Update 3/1/23: Bonus is now $500. Still worth doing.
Update 1/10/23: Looks like all it’s actually available nationwide with a membership to The American Consumer Council (free to join). Hat tip to reader Beltway
Update 1/8/23: Bonus has been increased to $518. Hat tip to reader Diego
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200
- Availability: VA
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $250+
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Unknown, sensitive
- Credit card funding: Up to $500
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Unknown
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date:
12/31/202112/31/20222.28.23
Contents
The Offer
- United States Senate Federal Credit Union is offering a bonus of $200 when you become a member of USSFCU. Bonus is broken down as follows:
- $100 – Open a Senate Checking Account and make five $5 debit transactions within 30 days
- $100 – Receive two “qualifying direct deposits” of $250 or more within 60 days
- $100 – Deposit $2,000 into a Money Market Account (APY 1.25%) and hold for 6 months
- $200 – Deposit $5,000 into a Share Certificate (APY 3.98%) of 24 months or more
The Fine Print
- 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
I wasn’t able to find a fee schedule so unsure if there is any EATF.
Our Verdict
It looked like this might be nationwide, but you need to join the VA American Consumer Council chapter rather than the nationwide one. Bonus itself is pretty average to good and worth doing, will add this to our list of the best bank account bonuses.
Hat tip to Bertrand
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 4/17/22: Deal is back and valid until 12/31/2022.
- Update 1/22/22: Deal is back and extended until 03/31/2022.
Does anyone know of a current expiration on this?
Looks to be open ended for now
Just an FYI, I got my Chex report last week, and had separate hits with these guys when I opened the MM account months after initial opening, so they will hit Chex again if/when you do MM at a later time. Assuming same deal for a CD.
Got the 118 portion of the bonus and 200 for a CD, but my “DDs” did not work. Oh well, win some, lose some. Not bad all in all.
Just got the DD bonus using Fidelity Cash management acct
Thanks. This may be the first ACH info. I just opened Fidelity Bloom and will try once the initial funding into the fidelity account gets completed. I do not have any other Fidelity account but hopefully it behaves the same.
Denied second time, citing excessive inquiries
1/3
Total bs lol
Yep, I’ve been denied twice as well. In Feb 2022 and again this year in Jan. Both times Chex were in line with or better than others who were approved (0-1 in last month, 3 or so in last 3 months). I think they just don’t like us.
You guys must be a glutton for punishment. The only institution that I can recall applying for again after getting declined is Elements and I did happen to get approved the 2nd time. However, I think that is more of an aberration.
Quick update: I’m going for all 4 bonuses for the total $518. I’ve now received:
1/16/23 – Account Opening (Took about a week to get it funded/setup share certificate)
3/9/23 – $118 – Debit Card Transactions bonus posted
4/4/23 – $100 – DD bonus posted
4/19/23 – $200 – 24 Month Share Certificate bonus posted
Did you have two x real DD? Since I will not be able to finish the 2nd DD within 60 days of account opening , I would like to know if there is any ACH which works as a DD.
I did ５ x minimum ＄５ transactions within ３０ days of account opening but have not received the any email regarding the debit transactions unlike others here. I took about one week or so to get my account approved but I did not get any email about it. Was a surprise to hear it was already approved when I called to ask about my application status after a few weeks of waiting.
Sort of unclear for me as I’m not sure exactly when the 60 days kick in…but I had two employer DDs plus some “fake” DDs (details here: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/va-only-united-states-senate-federal-credit-union-200-checking-bonus/#comment-1591731). They all post the same on the statements but the two employer DDs do have “DIR DEPOSIT” in the “memo” line…if you calculate 60 days from the application, my second employer DD was NOT in that window. If you count 60 days from opening…my 2nd employer DD was on day 60. So who knows. Sorry I can’t be of more help!
Thanks. I am going to do 2 x ACH from Fidelity to see if they get recognized as DD. If not, will try different banks. I I reread the terms and it did state 60 days from account opening but I only have two weeks to go.
I finally received the “Adverse Action” notice from them. The “Date of Notice” was the same day that I applied. That’s really infuriating as I called them several times after that and no one had any update to tell me until a rep finally admitted that I was declined.
Anyway, it shows a “credit score” of 0 even though it is supposed to range between 100 and 899. For the rest of you that were declined, did it also show a score of 0?
BTW, there was a theory that they only care about the past 3 months. That is almost definitely incorrect as I worked really hard to only have 3 Chex inquiries in the past 3 months before applying and I was still declined.
Manually reviewed applications are always a crapshoot. And, keep in mind that I found that to be the acceptable cap back when it was a $200 bonus… now that the bonus has been increased, I assume so has the application traffic, they could have adjusted the scale and filtered down approvals even more. They may have noticed a trend of OOS applications not being fruitful customers.
Another possible factor, I am in a footprint state, but way out of the area. Also, I recall them asking a lot of questions about how you plan to use the account. At this point, I don’t recall what I said, but it’s possible those are all part of the “soup” recipe.
So, I apologize if you took my “4 or fewer inquires in the last 3 months” as gospel. GL next time!
It happens. I have gotten declined many times in the past year so I’m getting used to it. I’m most annoyed by how much time they wasted of mine calling in when they had declined me the same day that I applied. It’s unreal how badly their departments communicate with one another.
Down to 400
I clicked on the Direct Link to Offer above and it says get $100 bonus plus up to $400 additional (total would be up to $500)
Anyone get the bonus for DDs yet?
Terms do state “within 30-60 days after completing qualifying activity”. Not sure if that means up to 60 days after your DD, or up to 60 days after the 60 day window you had to complete the DDs.
60 days after my DDs is around 4/9/23 for me.
Got mine today! Posted as “DEPOSIT MKT PROMO…DIRECT DEPOSIT BONUS”.
Open 1/31, “DDs” from US bank (*2), Amex Savings, and 2 Employer DDs over the course of Feb + March.
Same. Opened early feb, 1 employer DD in feb, 1 employer DD in mar, $100 DD bonus posted 4/4.
My bonus posted on 4/4 as well. Now just waiting 6 months for the MM bonus, which was opened on 3/13.
Do you know if the US Bank transfers coded as DD for sure? i.e., were they necessary for you to reach the full DD requirement?