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Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200
- Availability: All locations are in FL, so I assume FL only
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $500+
- Additional requirements: Use promo code
- Hard/soft pull: Hard pull
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Up to $500
- Monthly fees: $4.95, not waivable
- Early account termination fee: None
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date:
October 31st, 2019November 30th, 2019
Contents
The Offer
- GTE Financial is offering a bonus of $200 when you open a new GTE Go Premium Checking Account and complete the following requirements:
- Use promo code GTE200
- Set up a direct deposit by November 30th, 2019
The Fine Print
- Full Go Checking details, disclosures, and requirements can be found on this page.
- Direct deposits must be from an external source, such as an employer or government agency, direct deposits from another GTE Financial account do not meet the qualifications of this incentive offer.
- GTE Financial reserves the right to end this promotion at any time.
- Mastercard is a registered trademark, and the circles design is a trademark of Mastercard International Incorporated.
- This offer cannot be combined with other incentive offers from GTE Financial.
- Current GTE Financial members who have not previously had a checking account with GTE and new members who join between 8/6 and 9/30 are eligible for this incentive.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
This account has a $4.95 fee that cannot be waived
Early Account Termination Fee
I wasn’t able to find any mention of an early account termination fee in the fee schedule
Our Verdict
Not much time to open the account and complete the direct deposit, so if interested I’d recommend signing up now. It’s annoying you can’t avoid the $4.95 fee, but given there is no early account termination fee and the bonus posts quickly it doesn’t matter too much. Not really worth considering due to the hard pull unfortunately.
Hat tip to readers John C & Patrick S
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?
- Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
- 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
No datapts on https://www.doctorofcredit.com/knowledge-base/list-methods-banks-count-direct-deposits/#GTE_Financial
Can anyone add any experience? Edit I see in commebts chase ach worked… any others?
Would anyone pls share experience with fees &timing in &out for ach transfers initiated at gte with respect to in & out at external banks? Any days of lost or double interest? Am I correct there is a daily limit of $5000? Any way to request this to be increased?
There is a limit of 5 external accounts linked and they charge $2 per transfer. So, therefore, I do not have any experience with the timing of transferring funds at GTE.
Thx so much for this info. It lead me to read on https://www.depositaccounts.com/banks/reviews/gte-cu.html#68349
Nov 4, 2019
“Impossible to access your $ without paying a fee. $2 ACH transfer fee. $3 shared branch fee. $6 mailed check fee.” but “…no fee if you pull using external FI…”
Is this still true to anyone’s knowledge. I am writing to GTE but am not getting useful answers.
There are no fees if you pull using an external financial institution.
Did anyone get a 1099 INT from GTE Financial? I never got one from them and its not in today’s mail either. I closed out my account a few days after the bonus (which was in December) so I can’t get the tax document online. I could call but I still want to see if anyone else got a 1099. Some banks such as PNC and TD Bank don’t report customer bonuses to the IRS (only real interest earned if over $10) but I think GTE is probably just late mailing out the 1099s, Thanks to anyone who lets me know.
Yes I got a 1099 from GTE, it was for real interest earned over $10. The bonus was not reported.
I easily went over $10 by satisfying the requirements and receiving the dividends for the Go Premium account.
Thanks for clarifying.
So I take it no one got a 1099 from them for the $200 bonus from December 2019? I called them and was told that they don’t send out 1099s for bonuses. I just want to make sure that no one was sent a 1099. If that is the case then I will not report it when I do my taxes even if I’m legally supposed to.
Had some issues with this one.
Applied to open online. Approved ~5 weeks later without having to attempt follow-up.
Meet bonus requirements with real DD and through SM told it would be paid out in 1 week on a specific day.
4 weeks after that date the bonus posted, despite 2-3 secure messages asking why it wasn’t paid.
Closed online via chat early and wasn’t charged a fee. Had account at $0 at time of request.
I’d do it again for $200.
Missjenniferd1
My wife and I both got our bonus on good old Friday the 13th and we used real direct deposits to fulfill the requirements. What did you use for a direct deposit?
DP on frozen credit – Complete Fail. Called again about app status. They said I had to unfreeze EQ. Thawed, then called back, and luckily I asked if the promotion would still apply before allowing them to pull credit. Said it would not, which is pretty UNCOMMON in my experience as normally banks will honor based on application date. Had they communicated to me that they were going to sit on the application until I gave up this would have been fixed weeks ago.
Ended call after I let the CSR know my thoughts. Added comments on loanspq to cancel the application. Put the freeze back on EQ just in case they pull my report out of spite or “accident”. Sorry
arizonapv, no referral for you this time. 
Brian C 
Joey Doughnuts @guest_816660 Waste of time, just like the coin deal today!
Oh well, maybe next time. Thank you for your efforts.
Was there any particular reason you wanted to keep your Equifax report frozen while applying to GTE Financial?
I was hoping to avoid the HP completely, and if that wasn’t possible, I was hoping they would pull another report. Reason: EQ is the East Coast favorite, so I end up getting more EQ pulls than TU & EX combined.
opened 9/19-$500 CC spend
9-27 $501 chase ach
10-10 first montly fee $5
10-21 $513 chase ach
10-28 $200 bonus added to account.
Can either of you tell me if I need to wait in order to close this account or if there are any fees in doing? Also I applied from New York for this bank account.
Did you get a Hard Pull?
Yes, it was a Hard Pull
They did not charge me an ETF, you can close.
I assume you got the bonus. What was your timeline? DD DP?
Real DD, this was years ago
Ahhh, ok… thanks.
I am thinking if you zero the checking, ask to close it… and leave the savings open, you would be fine. Because you will still have a Credit Union account, but not a checking.
But, only one way to find out.
Sorry just saw this. Yes I did get a Hard Pull. Easy bonus for $200 but probably not worth it. Happy at least I got a bonus.
Doc, why is this labelled “FL only”? It looks nationwide to me and can be opened online (did not see any specific language). I was able to open a GTE credit card (for $300 bonus) in 2017 via online application. I do not live in FL.
bonus isn’t paid until December 16th
I understand that, but banks don’t always wait until last minute. Also, not sure if Sept openings had the same bonus payout date, probably had Nov 16th? Regardless, I am just stating DoC doesn’t repost until you have proof of life.
Thanks Gadget for the reply. Probably not many people view this thread due to “FL only” header, therefore not many people applied, thus there are no DP!!! Actually, their (GTE) system is not fully automated; even for the advertised/legit $300 CC bonus, I had to write an email to get it. But their CS is super good (based on my experience in few interactions with them) and they posted the bonus in my account within 24 hours after I emailed them. I was about to apply for this $200 bonus, but I was checking first if I am missing anything (any restriction language) before I apply.
Well, I see a few regulars on this one… OH/NY, TN, AZ, VA, representing. 🏆 Salute to the world champion bank bonus miners!
William Charles doesn’t like death threats when bonuses don’t workout, so yeah, I imagine it will stay FL for now. Besides, it appears it takes them at least 4 days to open an account without hardly any activity on this page… do we really want to flood them?
They will report back if it works, or if it doesn’t.
ha ha ha !!!
Delete
Gadget read post 832911 by Patrick. His bonus paid out and he’s in NY. Obviously it’s only one data point but I only skimmed through the comments really fast. Anyway, it looks like we need to have one direct deposit of $500 or more for November and December and we get paid by December 16th.
Yeah, that just got posted earlier today. It’s kind of impossible to tell what the payout plan will be with only one DP. I plan to hit it with a couple ACH, and my real DD will hit Nov 29th – next one wouldn’t be until the end of Dec. There is no mention of it having to be a reoccurring DD, so I don’t believe you need two months of DD’s. That’s if I even get an account.
Yea I guess only one direct deposit is needed. It says-“Through October 31st, when you open a Go Premium with GTE Secure™ checking account, and set up a direct deposit totaling $500 or more per month, we’ll deposit $200 in your new checking account! Since they say that they will pay the bonus by December 16th, you just need to make sure you have a direct deposit in November of $500 or more.
Nope, we already missed October. Better luck next year. 🙄 Pretty sure it won’t play out like that, but anyway, if Chase works, I am sure other means will too.
Your first direct deposit needs to be by November 30th so you don’t need one in October.
great. Thanks for the info (/help).
DP in progress – Trying this with EQ froze. I imagine they will make me thaw it, or deny me. If I can’t avoid the HP, I will ask if they can pull a different report. I am willing to go through some hassle to avoid an EQ pull, since it’s the east coast report of choice.
Couple suggestions for someone applying:
When starting to fill out the application, if you can’t meet normal residency or workplace, worship reqs, you can use CU Savers program, which says very clearly it has a $10 fee. It is waived once you select it.
On the first data entry page of the application it asks for the referral code. I hope to have one soon. I used arizonapv’s code.
On the last page of the application it asks for the promo code – I was surprised to see it was blank. Don’t forget to apply GTE200 before hitting submit. It will get a green check-mark and says it’s applied.
After Midnight, received e-mail. Subj: Additional Info Needed. Says I will be contacted within one business day to complete application. Gives a link to a portal, but I see nothing new. No document requests. Left them a cheery message that I look forward to getting the account setup.
I just applied a few minutes ago and was given the same message as Gadget. I’m thinking I will wait to see if I get approved and if so try opening up an account for my wife (with a referral code).
From what I gathered, they take a few days to get the account open based on the comments of last month’s partakers. If they don’t extend the promo, that won’t work to refer the wife with your own code. Flip a coin…
I was just thinking that myself Gadget. They may even end the program a day or two early. I went ahead and applied for my wife as well.
Because of the expected HP, and the lack of people reporting a payout (because the date of payout is not here yet), I don’t think it would die early. But, you never know. They aren’t a huge CU, so I imagine it won’t take much to shut this down.
Did your account get opened?
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/fl-only-gte-financial-200-checking-bonus/#comment-832832
That’s their standard form letter. I opened my account on Oct 1 (got the same email that you did) and then a few days later (Oct 4) got the welcome email, Subject: Your New Go Premium with GTE Secure™ Checking
Still in limbo on this one. Contacted Chat Monday – was told to wait 48 hours, starting on Monday morning. Today, Wednesday, called. It took a good 30 minutes on the phone. Usual questions about what the account would be used for, but some silly ones too. Have I moved, have I had any accounts opened recently. I listed off my newest credit card. No way was I going to open that can of worms unless they had specific questions. Also, she asked if I had anything going on where they couldn’t access my “score”. I played stupid, and said I didn’t think so, but I had signed up for different credit monitoring services. Finally I got asked to upload my D/L, Proof of Residence (util bill), and Proof of Funding (CC bill). I explained I already uploaded the first two and the CSR verified they were legible. There is no slot to upload proof of funding, so I uploaded to ID slot per their request, and she verified it was there
I was thinking it should be good to go, account open while I wait. WRONG! Got told they will continue to process the application and will contact me in 24-48 hours. LOL. Not winning any speed awards. This is where I am going to be screwed if they deny the account and the promo doesn’t get extended.
Sometime this afternoon or evening, I went from a status of “Referred” to “Pending”. Nothing hit my CC yet. Seems about as much fun as watching paint dry.
Well I’m glad that I went ahead and applied for my wife as well because we both got approved today which is one day before their 10/31 deadline. We both had to upload our ID, social security card and Utility bill. Gadget, it looks like freezing your credit report slowed things down for you because your account should have been approved before mine and my wife’s account. Anyway, I wouldn’t worry too much because even if they open your account past the 10/31 deadline, they will probably let you be eligible for the bonus since you applied days ago.
Yeah, I am not giving up hope yet. As long as they don’t just cancel the app, they should honor the promo based on signup date, not approval date. What’s going to upset me is if they wait until Nov 1 to tell me I didn’t qualify, just to get me out of their queue.
Still pending. I got tired of contacting them. Eventually I suspect they will just delete the app. Will call this week.
Just out of curiosity…. did anyone try this with EQ locked/frozen?
Any DP on the Bonus?