New Bonuses: Bank of America $75, PNC Bank $100

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Here are some sign-up bonuses for bank accounts. Both seem to be for new bank customers. Thanks to Neerav and Mike.

Bank of America is offering a $75 bonus for opening a MyAccess checking account online. No monthly maintenance fee, no minimum balance, no direct deposit required. It says it is for BofA credit card customers only, but not sure if they really check.

You will receive your $75 credit to your new account within 90 days of opening your new personal checking account online. Limit one $75 incentive per household every 6 months. This is a special offer to existing Bank of America credit card customers and only valid only for new MyAccess Checking® accounts. This offer does not apply to current checking customers or student checking accounts. You must use the Offer Code CH75TAD and fund your account with the $25 minimum opening deposit requirement within 30 days in order to qualify for this offer. We may report the value of any premium to the IRS. This offer expires on 11/30/2008.

PNC Bank is offering a $100 Bonus for new customers opening a new Personal Checking account and making a direct deposit of $500. The Free Checking version has no minimum balance and no monthly service charge.

The payout of $100 will be credited to the qualifying account within 7 days of the first Direct Deposit, which must occur before 9/30/08. The payout will be identified as “Direct Deposit Reward” on your monthly statement. A qualifying Direct Deposit is defined as a Direct Deposit of a paycheck, pension, Social Security or other regular monthly income electronically deposited into a Free, Performance or Performance Select Checking account. The minimum amount of any single Direct Deposit must be at least $500. The Direct Deposits must be made by an employer or an outside agency. Transfers from one account to another or deposits made at a branch or ATM do not qualify as Direct Deposits. Offer available to new PNC Bank Checking account customers only.

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Comments

  1. CowTipper says

    The PNC free checking account refunds all US and foreign ATM fees (both their fees and the other bank’s fees) if your average balance is over $2000, so it’s not a bad account to have if you travel a lot. Of course it pays no interest.

  2. Regarding the BOA bonus, it says “Only for new MyAccess Checking accounts”, does that mean if you’ve never had a MyAccess account before, or just that it has to be for a new account? Anybody know?

    I got a $75 bonus on an account I opened in February, but since it says that you can get the $75 bonus once per household every 6 months, I might try again in a month or two if it’s not for new users only. I also am a BOA CC holder, so maybe that ups my chances 🙂

  3. What are the penelties for closing the account, or withdrawing your funds and leaving a zero balance for life?

  4. Mark Nelson says

    I think we are going to see more and more of these so called gimmicks to attract new customers. With the mortgage crisis some banks are really hurting. In this time period there are going to be people and businesses that get hurt and then there are going to be people and businesses that make a killing.

  5. SavingEverything says

    Bank of America fails to list fee for early account closure in Schedule of Fees. Other examples include wire transfers, bank/cashier’s checks,. PNC states $25 early closure fee. IF you do have the $2k min balance, the $3.5 non-US, PNC ATM fee will be reimbursed. (Plus, “other financial institutions’ atm surcharge fee” would be reimbursed; i think). As of Sep 2007 consumer schedule, PNC states “international atm transactions do not incur this fee”, in reference to international purchases and cash advances made with PNC Bank Visa Check Card subject to fee of 2.5% of purchase amount. Bank of America ATM international transaction fee is 1%.

  6. Does anyone know if the trial deposits into the new account at PNC will void the offer? It says “the minimum for any single direct deposit” needs to exceed $500.

    I really want to get my hands on that $100

  7. BofA deal isn’t worth it. I opened an account 2 months ago. I got my bonus, but I also got heavy amounts of direct marketing. I received 3 phone calls *at work* in 2 weeks time to sell me $15/mo credit monitoring and some kind of insurance policy. I couldn’t get the first lady off the phone and I didn’t want to be rude because I was at the office. No BofA ever again.

  8. Does PNC bank charge for the first order of checks ?

  9. 1. I see eye to eye with Margo on BofA. I opened both checking and saving accounts last July to eventually get $100 bonus (they claimed to offer $125 but only gave $100). I have been bombarded at work and at home over the weekends by various BofA marketing cold calls for many promotion offers. I asked them to stop calling me forever, but they called me soon in 5 minutes. BofA sucks!

    2. ” … PNC Bank is offering a $100 Bonus for new customers opening a new Personal Checking account and making a direct deposit of $500. …”

    Question: After I get the $100 bonus, can I stop the $500 direct deposit without any penalty (assuming that the checking account I openned is the Free Checking)?

  10. ” … PNC Bank is offering a $100 Bonus for new customers opening a new Personal Checking account and making a direct deposit of $500. …”

    Question: After I get the $100 bonus, can I stop the direct deposit without any penalty (assuming that the checking account I opened is Free Checking account)?

  11. When doing this for the PNC free $100, if you have a high yield savings, transfer the $500 from your high yield savings into your PNC account. I know with BoA this is considered a direct deposit (I do it with paypal, I haven’t tried it with my eTrade high yield savings), doing it helps me circumvent fees since my checking account for BoA requires me to have a direct deposit once a month or be charged.

  12. I could not locate this offer on the BOA website. I was a BOA credit card holder, but never a savings account. I’m very interested.

  13. Has anyone tried to make an ACH transfer to this PNC account ? Did it count as “Direct Deposit” ?
    And how is “early closure” defined ??

  14. MM,
    In my online chating with PNC rep, they charged $16.XX for 200 (maybe 500) checks.

    Kyle,
    I saw a posting somewhere on this website that says, if you do an ACH from ING Direct to PNC bank, PNC count it as a Direct Deposit because, when ING Direct posts, the statement says, ING Direct Deposit. I’m going to try after/if my PNC account gets approved.

    In most banks such as Chase, HSBC, etc., early closure is defined within 6 months. Not sure how PNC defines.

    Question:
    After I applied the online PNC free checking, printed and mailed the signature card, when can I expect to receive PNC’s approval?

  15. I rec’d my rejection letter for this acct yesterday. Gave me the usual “…application does not meet Patriot Act requirements…” bs. The reason I know this is bs is because I work at a bank and we send out the same thing. Simply means that, with whomever they’re using as a 3rd party info database, they were unable to verify the info I put on the application. At the bank I work at, we simply ask the applicant to provide proof. Usually a copy of the driver license and/or social security card. PNC doesnt even do that much. Oh well…I didnt really want the acct anyway, just the promo cr then I would’ve closed out.

  16. DS,

    I see eye to eye with you. PNC sucks!

    I rec’d my rej letter today with the same reason. I am so surprised that they did not even ask me to send any proof.

    Besides, when I applied over the phone for PNC Business Free Checking, the rep told me that NY residents were not qualifed. So, I guess they also limited the personal checking applications within certain states. But they could’ve stated so on their website to avoid the waste of both our and their time.

    Btw, I asked PNC rep over the phone whether I could cross the Hudson River to apply in person at their location branch in NJ. She answered: “No!”.

    Conclusion: PNC sucks!

  17. Yep you have to be a card holder and they do check. 🙁

  18. George hates PNC says

    Avoid PNC.

    My Deposit to PNC in December was put on hold for over a month. could not get it off hold, calls to the corp office went unanswered. Finally had my attorney get involved and PNC finally returned my funds. Still uncashed. I opened a BofA account and they cashed my check asap. (the first call they even hung up on my attorney)

    Stay away from PNC if you want your money. The branch staff is rude as well.

    I have filed a complaint with OCC/Treasury Dept and Regulator. If you have poor service from PNC, pull your accounts, tell all your friends to do the same and file a complaint, hit them where it counts, stop there deposits cold.

  19. PNC stinks,the govt.should look into them,they chg. high od fees that rise if you bounce cks.They chg.add. fees if bal is neg.more than 4 days to a max of $30.00.They chg.to buy cks.on free acct,chg.atm fees if other atms are used.They also chg.fees for less than min.bal on sav.(400.00).They are making $$ but took govt.stim $$ to buy 2 other banks & lay off existing employees

  20. Ed:
    1) The “high fees” you say they charge (PNC) for OD is a standard amount used by all major banks, the reason it “rises” is because they lowered the amount it initially charged from 36 down to 25, but it goes up if you continually OD.
    2) All banks charge a Continuous OD fee if you leave your account negative more than 4 days….you are basically taking an unauthorized loan from the bank for the amount overdrafted, they can charge whatevver they want.
    3) All banks charge for checks….its called a Free Checking account because there is no minumum balance not because you get free checks !
    4) All banks charge atm fees at non- (name of bank) atms thats a no-brainer
    5) Minimum balance on a savings account is standard, and is stated in the paperwork( Why are you having a savings account if you keep overdrafting your checking account?)
    6) Most MAJOR banks took the government stimulus package but PNC is the only bank that has already repaid the majoritty of the loan.

    Just thought I’d enlighten you that all banks charge fees get used to it and dont overdraft.

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