[Expired][NJ, PA, MD, DE, VA only] Fulton Bank $150 Checking Account Promotion

[Expired: this deal has now expired, you can view more offers here]

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $150
• Availability: NJ, PA, MD, DE, VA Only
• Direct deposit required: No
• Additional requirements: 5 bill pays + 10 debit card transactions
• Hard/soft pull: No hard pull, but they will check ChexSystems 
• Credit card funding: No
• Monthly fees: None
• Early account termination fee: None listed
• Expiration date: July 12th

The Offer

Direct link to offer

• Receive a $150 bonus when you open a checking account with Fulton Bank of New Jersey and complete the following:
  • Pay 5 bills online
  • Make 10 debit card purchases

The Fine Print

• Account must be opened by July 12th, 2014
• Bill and debit card purchases must be completed within 60 days of account opening
• $150 bonus will be credited to your account four to six weeks after the conditions have been met
• All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Their most basic checking product, simply checking comes with no monthly fee. We couldn’t find any information relating to an early account termination fee, but one might exist. We’ve sent them an e-mail asking for a full fee schedule and we will update this post if one is found.

Our Verdict

This is a nice simple deal to complete, I like the fact that no direct deposit is required. There is also no hard pull, one downside is that they do not allow credit card funding for the initial deposit. I would recommend this deal to people who live in the service area, if I was able to do this deal here is how I’d do it:

• Open a simply checking account and add funds (enough to cover the Bill Pays + debit card transactions)
• Purchase 10 $0.5 amazon gift cards or 10 grocery items in the self check out
• Pay 5 bills that need paying (this will cause the bonus to post +$150)
• Wait six months
• Withdrawal all my funds to my regular checking account

Shouldn’t take long and it’s an easy way to clear $145 and get $5 in amazon gift cards as well. This is an excellent deal, if it was available nationwide it’d make our best checking promo list. Instead we’ve added it to the master list.

They also have a promotion where you can open a Money Market Account and get a 1.25% rate for 4 months, but this requires a minimum deposit of $10,000 and steps down to 1% for two months, 0.75% for the next two months then 0.5% for the next two months and 0.25% for the next two, giving it an 0.83% APR. I wouldn’t bother with this.

Hat tip to ericfw of slickdeals

Direct link to offer | Screenshot of offer