Deal has expired, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $300
- Availability: AZ, CA, CO, ID, IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, NV, NM, ND, OK, OR, SD, UT, WA, WI, WY In branch only [Branch locator, click locations in the top left]
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Yes (inquiry sensitive)
- Credit card funding: $500 max, Visa/MC only
- Monthly fees: $10, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: None
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date: October 31st, 2019
The Offer
- Bank of the West is offering a bonus of $300 when you open a new business checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Have a minimum balance of $3,000 in the account on the last business day of each of the two full calendar months immediately following the month the account was opened
- Conduct 10 qualifying transactions, these must post to the account by the last business day of the second full full calendar month immediately following the month the account was opened
The Fine Print
- To receive the $300 business checking bonus: 1) Open a single new Classic Business Checking account or Choice Business Checking account with a minimum opening deposit of $100 in new money to Bank of the West between 08/31/19 and 10/31/19 AND 2) have a minimum balance of $3,000.00 in the account on the last business day of each of the two full calendar months immediately following the month in which the account was opened (business days include Monday through Friday, and exclude holidays), AND 3) conduct 10 qualifying transactions, all of which must post to the account by the last business day of the second full calendar month immediately following the month in which the account was opened.
- Qualifying transactions include most deposits (ATM, wire, mobile, teller/in-branch, ACH, direct deposit, and Electronic Deposit Services), most withdrawals (debit card, bill pay, wire, and ACH), and exclude any transfers between Bank of the West accounts or any Bank of the West credits or debits. A
- count must be in open status to be eligible to receive any bonus.
- Bonus will be credited to your open business checking account by 01/31/20.
- Offer end date and availability subject to change without prior notice.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
The easiest account to keep fee free is the classic business checking. This has a $10 monthly fee. This is waived if you do either of the following:
- a minimum daily balance of at least $3,000 in this account OR
- a combined average monthly balance of $6,000 in linked combined money market, savings or CD balances
Early Account Termination Fee
I’m not sure if there is any early account termination fee or not
Our Verdict
They previously offered a bonus of up to $1,250, but that required merchant services, point of sale equipment and the business credit card. You can currently get a $450 bonus on the business credit card and this time the $300 checking bonus doesn’t require merchant services, making this bonus actually worth doing. Unfortunately you need to open this in branch, so I’m not sure what business documents they require. If you go for this bonus then please share your experiences in the comments below. I will be adding this to our list of the best business checking bonuses.
Hat tip to reader skolkjer
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
- 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?
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- Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
- Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
Mine posted 01/17/2020
Account on 10/24/2019
used ally for deposit
I couldnt find any terms about account closure time frames for penalties, is there any?
Opened 10/9/19 with $3K. 10 small ACHs to meet 10 “transactions.” Bonus posted 1/17/20.
DP: Opened 10/16/19 with $3K. Mix of debit/ach to meet 10 “transactions.” Bonus posted 1/17/20.
and does anyone know if there’s an early account termination fee? it says no up top, but DoC says he wasn’t too sure at the end. thanks
There’s no ETF. I just closed my account over the phone.
thank you!
got my $300 today!
opened account at Oct.9 3000 deposit until now. complete 2 months 10 times bill pay still no bonus yet
Fine print does say: “Bonus will be credited to your open business checking account by 01/31/20”. Just sit tight and wait.
Words of wisdom. Lol.
I know it’s a little early, but did anyone receive their bonus yet?
Offer now expired.
Opened and funded my Classic account on 10/30. Had a very similar experience to others.
Took over an hour and my banker didn’t seem to have much experience with business accounts. He mentioned he enrolled my account number into the promotion. I asked him three times if everything was set up and I could sign up for online access.
I tried to sign up for online access a few hours later, but discovered the banker needed to fill out some online enrollment form, forcing me to go back to the branch. Apparently he missed a beneficiary form, as well, so I had to sign that form, too.
I got an email two days later notifying me of online access approval, so have been setting up some ACH transfers and debits to complete the tent transactions.
Spent about 45 mins with a business banker named Raul Velasquez, tried and apparently my account was not processed properly as i can not get online access, both online customer service and Raul say i now need to come back into the bank so they can fix their mistakes, i am not happy at all and do not recommend this bank to any person who values their time
I though 10x $1 bill pays would count, but my banker was not so sure about the $1 amount. He said there could be a minimum of $10 for bill pays. But this is not stated and he was not sure. Anyone attempted to send bills for less than $10 that counted as qualified transactions?
10 $1 should be fine. it’s what I did but I have yet to receive a bonus until next month
Day 1: I spent an hour. The banker obviously didn’t know how to open business bank accounts.
Day 2: Online access still didn’t work only to find out that I needed to keep the SSN link blank. Once I created the online profile, I was promoted to go back the branch to fill out some form that is only available after the online profile is created.
Day 3-4: Now, I have to wait a couple of more days for online access to hopefully work.
What a mess. I worked really hard for this bonus. The personal account I opened last year wasn’t bad, so it must just be a business account thing.