Update: Looks like you need to be close to a branch to get approved
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:Â $800 + $100 from credit card
- Availability:Â UT
- Direct deposit required:Â Yes for full bonus, no minimum mentionedÂ
- Additional requirements:Â See below
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown (hard maybe)
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding:Â UnknownÂ
- Monthly fees:Â $6.95, avoidable
- Early account termination fee:Â Unknown
- Household limit:Â None listed
- Expiration date:Â None listed
Contents
The Offer
- Utah First Credit Union is offering a $900 bonus when you open a new checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Earn $50 when you open a Personal Checking account
- Earn $150 by making 25 debit transactions
- Earn $100 when you set up direct deposit
- Earn $100 when you get an Orange Platinum card
- Earn $100 at your 6-month anniversary!
- Earn $200 when you deposit $15,000+ in new money within 30 days and maintain it for 90 days in any deposit account
- Bonus $200 at your 6-month anniversary when you have Personal Checking with at least $15,000 in aggregate deposits
The Fine Print
- For ages 16+.
- You’re not eligible for this checking bonus if you currently have a Utah First checking account or participated in any other Utah First checking account bonus in the past 2 years.
- 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 a $6.95 monthly fee. Waived if any of the following are met:
- Complete 13 transactions within the month including
- Credit or debit card transactions
- Bill pay and ACH payment
- ATM withdrawals, and even paper checks
- Aggregate loan balance of $20K or more
- Account aggregate deposit balance $10K or more
- $500+ monthly direct deposits into your account
- 18-years old or younger
- Students over 18-years old
- Active military
Early Account Termination Fee
I wasn’t able to find a fee schedule.
Our Verdict
Previously there was only a $100 teen checking bonus. This one does have a lot of requirements, especially the $25,000 for six months. I wasn’t able to work out the highest yield account so unsure if that portion is worth doing or not.
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
- PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
- Introduction To ChexSystems
- Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
- What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
- How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
- Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
- How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
- Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
- Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
- Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
I live in the footprint and just opened an account. Completed application online and about 10 minutes late received a text message asking when was a good time for them to call me. No issues with Chex, but the first thing they asked me was how I heard about them, said I was googling for a local bank.
I’m don’t think this is an actual hard inquiry. I went in branch to apply. They told me I’d have to unfreeze my credit in order to apply and that they use Experian. I unfroze it just to see what would happen. I finished opening the account successfully and have checked my Experian file a few times, but do not see a hard inquiry. I’ll check again on Monday to see if it shows up at the beginning of the week.
What are people doing these days for manufactured debit card spends? Does Venmo loads count?
just so 5$ Amazon gift card reloads
Within market, applied and application went pending.
They allow up to $500 credit card funding and I have not had an attempt at a hard pull yet (I have my reports frozen anyway).
I don’t think they know the difference between a hard pull and a Chex pull. I had the CSR on the phone and he said “ok, I’m going to pull your credit” and then was later asking me about inquiries on Chex. Be curious to see if you ever have them ask about your frozen file. I’m betting they don’t.
I wish that I had a dollar for every time that I asked a banker about Chex and they responded with “it won’t affect your credit at all” or something similar!
No luck, they said they required a hard credit pull. I’m in the housing market at the moment, so that wasn’t something I was willing to do.
Well bummer. I just got off the phone with them. They grilled me about other bank accounts I’ve opened recently, especially those in Utah. Luckily, it seemed like they were ok with my answers. Then they said they needed to do a hard pull on my credit (specifically said they would need me to lift my freezes). I said I wasn’t going to be able to do that (I’m currently looking for a house) and that was the end of the call.
The representative said on the line that they’ve had a lot of interest in new accounts due to this promotion, so it seems like they are really doing their due diligence on applications.
I didn’t realize that Utah has a lot of bonuses. I might just have to move there. 😀
Don’t
https://www.utahsucksdontmovehere.com/
Beware the first rep is just verifying info and asking bunch of qn’s. It then gets sent to manager who potentially approves or rejects. If you have high chex, you will be denied by the 2nd level. That was the case for me and few others here.
Also they go full lifecount on chex.
Interesting, I never got one. Maybe my Chex numbers were enough they didn’t need to know more.
I don’t think it’s a hard pull on a credit report, even though the banker explicitly told me it would be on Experian. After opening my account on Friday in branch I’ve checked several times and do not see a hard inquiry on either of the big three bureaus.
DELETE THIS!
AS EVERYONE STATED ON THE “CONTACT US” PAGE THEY ARE NOT TAKING ANYONE!
NO ONE HERE WILL GET APPROVED!
William Charles 
Chuck
um, why? It is specifically marked as for Utah. Those in Utah near a branch should likely get approved if their Chex isn’t crazy. It’s a pretty good bonus for those people.
When this was first posted it did not contain [UT] hence why an “Update” was added to the top of the OP.
That’s not accurate, this always had [UT] in the title. I just added the update to make it clearer you needed to be close to a branch.
Liar. I’m never wrong about anything.
Were you dropped on your head multiple times as a child?
He was being facetious.
Deleted
Have you seem the articles about him? I think he’s being serious. He’s insane and I’m not being dramatic.
I did not have a hard pull even when the CSR on the phone who called me said there would be. I did get a Chex pull. They told others they were focused on attracting members near their branches. There’s a discussion on the contact us page about several of us trying this out before it hit the site, you can read about our experiences here:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/contact-us/#comment-2010680
I would not attempt OOS or even far from a branch. IMO this is a great offer if you can go to the branch and open. The staff were helpful and friendly as well.
Credit card funding available up to $500
Reposting my DP to help others:
Rejected due to Chex; 0/1, 4/3-6 and 8/12 inquiries. OOS probably did not help. Did not get far enough for them to pull credit. Very nice people though.
Definitely chex sensitive, don’t know my exact numbers, but they’re not at the lol tier yet.