come through.
Sat, 6/20/23: Received email alerting me to check for a message in my account.
Tried to login, but saw the message “Your Account is Dormant”.
Called Customer Service and was told that my 2nd application was declined due to the IP Address showing “Virginia” rather than my state of “PA” in addition to my 1st application being declined.
I explained that my data provider uses dynamic IP addresses, and that the IP address does show states other than the one I am in.
She suggested that I visit a branch in person to show my ID.
However, none of their branches are close to me, which is why I chose “Online Only” during the application process.
So my account is terminated.
QUESTION:
In a case like this – where an account was opened and then closed within a few days – is there a way to remove this from my Chex?
It would suck to have this on my Chex record when it ended up being declined.
Anyone know?
Edit: I meant “Sat 6/10/23” not “6/20/23” in my above comment