Update 1/2/25: Deal is back until 12.31.25.
Update 1/1/24: Extended until 12/31/2024.
Update 1/3/23: Bonus is now $300 and can also be done using a referral link again.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $300
- Availability: PA only, nationwide if you become Pennsylvania Recreation and Park Society (PRPS) for $20. See this comment.
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $200+ per month ongoing
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Hard pull
- ChexSystems: Yes
- Credit card funding: Up to $100 with a Visa or Mastercard
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: None
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date:
May 31, 2021 December 31, 2021December 31, 2023
Contents
The Offer
Direct link to offer (or use a referral link found here)
- PSECU is offering a bonus of up to $300:
- Use promo code 300PROMO
- Sign up and log into digital banking (online or mobile).
- Set up and receive two (2) qualifying payroll direct deposits each of $500 or more.
The Fine Print
- Participant must be a U.S. Resident.
- Promotion open to persons 18 years of age or older at the time the account is opened. One promo code per New Member. Additional promo code will be invalid.
- The recipient of the $100 bonus is solely responsible for payment of applicable taxes on that amount. If you have any questions, please seek the advice of a qualified tax professional.
- PSECU reserves the right to recall the $100 bonus if the member account is closed within the first year of establishing membership.
- PSECU reserves the right to recall the $250 direct deposit bonus if the payroll direct deposit(s) is/are not active for six consecutive months or if the member account is closed within the first year of establishing membership.”
- If PSECU is unable to confirm any qualifying monthly direct deposit is a recurring payroll deposit, or if the member is not in good standing as defined by PSECU’s Bylaws Article II, Section 1, PSECU reserves the right to withhold the payment of the $250 direct deposit bonus.
- If the member is not in good standing, at any time prior to the payment of the bonus, as defined by PSECU’s Bylaws Article II, Section 1, PSECU reserves the right to withhold the payment of the $100 bonus.
- Payment of the $100 bonus will be deposited into the Regular share within 45 days after the requirements are satisfied.
- This offer is only open to new members who meet PSECU eligibility requirements.
- All decisions of PSECU regarding this promotion are final. PSECU may terminate or change the terms and conditions of this promotion without notice.
- Employees, agents, and officials of PSECU and immediate family members of any of these are not eligible for this promotion.
- Subject to all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations.
- Promotion open to persons 18 years of age or older at the time the account is opened.
- Limit (1) new member incentive bonus per tax identification number used to open a new account per rolling 12-month period.
- PSECU will only pay one new member incentive bonus per tax identification number per rolling 12-month period.
- This is a one-time offer available to new members only, who have not previously been a PSECU member within the last 12 months.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
They offer a free checking account with no monthly fees to worry about.
Early Account Termination Fee
I didn’t see any mention of an early account termination fee in the fee schedule.
Our Verdict
There is a hard pull, but that is less of an issue with how restrictive credit card issuers are now. This is significantly better than the $150 bonus offered in the past. I do think this is worth doing if you don’t care about hard pulls and will add it to the best bank account bonuses.
Hat tip to reader Ed I, Davis & ShawntheShawn
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
Post history:
- Update 1/2/23: Deal has been extended until 2/28/23. No longer available via referral and bonus reduced to $200 from $250.
- Update 1/11/22: Deal is now available via referral (person referring gets $50). Please do not share referrals in the comments below, they can be shared in this linked post here.
- Update 6/1/21: Extended until 7/31. Looks like direct deposits need to be active for six months as well.
- Update 4/10/21: Deal is actually available nationwide.
I don’t know if I did it too quickly or if something else happened. My last account was closed on 2/6/2024, and the new one opened on 2/24/2025. Met the requirements, but no bonus.
We are unable to proceed with your request, please call us at 800.237.7328 extension 3133.
Opened account 06/03/2025, did two ACH push from CapitalOne 360 Savings $500.01 each 06/06/2025 and 06/10/2025. Haven’t received the bonus. According to the comments it seems that the bonus will be usually paid 30 days after the second DD, and ACU push from CapitalOne works as DD. Although there is still time (145 days after account opening could be 10/26/2025), I am not sure if CapitalOne still works for me now. Anyone with similar experience? I will wait for few more days and see if I am still lucky. May update later
One update the post does need:
Hard pullAs of 2025, they are soft-pulling Experian, so it cannot be frozen. They no longer jump to Transunion if they cannot soft pull Experian. That should be great news to many people out there whose usual adage was “hard pull = hard pass”.
William Charles
Surprised nobody brought this up yet, but PSECU referral rewards are $100 per new customer (normally $50) for the month of July. I guess since the post makes no mention of the referral bonus, guess there is no update to be made.
William Charles
The update was sent out via email on July 1st. Complete terms are here: https://refer.psecu.com/zone/terms?journey.campaign_id=7521761234015882516
For the new customer, the $300 bonus and requirements are the same as the regular promo; just a different promo code when using a referral link (300REFER instead of 300PROMO).
Also, I noticed when I generated my own link it had changed from before, so not sure if any of the links on the linked referral page in the post are still valid. And, not sure if they will changing again, or changing back, after July.
Existing customers can generate their own link at: https://refer.psecu.com/julyboost25
5/14/25 Account opened
5/27/25 real DD
6/9/25 real DD
7/9/25 $300 bonus paid
Credit card funding is now only available up to $15 each for checking and savings (total of $30).
Have any folks who’ve previously churned PSECU been credited with the current 300PROMO offer without intevention?
I did the 2021 offer with code GOM250PROMO, closed years ago. I just opened with 300PROMO a few weeks ago, so want to verify my enrollment before my “DD” attempts start.
Oddly, both with secure message and calling in, they said my account was not enrolled in the 300PROMO offer code. Even though I have screenshots from the application documenting this… Even more peculiar, when the phone rep dug deeper, she says my account shows the GOM250PROMO code from 2021 still attached, instead (?). Phone rep said she contacted marketing to look into things.
Strange…
Karma for not using promo code 300REFER? 😉
I always use referral links for sure things, like Chase credit cards.
For more fickle institutions like PSECU, I’m wary that either bonus gets credited, so went for the direct route.
Gadget - Bank Bonus Geek
I see quite a few DPs of folks below not automatically earning the bonus, so I’m glad I’m following up with them early to verify enrollment, before expending more time/effort with ACH pushes.
Following up on things — I called a few days later and phone rep stated they had already retroactively added the promo code. Sounds similar to others whose accounts weren’t properly coded correctly initially…
Have started with pushes from Novo and Relay.
The “memo” line descriptor has shown up at the receiving bank everywhere except PSEU, oddly. I’ve used “Payroll” and it appears at PNC, for example…
Do your attempts with Transfer show the memo line at the recipient bank?
4/26 Account opened & paid $20 for PRPS Friend Membership
5/15 Capital One $501
5/15 Capital One $501
6/16/2025 Promotional Payment $300 Bonus
Did you do ACH pushes from your external Capital One account?
P2 applied yesterday with chex frozen, credit reports not frozen. App went pending, app tracker status didn’t update yesterday.
This morning app tracker shows app status as “expired” but P2 did not receive any message or call from PSECU. Looks like they auto rejected because chex was frozen?
FYI applied with different email from P2’s first round with PSECU using P1’s referral link.
Will apply again tomorrow or early next week.
Also forgot to mention that I selected eligibility option as having family member already a PSECU member and provided P1’s name.
So not sure if it was chex frozen or they didn’t like the combo of eligibility option and referral for a past member using a new email.
(Sorry on mobile, can’t edit the above post)
Yes it is chex issue. I applied yesterday with exact same thing(except for I didn’t use referral or any other eligibility criteria just pay for PRPS membership) as your P2 and got a call this morning from them asking me unfreeze chex(was frozen) and credits(although it was unfrozen already). They rejected the online app and asked to resubmit via paper application with chex and credits unfrozen.
So since knew that your Chex was frozen, I am 99% certain that you will find an inquiry in the “soft” section of your Chex. This is exactly why I try to get as many DPs that I can for things.
Although what
Avi wrote looks promising on its surface, it actually may be more an aberration. Besides, he had his Chex pulled once anyway so he didn’t really save anything.
I recently followed a DP from only 1 person (
Bertrand) in another post and it ended up being very costly for me!
So most likely you get 1 Chex pull for this for sure ?
It seems that way to me. Have there been other DPs of people being approved with their Chex frozen?
BTW, I’ve had PSECU accounts for several years so my questions are to help others, like you, and not for myself.
I completely agree that it’s YMMV. With my DP, I wasn’t trying to prove that you can get in without any Chex hit, but rather there is a way to get in with LOL Chex with the two applications that I had to put in. But again, i might have just gotten lucky.
I think it would be interesting to see if my experience is a potential loophole i.e. someone can get in by deliberately getting rejected for Chex first and then they do another application where they keep their Chex frozen and Experian thawed.
I would have written that it’s possible that you discovered a loophole for a 2nd bite at the apple (similar to how Laurel 1st checks EWS and then Chex for 2 chances at getting approved) rather than someone trying to “deliberately [get] rejected for Chex” but I agree with your broader point. 😉
Did you apply through an online application or a paper as they ask for the 2nd time?
Online
Did they not ask you to file paper application for the 2nd time? CSR specifically called and asked me. So wondering if I should just do online again.