[Expired] SunTrust Up To $250 Checking Promotion [AL, AR, FL, GA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, WV, VA, and D.C Only]

This offer has now expired, you can view their new offer for $300 here.

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $250
Availability: AL, AR, FL, GA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, WV, VA, and D.C
Direct deposit required: Yes, $500+ monthly recurring deposit
Additional requirements: Yes, see below.
Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
Credit card funding: Up to $1,000 (although there have been reports of cash advances and issues with CC funding, limit may now be $250)
Monthly fees: $7, waivable with direct deposit of $100 or more or minimum daily balance of $500 or more
Early account termination fee: 6 months or bonus is forfeit
Expiration date: September 19th, 2016

Contents

1 The Offer
2 The Fine Print
3 Avoiding Fees
- 3.1 Essential Checking – $7 Monthly
4 Our Verdict

The Offer

Direct link to offer

Earn a sign up bonus of up to $250 with SunTrust & their checking account. Bonus is broken down as follows:
- Earn $125 when you:
  - Open a new SunTrust checking account with the promotional code Q316CHKNGOLP1
  - Deposit at least $100 within 14 days of account opening and
  - Complete at least $500 in Direct deposits within 60 days of account opening
- Earn an additional $125 when you continue to maintain at least $500 in monthly direct deposits until December 31st, 2016

The Fine Print

You must be a new SunTrust personal Checking client. Clients with an existing personal Checking account with SunTrust (either as the primary or secondary account holder) are not eligible.
You must not have closed a personal Checking account within 180 days of the promotion start date (on or after February 3, 2016).
Offer available only to U.S Residents with a U.S address and a U.S. taxpayer identification number.
The checking account must be opened online or in a SunTrust branch in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia
After meeting the qualification requirements, each $125 reward will be credited to the new checking account up to 8 weeks after the applicable qualifications are met
The new account must remain open and in good standing with a positive balance until each reward is processed in order to receive the applicable reward. If the checking account is closed by you or SunTrust within 180 days after opening, SunTrust reserves the right to deduct the reward amount from the account at the time of closing.

Avoiding Fees

Essential Checking – $7 Monthly

This account is the easiest to keep fee free, the monthly fee on this account is waived if you do any of the following:

10 or more debit card transactions
Minimum daily balance of $500+
Total monthly direct deposits of $500+

Our Verdict

This bonus is a little different from what SunTrust usually offers, in some respects it’s better (can open an essential checking for the full bonus and no savings account required) and in some cases it’s worse (need to maintain a direct deposit until December). Personally I think this is their best offer yet, as it’s easier to keep the account fee free and you don’t need to tie up $5,000 in the savings account. Meeting the direct deposit requirement has been pretty easy as well. Because of this we’ve added it to our list of the best bank account bonuses.

Big thanks to reader, Chris M who let us know. Please consider sharing bank bonuses with this site so we can make it even better.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses: