Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $700
- Availability: FL, NJ, NY
- Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum
- Additional requirements:
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: $3-$12
- Early account termination fee:$25, six months
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: January 31, 2025
Contents
The Offer
- Popular Community Bank is offering a bonus of up to $700 when you open a new checking account. Bonus is as follows:
- Checking bonus:
- Earn $150 When you open a new Popular Easy Access Checking account, link two direct deposits (such as your paycheck or government benefits), and make 12 everyday purchases (like your morning coffee) in the first 90 days
- Earn $300 When you open a new Popular Everyday Checking account, link two direct deposits (such as your paycheck or pension), and make 12 everyday purchases (like your weekly supermarket run) in the first 90 days.
- Earn $500 When you open a new Popular Prestige Checking account, link two direct deposits (such as your paycheck or government benefits), and make 12 everyday purchases (like your dinner delivery) in the first 90 days
- Earn a $200 bonus when you open a new Popular Savings account, deposit a minimum of $8,000 in new money in the first 30 days, and keep a $8,000 average monthly balance for two statement cycles. Must have or open a Popular Bank consumer checking account to qualify
- Checking bonus:
The Fine Print
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
- Easy Access Checking. $3 OR $0 if you set up a recurring monthly direct deposit of $250
- Everyday Checking. $10 OR $0 if you maintain $1,000 in average monthly balances5 or set up a recurring monthly direct deposit of $750.
- Prestige Checking. $12 OR $0 if you maintain $2,000 in average monthly balances.
Early Account Termination Fee
There is an early account termination fee of $25 if closed within 6 months.
Our Verdict
$500 checking bonus is very good as it’s not difficult to meet the requirements to keep the account fee free. $200 savings bonus is worth doing as well as you only need to tie up funds for ~two months. Will add these to our best bank bonuses. I’d be surprised if these offers don’t get pulled early so sign up ASAP if interested.
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
Damn, this looks nice but I am pretty far from my nearest branch so probably a no-go for me.
Also, the monitoring Chex after opening is crazy strict!
That might have just been an overzealous rep that spoke to
Mrs. Gee’s P2. Although, there is precedence of this occurring with Valley, like I mentioned earlier.
It’s interesting that they got rid of the lifetime language. I had an account here about 10 years ago. I’ll have to decide if it’s worth making the trip to a branch as there are none that close to me.
The worst website and customer service of any bank I’ve dealt with.
What happened?
Beware! P2 went in branch. They are VERY Chex sensitive and let him know in no uncertain terms that they will monitor his Chex report after opening his account and would close the account if any additional bank accounts showed up on his report, a la Valley Bank. At that point, he declined to open the account.
Interesting datapoint. This seems labor intensive for a bank to do subsequent to opening.
Actually, it’s not. I believe it’s a Chex service some banks subscribe to. Last one I noticed do this was First Horizon.
Kenny M
I applied for First Horizon Bank in LATE APRIL. Pulled Chex.
June 7th, I applied for Teachers FCU. Pulled Chex. (Stupid me) Denied days later.
June 8th, there was an “Inquiry Viewed Only by You” for First Horizon.
June 19th, I applied for Fulton Bank. Pulled Chex. Approved.
June 20th, there was an “Inquiry Viewed Only by You” for First Horizon.
Coincidence? I think not. I have noticed other banks do this… but never really paid much attention, because they don’t seem to act on it.
Banks don’t typically tell us what they are up to, as it’s not required and confrontational when they do. They vet their customers, even after account opening. Always watching…
There goes any small thought about driving 90 min to a branch in North Jersey, ha!
Valley Bank gave issues with Chex?
This interesting, maybe I slipped through the cracks with them as I certainly opened more accounts with other banks afterward but still received the bonus from Valley.
To bad it’s in branch though.
I’ll have to convince my manager to let me handle a few service calls in the tri-state area again for a week.
Maybe get to play in some snow.
-M
Valley did this with some people. Check out the chat below here for some info about what happened: #1920817 .
Hm, what would happen if you freeze Chex after account opening?
It’s possible that Popular would still be able to do a soft pull in that case. That’s what Valley did. You can look at the reply that I just made to
Massy Mass for some more info.
Chex pulls while Chex is frozen will show up in the “visible only to you” section. I think they still get their info.
What makes you think that they can still see everything while Chex is frozen?
Another issue is that Chex shows a “soft” pull (like Valley does to stalk our accounts after approval) and a failed “hard” pull the same way.
That’s messed up, wouldn’t that create extra chex pulls? That’s like a credit card issuer doing hard pulls repeatedly to make sure you don’t use anyone else’s products.
No. Popular will likely do a “soft” pull, rather than a “hard” pull once you are already a customer. That’s what Valley did to my account after I opened it.
Chex has a “visible only to you” section, similar to soft credit pulls
Valley didn’t warn people about that so in that regard Popular is better. Are you sure that your P2 wasn’t exaggerating? It’s hard to believe that they would close people’s accounts if even 1 additional inquiry showed up.
I was with P2 and she was very clear about it. She pulled his Chex report while we were there, which was when she brought this up.
I assume it’s because of the bonus. From the way the manager spoke, it sounds like they are only looking for long term customers in exchange for the bonus. Of course, that is true with all banks, but most know the percentage of new customers they will keep and are willing to put up with the churners.
It’s a good bonus and may be worth it for some folks here. It’s entirely possible that this particular manager is a stickler. Just reporting our experience. Others may have better luck.
In branch only 🙁
In branch only
Looks like you have to go in branch for this