Free 8gb iPod Touch Offer From BBVA Compass Bank

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BBVA Compass Bank is offering a free 8gb iPod Touch when you open a checking account with $100 and set up direct deposit for 6 months. Unfortunately, there are a lot of restrictions. For one, you must reside in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, or Texas. Secondly, the iPod is offered through a third-party fulfillment company (think mail-in rebates…) to which you actually have to pay the shipping and handling. Thanks to reader Susan for the tip. Selected fine print:

*To qualify for this offer, you must (1) by December 15, 2009, open a new BBVA Compass Build-to-Order consumer checking account with a minimum deposit of at least $100, (2) within 6 weeks of account opening, your paychecks must begin to be directly deposited into your new checking account at least once each statement cycle. At 6 months your account will be verified again to confirm you are still meeting the payroll direct deposit requirement. If not, BBVA Compass will debit $180 (the approximate cost of the iPod touch) from your checking account.

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Comments

  1. dirty_dirty says

    wonder what the s/h fees are?

  2. MakingItWorkNJ says

    Thankfully I don’t qualify, but I would oh-so pass if I lived in any of those states. You are probably better off getting your Ipod Touch at a Black Friday sale.

  3. yeah my state doesn’t qualify either 🙁

  4. @ makingitworkNJ – why shouldn’t I try to get the free Itouch? I love mine, but they are oh-so expensive, and I haven’t ever seen many door busters for anything with an apple symbol on it.

    Do you think the bank/ company won’t come through, or have you had a bad experience with the bank?

  5. MakingItWorkNJ says

    @teeej — This bank seems kinda shady in all honesty. I mean, ok, you get a free Itouch, but then you have to have your money direct deposited for six months and on top of that, you have to pay a s/h fee? Then they have to verify that you are still getting direct deposit or else you get debited the $180?

    It just seems that you’re better off yourself. They seem desperate for new deposits and will probably get shutdown by the FDIC.

    BOA has a promo for $100 going on right now. You have to deposit $500….but they seem like their not going anywhere since the US taxpayer (like us) pretty much owns them. The link is below, and hope Johnathan doesn’t mind.

    http://www.bankofamerica.com/promos/jump/uspsmovers/

  6. Shipping and handling is $9.95. As long as you register and meet the stips you shouldn’t have any problem.

  7. As other commenters have mentioned in the past, most companies allow you to split a direct deposit transaction into multiple banks, with small dollar amounts going to other banks and the majority going to your primary bank. I think I could handle that, but I have to check with human resources first.

    Many banks stipulate that certain conditions continue for x amount of months when awarding bonuses. I’ll have to check out their rating, but if they fail, I will still have the itouch and my money will still be safe. The part I don’t like is the separate company handling the gift/bonus.

    Also, be sure to read the fine print with BOA – last time I tried to sign up for checking bonus with them, I blew it and now I have a checking account I don’t use and never got the bonus. I guess it was still LeSalle bank then, but now BOA.

  8. also, bank rate gives BBVA 3stars -performing- out of 5 , same as bank of america. Size isn’t everything I guess.

  9. MakingItWorkNJ says

    In all honesty, this is just too much work for a $180 item. I mean really, why?! An Apple iTouch?! The “ooooo-ahhhh” factor for one has come and gone. Plus, you have to tie up X amount of money for 6 months while you are enjoying your iTouch. I guess I have my own biases though, I am a Apple Hater. But that doesn’t mean I’m wrong. To each his or her own, I guess. 🙂

    BTW, I have had BOA for over a year and a half and never had problems. No overdrafts, or anything like that. I also have a mortgage and a credit card with them. As long as I play ball correctly, so will they. But from what I read elsewhere, once one messes up, then they stop being nice to you. But if you don’t mess up, you remain in the driver’s seat.

    I am probably the reason why BOA now withdraws money immediately when you write an online check through BillPay on the date you wanted it cleared. When creditors would cash my check a day early, I demanded that BOA never take a fee from me since it was not my fault. They had to comply, as much as they didn’t want too. LOL.

  10. At which point can you stop having your paychecks direct deposited and not be charged the $180?

  11. This is a totally reasonable sounding offer. I work at a brokerage firm where we make offers like this all the time. And it is perfectly not shady for the client to pay the shipping and handling. We go through a third party too for our offers and there are rarely issues with it. Our third party does its best to make it good when something doesn’t work out right.

  12. just went in to do open an account in Phoenix w/ $1000 cash and was told i did not qualify unless THEY had pre-selected me and mailed me a postcard with a one-time-use code. They were unable/unwilling to extend the offer to me.

  13. @sadguy

    it says in the offer page that “This is an online exclusive offer. Register below to be eligible.” You need to first register online and get an offer code, then open an account. Afterwards, after you’ve done the requirements, you use the code they gave you to fill another form for the ipod.

  14. I work for BBVA Compass and I can tell you this offer is not shady. I can honestly say that in the three years that i have worked for compass this is by far the best offer we have extended to plain no money consumers. Here are the facts. 1: yes. you must open the account with $100.00, but the money can be withdrawn the next day. Unlike B of A, Wells and Chase this account has no minimum balance. The account is called a built to order checking account and the account is built with the consumer in mind. 2: yes. there must be a direct deposit, but most employers allow you to split your direct deposit and you can do it with $25.00 going to the compass account. Seriously for doing nothing you get a itouch. not a bad deal. Though you guys should hear it from someone who worked there.

  15. I was very interested to see iworkhere’s comment. I have seen various bad comments on the company that is fulfilling these rewards. I hope they come through or BBVA is going to come out looking kinda bad.

  16. MakingItWorkNJ says

    @iworkhere, I don’t need a minimum balance for my BOA checking account, though I believe they modified their terms that direct deposit continue for my account. Since I like having access to a seemingly unlimited # of BOA ATMs, this suits me well.

    As regards to this offer, I guess my comments were more biased toward Apple than BBVA in addition to paying the “handling” fee, among the other things I’ve said earlier.

  17. I could use some help! I actually did this offer – have switched banks, did the direct deposit thing. I had to write the 3rd party for the certificate to be e-mailed to me and they did….I don’t have the code though. I received a verification stating that my submission was good and I believe it had a code on it, but when I go thru my mail to get the code – I CAN’T FIND IT! Uggghhhh!!!! I called the bank’s CS and they told me I’d have to go into a branch or submit an e-mail. I submitted the e-mail and got an undelivered message back. Can anyone help with the appropriate code? Thanks!

  18. I think I got the code thru a click thru on this site! I”ll let y’all know if it works! My sons was stolen at school – so therefore I try! : )

  19. The term and conditions saids “U.S. residents of states other than Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Texas”.

    Not “For one, you must reside in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, or Texas” indicated above.

  20. I applied for the offer since I live in Arizona. The S&H fee is $9.95. If a bank wants to give me an iPod touch just for opening an account…I say “why not?”

    I’m just waiting for my iPod Touch to arrive in the mail now.

  21. Waitingforipod says

    I mailed out my certificate second week of Dec 2009. I’m still waiting for it. I will update as soon as I can.

  22. Compass is desperate to get and keep customers ever since BBVA purchased them. They have to replace all the customers they ran off with poor service and poor policies.

  23. I opened an account, and got my ipod touch for FREE!!

  24. I did this and it is a joke! You only have 6 weeks. I opened an account online but they wouldn’t send me checks until I went into the bank to order them. It took 2 weeks to send me my checks and I had to pay $25 for a box of checks!!!! They were supposed to give me a form to turn in to my HR department, but they said they didn’t have anything like that at the branch and I had to wait for my checks to come in the mail. When they did, I turned the voided check in to my HR but if you have direct deposit with another bank, your next paycheck has to be paper and then it gets changed on the next check-all of this takes place in more than 6 weeks! I tried to complain to the bank that the checks took 2 weeks and I did everything I could to keep it within 6 weeks. They said “sorry”. I guess they lost a customer and I am going back to my old bank……a friendly one that doesn’t act like they are doing you a favor when you come into their branch!

  25. MakingItWorkNJ says

    @Anne

    Yup…between no-name bank (even in that region), an IPOD touch, plus paying whatever shipping and handling, I just knew it wasn’t worth the trouble. I’m not one of those “I-told-you-so-people” but….

    …at least you know now it’s not worth the headache. 🙂

  26. @Anne & MaknigItWorkNJ

    It sounds like the process at Anne’s employer was too slow as well. My company has an employee login that allows me to do it online. I simply updated the direct deposit online, and sent $75 out of each paycheck to Compass. I don’t think Compass’ rules were that difficult to comply to.

    Don’t get me wrong; I don’t like Compass. I had a horrible Customer Service experience with them years ago, and closed my account. I’m only doing this for the free IPOD Touch. But to be fair to Compass, the whole process was very up front. I had no issues whatsoever with this process, and I should recieve my IPOD Touch sometime at the end of February according to MPELL Solutions who is fulfilling the order.

  27. And, just as a confirmation, I did recieve my free iPod touch. It’s a 3rd generation. Yeeehaaa.

  28. SUCCESS! My I-pod touch -3G was delivered yesterday! I only had to contact them once and she told me the date my coupon was processed and when it was to be shipped. : )

  29. I opened my account in December and received my I-pod 4 weeks later. The only complaint that I have is that I paid the extra $10 for express shipping and it came regular. It was not trouble setting up my account, or direct deposit. I usually go to 3 different branches of Compass, and everyone seems friendly. I am always greeted when I enter the bank and have not had any problems with the service that they provide. This was a truly great offer!

  30. I completed this offer and it really wasn’t that bad. The s/h was only less than $10 (I think it was $9.50). It took a while to get it (like a rebate), but it hasn’t altered my lifestyle much to change banks for 6 months. Now I’m looking for another one so I can get one too (the first went to hubby).

  31. jodi pickens says

    S/H fee is only 9.95. i love that they make it out to be a big deal that theres all these “fine print” bs. so what, you go and open a checking account, set up your direct deposit and send the 9.95 to the address they give you along with a super simple name and address form. not a big deal. besides, you are getting it for FREE! so what if it takes a little while to get it, ITS FREE!!! dumb ass advertisement poster

  32. ColoradoIPOD says

    My wife and I here in Colorado, follow the steps to get the IPOD, it is a beauty, we just paid 9.95 for s/h for each and we have it now, besides after opening the accounts, we referred friends to open accounts and we get 25.00 for each account it is opened, in addition for each account we open, bbva compass bank gives us 25.00 as a gift in cash deposited to the account after a couple of weeks or so, so it is worth receiving an IPOD worth 180.00 and 25.00 for each new account our friends open, yes you need to spend some timie to get that money, but it’s worth, between my wife and I have made about 200.00 in referrals and gifts plus and IPOD each. This offer is not shady, a bank is not to compromise its reputation with lies, they are kind of new and they need new customers, how in the world they are going to lie to make the people open accounts and then go somewhere else, it sounds fool, I just decided to give them a try though at the very beginning I did not want to try them out, I did the same with Wells Fargo and I just ended up running away from them, they suck, bbva Compass bank has not done anything yet to make me run away from them and I hope they dont in the future, I hope this helps to the people undecided.

  33. i agree w coloradoipod. i love bbva im jamming out to my ipod right now!! lol. they are great. the fees are not at all shocking. the perks offered were great. you are able to opt out of overdrafts which is my fav! and the 25 for referring a friend helps!!

  34. My girlfriend got one of those iPod Touch’s back then. She wanted the services and no problem with the low S/H fee. Our local branch here in TX called for her here at home while she was gone so I got to give her the news. The Compass main branch 6 miles down the freeway made an appointment for her to meet them to fill out the paperwork.

    For her, the worst part wasn’t the requirements or the restrictions or the cost. The rep said she was the only customer from our smaller local branch to do the offer and asked her if she would be willing to have some photos and video footage taken with the bank employees for media coverage and the branch bulletin board — so she was embarrassed to get all that attention and dress up to do that!

    Funny.

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