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Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:Â $120
- Availability:Â In branch only? All branches are in WI [Branch locator]
- Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum specified (this comment says they required full paycheck and asked for paystubs)
- Additional requirements:Â None
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown (soft on at least TransUnion & Equifax)
- ChexSystems:Â Yes, not sensitive
- Credit card funding:Â None
- Monthly fees:Â $8, avoidable
- Early account termination fee:Â Six months, bonus forfeit
- Household limit:Â None mentioned
- Expiration date:Â December 31st, 2017
Contents
The Offer
- Open a new Home Savings Bank checking account and receive a bonus of $120 when you complete the following requirements:
- Must be Preferred or Premier
- Establish at least one qualifying direct deposit into the account within 60 days of account opening
The Fine Print
- In order to receive the cash bonus you must open a new Preferred or Premier checking account, and establish at least one qualifying direct deposit into the account.
- Preferred and Premier checking accounts are variable rate interest-bearing accounts. As of January 16, 2017, the APY (annual percentage yield) is 0.03%. The interest rate and APY may change at any time, at our discretion.
- There is no monthly maintenance charge with a qualifying direct deposit, but other fees could reduce the earnings on the account.
- The first direct deposit must occur within 60 days of account opening.
- Minimum amount to open the account and earn the APY is $25.00.
- If you meet the terms of the offer, the $120.00 cash bonus will be deposited into your new account within 60 days after the account opening.
- The account must be open and in good standing on the payment date to receive the cash bonus.
- The account must remain open for at least 6 months or you forfeit the $120.00 bonus.
- The cash bonus will be reported to the IRS for tax purposes.
- You are responsible for any applicable taxes.
- Offer expires 12/31/17. Available to new
- Home Savings Bank customers and existing customers who do not have a checking account.
Avoiding Fees
Preferred – $8 Monthly Fee
This is the easiest eligible account to keep fee free. The $8 monthly fee is waived with a direct deposit of your pay check/government benefits or pension.
Early Account Termination Fee
If the account is closed within six months you will forfeit the bonus
Our Verdict
It’s annoying the account requires a direct deposit to keep fee free and you need to keep it open for six months to keep the bonus. It also looks like you can only open in branch, because of that I don’t think it really makes sense to open unless you can easily change your direct deposit and it’s a soft pull. If you have any experiences please share them in the comments below. You can view the best checking bonuses here.
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- 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
I am in the process of doing this one – opened the account around 20 May, employer direct deposit of $25 on 1 June, bonus has not yet posted. I was told after the bonus posts, that I could downgrade my Preferred account to an Essential account to avoid the monthly fee without a direct deposit (but you need to go in-branch and fill out a form to do this). I was told there also is an inactivity fee if there is nothing going on for six months, so you’ll want to close the account shortly after open date + six months to avoid the bonus clawback and any inactivity fees.
No credit card funding. Not Chex Sensitive. I don’t know how to determine whether it was a hard or soft pull.
(Also you get to create a debit card with whatever goofy image you want! That was fun, at least.)
How many chex inquiries do you have? Any chance you can check or hard/soft pulls? Pretty easy and free: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/whats-best-cheapest-way-monitor-credit/
24 Chex inquiries in the last six months, and this was #25 – so they did check Chex, but I have no negative marks, so I assume they don’t care about many inquiries.
No hard pulls on Transunion or Equifax. FCS failed to work (tried signing up twice) and phone support was no help, so I don’t know about that one.
Thanks, Theory. Very useful DP.
I’ve been in contact with the bank this week because the bonus did not post. I was told that my account would not qualify for the bonus because DDing a “portion of my paycheck” does not count as a “qualifying deposit”, and was requested a copy of my pay stub in order to verify that my deposits were my “full paycheck”.
I’ve maintained in my responses that the fine print of the bonus says nothing about this, and am still waiting on further response. I may switch my DD to deposit the full amount on the next paycheck, but I might also file my first CFPB complaint and see how that route goes.
It seems like I’ve run into this kind of thing with smaller banks more frequently, where I think this bonus is a manual process in their systems. So any behavior that looks like it’s not expected bank activity draws scrutiny.
Thanks, added to post.
To finish this one up: after a bit of back and forth over email, I was given the bonus without having to make additional direct deposits or provide my pay stub. Credit posted to my account yesterday.
Relevant part of the rep’s email:
“The disclosure states you need to make a direct deposit of your paycheck, pension, or government benefits(such as social security). You are correct it does not say portion, because a portion does not meet the criteria of the bonus payout. The definition of paycheck is a check for salary and wages made out to the employee. Because the Banker did not cover this with you at account opening I will credit you the $120.00.”
Conclusion: I would not do this one again. It’s too small of a bonus to justify the amount of time I spent on it, and the fact that it’s a manual process probably means I’d have to follow up manually even if I did deposit my entire paycheck.
Thanks for the info.
To wrap this one up, I closed this in branch last week with no issues and it took less than 5 minutes. Also I finally got the Experian credit site to work and can confirm there were no hard pulls there, either. And lastly, I can confirm this deal is still ongoing (there were signs in the branch).