Update 3/5/22: Deal is back. Has been as high as $200 in the past.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:Â $100
- Availability:Â Must Work in / resident of Alameda, Contra Costa, Kings, San Joaquin, Solano or Stanislaus Counties CA, or have family member with account there
- Direct deposit required:Â No
- Additional requirements:Â Use promo code and make 15 debit card transactions
- Hard/soft pull:Â Soft
- ChexSystems:Â Unknown
- Credit card funding:Â $2,000
- Monthly fees:Â None
- Early account termination fee:Â $25, six months
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date:Â March 31, 2022
Contents
The Offer
- 1st United Credit Union is offering a bonus of $100 when you open a new Rewards Checking Account and complete the following requirements:
- Use promo code CAKE!
- Use your debit card 15 times within sixty days of account opening
The Fine Print
- Â Open a new checking account using promotional code CAKE! by September 30, 2020 and use your debit card to make a purchase 15 times within the first 60 days of account opening.
- Incentive will be credited by the 10th of the following month after requirements are fulfilled.
- Members who currently have a 1st United checking account and upgrade to Rewards Checking are not eligible for the $100 incentive. 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
There is an early account termination fee of $25 if closed within 6 months of account opening.
Our Verdict
1st United has had a $100 bonus for a long time, but previously it has required a direct deposit and a debit card transaction. Now it just requires 15 debit card transactions so should be much easy to meet the requirements. There is also a nice bit of credit card funding allowed. Because of all this I’ll add this to our best checking bonus page.
Hat tip to reader EW
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
Offer is back until 3/31/2023 AT https://www.1stunitedcu.org/local. PROMO CODE IS LOCAL
Earn up to $200 incentive qualification: Earn $100 when you
1) open a new checking account using promotional code LOCAL;
2) establish a qualifying monthly direct deposit of $500 or more within 60 days of account opening;
3) make five (5) signature or PIN purchases of at least $10 each with debit card within 60 days of account opening.
Earn additional incentive when you also open a new certificate account within 60 days of opening your checking account. Certificate deposits up to $5,000 will earn a $50 bonus, certificate deposits over $5,000 will earn $100.
The certificate deal is worthwhile. The minimum balance for the $50 is $250. If you open a 6 month certificate (their shortest) at 1.243% interest rate, you’ll have $251.59+$50=$301.59 after 6 months, for an effective interest rate of 36.8% or an effective APY of 44.5%. Putting in $5k, the maximum effective APY is 5.24%
Not that it seems many are doing this bonus, but an important note about qualifying debits being $10 or more:
$100 incentive qualification: Open a new checking account using promotional code CAKE by March 31, 2022 and use your debit card to make a qualifying purchase of $10 or more 15 times within the first 60 days of account opening. Offer is subject to change or withdrawal at any time and is not available to existing or additional 1st United checking accounts. Incentive will be credited on the next business day after all requirements are fulfilled.
Offer is back until 3/31 https://www.1stunitedcu.org/cake. Promo code is just CAKE, no exclamation mark. Previous versions of this offer said “Cannot be combined with any other offer.” but this one says “Offer is subject to change or withdrawal at any time and is not available to existing or additional 1st United checking accounts.” I’ll be trying it out as an additional checking account since I heard that they don’t enforce it. Regardless, did 2k funding on Navy Federal Go Rewards card (have done 6k in funding on this iteration of 1st United). Did not get a Chex inquiry for opening a previous checking account after opening a savings and CD a month before that.
You misread it. It’s implying if you have a checking account with them, then the offer does not apply to you
Offer is subject to change or withdrawal at any time and is not available to existing or additional 1st United checking accounts.
Wells Fargo Active Cash $1750+$250 deposits coded as purchases. I think you can do 2k each time you do the application to open another account.
i tried opening an additional account for a cc bonus
not only did they not process the charge they also added a chex inquiry so ymmv
It appears so, as I opened a checking account with Bank of America Customized Cash and nothing has gone through and their support doesn’t see anything on their end. The Chex inquiry is fine and I’ll try to get duplicate ones removed.
Offer is back: https://www.1stunitedcu.org/cake100
Thanks but better to wait for the $200 offer: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/1st-united-credit-union-100-checking-bonus-select-ca-areas/
Does it still count to run the debit card 15 times as debit or credit at the store?
Yes
Can residents of Santa Clara CO sign up with this program/ credit union? Thx.
Not unless you work in one of the above East Bay/Central Valley counties
Anyone has a referral link to share so I can stack with this?
Email is [removed]
Email sent!
Please don’t share or ask for referrals unless it’s specifically allowed
What does it take to specifically allow them? New dedicated thread? Referrals are good for an extra $50 here https://www.1stunitedcu.org/referafriend
And at least when I opened this one, I don’t think there was a place to put the promo code when initially applying for a membership. So it was best to do the membership application from a referral (and up to $2k card funding for the savings account), then wait a few days to open checking with this promo code (and another $2k of card funding).
We usually open something when it’s confirmed they stack, I don’t think that’s the case with 1st United.
They did stack last time around ( https://www.doctorofcredit.com/1st-united-credit-union-100-checking-bonus-select-ca-areas/ ), I got both the signup bonus and the referral credit. For me the signup bonus was only a day after satisfying the requirements and the referral took another couple months to post, but others are seeing referrals post much sooner. I’m fairly sure I didn’t start sending referral codes to other people until after my credit posted.
Hey tavert, the terms say “Referee: You must open and fund a qualifying account and the account must remain open and in good standing for 6 months. Qualifying accounts include: Checking accounts, Loans, Visa Platinum or Rewards card, Certificates, and Youth Savings accounts.” I want to do what you did but the term show you need a checking account basically to get the refer money, I guess in your experience there still paying out when opening up just a regular savings?
I don’t know whether you’d get a referral credit for just opening a savings account. You will if you do both, even in two separate application steps. That gives you double the opportunity for CC funding, two places to enter promo codes, and you’ll have a member number when you do the checking application.
Thanks, I did the 2 separate applications with promo code for each one, and received $200 total.