Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $250
- Availability: Must open in branch, all branches are Tennessee. Branches are in Clarksville, Springfield, Greenbrier, Dover, Bumpus Mills, Lebanon, Mt. Juliet, White House, Murfreesboro, Hendersonville, and Cookeville.
- Direct deposit required: Optional, $500+ for two months (+$200)
- Additional requirements: Open with minimum deposit of $200 (+$50)
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- Credit card funding: Unknown, unlikely due to in branch requirement
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: $25, 90 days
- Household limit: One
- Expiration date:
June 20th, 2015July 31st, 2015None specified
The Offer
- F&M Bank is offering a sign up bonus of up to $250 on any of their checking account, the bonus is broken down as follows:
- $50 for opening any checking account with a minimum deposit of $200. Bonus will be deposited at the time of opening
- $200 for setting up a recurring direct deposits totaling $500 or more of $500
The Fine Print
- To receive the full $250 bonus (1) open the checking account with a minimum deposit of $100 and (2) set up a qualifying, monthly recurring direct deposit or deposits totaling $500 or more within 30 days of account opening.
- Checking account must be opened with funds NOT on deposit at F&M Bank and direct deposit cannot draw from an F&M account.
- Bonus will be paid as follows: (1) $50 will be added to your balance at the time of account opening, (2) $200 will be deposited when the first monthly direct deposit(s) totaling the minimum of $500 is received and posted to your account. Cannot be combined with other checking offers.
- Limit one bonus per household.
- Not available for existing F&M checking account customers or customers with checking accounts that have been closed by F&M within the last 12 months.
- Bonus will be reported as interest income on FORM1099-INT.
- VIP Interest Checking is a variable rate account with an interest rate of .15%//15% APY (Annual Percentage Yield) earned on total balance and compounded monthly.
- An $8 maintenance fee may be avoided per statement cycle with a $500 minimum dily balance or direct deposit posted to the account per statement cycle.
- Fees may reduce earnings.
- Limited time offer.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
According to their fee schedule there is an early account termination fee of $25 if you closed your account within 90 days of opening. If your checking account is dormant for twelve months or more you’ll also be charged a $5 per month fee.
F&M bank currently has four checking accounts that qualify for this bonus:
- Express Checking: No monthly fee
- VIP Interest Checking: $8 per month, waiveable
Our Verdict
This seems like a pretty good deal if you live near a branch. The bonus is nice and big and the requirements aren’t too difficult to meet. They also offer a 4% APY checking account we just posted about. Sadly that account doesn’t qualify for this bonus, but I wonder if you can product change to it after receiving this bonus? If not maybe you can open both at the same time. I will be adding this to our best checking bonus page.
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?
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- 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
This is no longer available at my local bank. I presume the same is true company-wide.
Opened the express checking account in branch today. No credit card funding. The $50 initial bonus is immediate if you deposit at least $100 at opening. The CSR said I could convert the account in the future to the 4% interest checking option once I get the bonus for the express checking account. Easy, thanks DoC!
Just to follow up on this, I had a legit $500 DD hit the account today and the additional $200 was credited to my account same day. It looks like it is a manual process with a CSR seeing a DD hit a report and manually depositing $200 at the branch. Small town banking!
FYI: I looked at the map on their website and it looks like all the locations are in the greater Nashville area, So Northern TN.
As is seen, I posted before on this. Initially, this bank was very caring in the opening of the account for my disabled sister. For an account opening representative, I think we can all agree, that’s probably appropriate.
However. And, I say it again, however, when my daughter arrived at the bank weeks later to try to assist my sister while I was out of town, she happened to be a bit early and my sister had not arrived by the local transit bus (quite yet. We thought she would be there eventually). One of the TELLERS actually came out and questioned my daughter rudely about her presence there. She didn’t have a beat up car, she was just waiting. It was so unnecessary.
My point: the staff members, can be QUITE judgmental. My disabled sister is teller centric, so this behavior witnessed was more than I was willing to tolerate. If one expects actual appropriate service after the initial opening, I would not recommend.
Sorry, I didn’t update before about soft pull. After ALTRA (same TN city) advised soft but did an HP, I couldn’t be sure it was the same with F+M.
Hi Will,
Opened the E-Smart Checking yesterday at F&M Bank. It was a soft pull.
The $250 bonus has been extended for a “limited time”. The CSR didn’t know when it would expire.
Thanks, Sandy. Updated post.
PS. Two down, one to go.
And, I am looking into having to having the DD receive an allotment as a direct deposit so we can go for another bonus.
Jan was it a soft or hard pull to open? Could you fund with a credit card?
Next update.
The $100 was put in the same date the gov’t DD hit (6/3). They keep their word!!!! I am so happy. 🙂
Follow up report
Yes, I did this. But, not for me alone but with a joint holder (a disabled sister).
They could not have been nicer. Even handled the gov’t DD request over the phone with the agency. That was superior service!!! Set it up to have the free checks mailed to the branch to lessen the chance of ID theft with an unsecured mailbox.
The $50 was put in immediately when I handed over my $200 opening deposit.
I fully expect the second bonus payment to go into the account as soon as the first direct deposit hits. WIll try to remember to post again in June with a report.
SO far, SO good.
Finally one that I can do quite easily. Because there is a military town connection at one of the branches shown, I can ask directly if an allotment will meet the DD requirement. This will be be very helpful for my travel.
Hi Jan, nice! Let us know your experiences when you complete the bonus.