[Expired][NYC only] Astoria Bank $250/$300 Checking Account Promotion

Deal has ended, view more great bonuses here.

[Reposting since this offer has a new signup link and it was extended through September 30, 2016. Note that the bank seems to be difficult to deal with, and often requests in-person verifications.]

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $300
• Availability: New York City only (actually it looks like you don’t actually need to live in New York to qualify). They might require you to come into a branch to verify your identity, so be aware of this.
• Direct deposit required: Optional, direct deposit of $250 or more per month for three months
• Additional requirements: Optional, three online bill payments of $25 or more for three months
• Hard/soft pull: Soft, chex systems
• Credit card funding: None
• Monthly fees: Yes, unknown amount and waivable
• Early account termination fee: Unknown
• Expiration date: September 30, 2016

The Offer

Direct link to offer

• Receive a sign up bonus of $250 when you open a Simple+ or Select checking account with Astoria bank and complete the following requirements:
  • Maintain the required balances to keep the accounts fee free (Simple+ requires $2,500+ in the account or $10,000+ across all Astoria accounts and Select requires $25,00+ across all Astoria accounts)
  • Complete one of the following during three consecutive months:
    • Receive direct deposits of $250 or more
    • Make three online bill payments of $25 or more each
• In addition to this it’s possible to get another $50 for activating direct deposit. According to these comments this may no longer be possible.

The Fine Print

• Limit of one bonus per customer
• Bill pays or direct deposits must all be completed within 4 months of account opening
• Bonus will be posted within 30 business days of the requirements being met
• A direct deposit is considered a recurring, pre-authorized deposit credited to the customer’s checking account via the Automated Clearing House (ACH). One-time ACH credits such as tax refunds, payments/transfers from other bank accounts, etc. do not qualify
• All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

The simple+ account comes with a monthly fee of $10, this is waived if you keep an average monthly balance of $2,500 which is required for the bonus anyway.

The Select has a monthly fee of $15 which is waived if you have at least $25,000 across all your Astoria accounts.

There is no mention of any early account termination fee on their fee schedule page. If your account is inactive for 90 days or more, you’ll be charged a $10 inactivity fee.

Our Verdict

This is a pretty good bonus and was offered last year as well, if I lived in NY then I would definitely complete this deal. Here is what I’d do:

• Open a new Simple+ account
• Add a total of $2,725 in funds to meet the minimum balance requirements, this would also keep the account fee free and give me enough money to do the three bill pays per month for three months (you can only fund $2,500 at account set up, so you’ll need to fund again afterwards, thanks to Nick for letting me know this)
• Complete three bill pays per month for three consecutive months, making sure they are all at least $25 each (you could just make small payments on your credit card or other bill) (+$250)
• Wait six months to avoid any possible early account termination fee
• Withdraw all funds including bonus to regular checking account
• Close account

If you have any experience with this bonus, then please share it in the comments. We’ve add this to our Best Bank Bonus page for regional areas. Also, check out this Bank Bonus Resource page for lots of useful info about opening bank accounts.