[WI only] AnchorBank In Branch $150 Checking Promotion

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $150
Availability: Checking products are limited to residents of Wisconsin
Direct deposit required: $500+ recurring
Additional requirements: 10 debit card transactions & eStatements
Hard/soft pull: Soft
Credit card funding: Unknown
Monthly fees: $5-$20, waive-able
Early account termination fee: 6 months, bonus clawed back
Expiration date: June 30th, 2016

Contents

1 The Offer
2 The Fine Print
3 Avoiding Fees
4 Our Verdict

The Offer

Direct link to offer

Receive a sign up bonus of $150 when you open a new AnchorBank checking account, bonus broken down as follows:
- $50 with automatic monthly direct deposit totalling $500 or more
- $50 for making 10 debit card purchases
- $50 when you sign up for free e-statements

The Fine Print

Offer is not available to existing AnchorBank personal checking customers or to anyone who has closed an AnchorBank personal checking within the last six months.
To receive the cash bonus of up to $150, within 60 days of account opening you must complete the following actions: 1. Have automatic monthly direct deposits to the account totaling $500 or more. 2. Have 10 debit card purchases post to the account (qualifies for $50). 3. Sign up for e-statements (qualifies for $50).
The cash bonus will be deposited into the checking account within 45 business days after the completion of each of the events.
The $150 cash bonus offer is valid for Advantage, Reward, Choice, Student and Essential checking.
$100 minimum deposit required to open accounts. Advantage checking is an interest bearing account and balances earn .05% Annual Percentage Yield (APY).
Checking account must be opened by 6/30/16.
You’re required to pay taxes on all bank account bonuses

Avoiding Fees

Essential Checking $4.95 Monthly Fee Non Waive-able

This is $6.95 if you don’t enroll in eStatements. There is no way to waive the monthly fee on this account and as such we wouldn’t recommend opening this (remember the account has to be kept open for six months which would cost you at least $29.7)

Choice Checking $9.95 Monthly Fee Waive-Able

This account has a $9.95 monthly fee ($11.95 with paper statements) but there are multiple ways to keep it fee free, doing any one of the following will do so:

Have $750 minimum monthly balance over your statement cycle OR
Have $2,500 minimum combined deposit balance on your statement date OR
Make 10 debit card purchases per statement cycle OR
Direct deposit $500 or more, either single deposit or multiple OR

Reward Checking $14.95 Monthly Fee Waive-Able

This card earns 5¢ for every debit card transaction you have. I wouldn’t recommend this account as it’s much harder to keep fee free than the choice account, plus Discover offers 10¢ for every debit card transaction. You need to complete all of the following requirements to keep it fee free:

Make 20 debit card purchases per statement cycle, and
A total relationship of a minimum of $5,000 in any combination
of personal deposits or outstanding loan balances, including
outstanding first mortgage balances

You can find more rewards earning debit cards by clicking here.

If you’re a student and under 24 years of age there is also the student account which is fee free. There is also the advantage checking account which a $19.95 fee and much harder requirements to keep it fee free which I wouldn’t recommend.

Early Account Termination Fee – 6 Months

The fine print states that you must keep your account open for a minimum of six months, I imagine if you close it before this time they’ll report a negative balance with ChexSystems.