Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200 for checking & $100 for savings
- Availability: Pennsylvania only
- Direct deposit required: Total of $400+
- Additional requirements: Deposit $10,000 for 60 business days for savings bonus
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: None on free checking an waiveable on savings
- Early account termination fee: Bonus forfeited if closed within 60 days
- Expiration date: None listed
The Offer
- Open a new checking account with direct deposits totalling $400 or more and receive a $200 bonus
- Open a new savings account and deposit at least $10,000 in funds and receive a $100 bonus
The Fine Print
- Offer valid for customers who currently do not have an existing personal checking account at Fidelity Bank
- Direct deposits must be received within 60 days of account opening
- $200 checking bonus will be made on the 61st day after account opening
- $10,00 in funds must be deposited within 30 days of account opening
- $100 bonus will be deposited on the 61st day after account opening
- Days are only business days
- Interest rate on checking account is 0.05% APY and 0.1% APY on savings account
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
No fee on free checking account, need to keep $100 in Optimum savings to keep fee free. I wasn’t able to locate the fee schedule so I am unsure if an early account termination fee is charged or not but you need to keep the account open for at least 61 business days to get the bonus.
Our Verdict
This $200 checking bonus is pretty good, requirements are easy to meet and there are no fees. Like most new bank bonuses the main concern is whether it’s a hard pull or not, I’d recommend calling or going in branch first to confirm. We obviously haven’t added this to our best bank bonuses due to this unknown.
I think it makes sense to do the $100 savings bonus as well. You’d be loosing out on about two months of interest (remember to fund it late in the first month to avoid loosing too much interest). Even at 5% you’d be making a small profit of $20, even better if you’ve already maxed out the 5% interest accounts.
Direct link to offer | Screenshot of offer
Has this bonus expired yet? I see no mention of it when I click on the link.
As my accounts were reaching 30 days in age, I ACH transferred 10k in to the savings account from my Barclays savings account. It showed up in the Fidelity savings account as “BARCLAYS BANK DE DEPOSIT”.
Does anyone know whether “DE DEPOSIT” would be an abbreviation for direct deposit?
Within the next four weeks I need to make a direct deposit into the Fidelity checking account to get the checking account bonus. If “DE DEPOSIT” is an abbreviation for direct deposit, then I can just do another transfer from my Barclays account. If not, then I may have to actually get my employer to direct deposit a paycheck into the Fidelity checking account.
Has anyone seen “DE DEPOSIT” before?
Love your website, but why no credit to the OP at SD? Posted over a month ago: http://slickdeals.net/f/8004109-open-a-checking-account-with-direct-deposit-at-fidelity-bank-and-earn-200-checking-bonus?v=1
Just because someone wrote it a month ago doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have discovered it himself without reading someone else’s post. There are millions and millions of webpages out there. Just because one person can discover something doesn’t mean that someone else can’t do it a month later. Of course I may be wrong, but from what I’ve seen, he gives credit where credit is due.
Rejected even with PA zipcode.
So, I got response from the bank.
Its chexsystem inquiry. Also, offer is one per person.
Is Fidelity Bank different from the bank account you can get for the Fidelity Amex card? Not that it really matters much since I don’t have ten grand laying around haha…. As of yet….
No. This is a different bank. A community bank sort of. much smaller.
Will, the terms say $400 of direct deposit or recurring credit? What is later one?
I have emailed them regarding hard or soft pull. Will update when I get an answer.
This might be a dumb question, but for state-specific bank bonuses like this, do you have to be a resident of that state? I live right on the border and was curious if I could pull this off?
You can sometimes go in branch and get approved, but the online application will be that state only.
I was driving through PA last week, so I figured I’d give this a shot. I stopped in a Fidelity branch on my way and set up the accounts. They pointed out that there were no Fidelity branches near where I live, but I said that wasn’t a problem so they went ahead and created the accounts for me.
So, yes, if you are not a PA resident(or if you’re in one of those PA zip codes they don’t like) stop by a branch(if you’re going to be nearby)and set it up.
Also, I was given a fee schedule for the account. There is an early termination fee if the account is closed within 180 days. However, with the easy(just need $100 in the savings) requirements to keep it fee-free, that’s not a big deal.
I’ve got all the paperwork for the account and the promotion, so ask if you have questions about any other fees or rules.
Thanks Thoughts on whether an ACH transfer would count for DD for them?