Update 5/13/25: Bonus now $400. Hat tip to Pepelats
Update 6/19/24: Early account termination fee now much bigger:
Early closing fee of $250 will be charged if your Bonus Account is closed within 12 months of opening
Update 1/13/23: Deal is back, no end date listed. Hat tip to Gadget.
Update 5/27/23: Deal is back and valid until July 12, 2023.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $100
- Availability: Must be a resident of Iowa or Arizona and open in branch
- Direct deposit required: Yes, see below
- Additional requirements: Yes, see below
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Yes, up to $10,000, unsure if possible in branch
- Monthly fees: Up To $10.99, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: $50, 12 months
- Expiration date: December 31, 2022
The Offer
- Open a new BreakFree Checking Plus or Direct Checking Plus account and receive a bonus of $250 when you do the following within 60 days of account opening:
- 25 debit card transactions
- 2 direct deposits of at least $200 each
The Fine Print
- To be eligible for the bonus, you must open a BreakFree Checking Plus or Direct Checking Plus account (“Bonus Account”) in person at a branch with a minimum opening deposit of $25. To qualify for the bonus, the following transactions must post and settle through the Bonus Account within 60 days from the date of its opening:1) 25 debit transactions. A “debit transaction” for the purpose of this section means a debit to your Bonus Account that originated from an ACH, Bankers Trust bill payment, drafting checks, or use of your debit card as a method of payment or purchase. A “debit transaction” does not include debits to your Bonus Account that originated from ATM withdrawals or other debits to your Bonus Account; and,2) 2 direct deposits (ACH credits) or Express Deposits (aka mobile deposits) of at least $200 each. A “deposit” for the purposes of this section does not include ATM deposits, deposits made in person, account-to-account transfers, or other deposits to your Bonus Account.
- In addition, bonus eligibility will be verified 60 days after the Bonus Account’s opening. Bonus will only be credited if the account is currently in an open status with a positive balance. Should you have met all eligibility requirements and are not subject to the limitations and exclusions contained herein, the bonus will be credited to the Bonus Account within 75 days of its opening.
- Limit one bonus per household.
- Offer not available to existing Bankers Trust checking customers or those that have had a checking account with Bankers Trust within six months of Bonus Account opening.
- Employees of Bankers Trust and/or its affiliates are not eligible for bonus. Bonus Account must be opened by December 31, 2022.
Avoiding Fees
BreakFree checking account requires 12 debit card purchases to keep fee free and direct checking requires a direct deposit of $500+ to keep fee free.
Early Account Termination Fee
Early closing fee of $250 will be charged if your Bonus Account is closed within 12 months of opening
Our Verdict
Bonus is a bit annoying as the accounts are somewhat difficult to keep fee free. If you can still do the $10,000 in credit card funding then obviously it’s still a fantastic deal.
Hat tip to reader Gadget
I just opened an account in the AZ branch. It was fairly easy (took 40 mins). The branch is in a retirement community so you have to sign in at the front. No issues getting approved even though I have opened maybe a dozen bank accounts in the last 12 months. No credit card funding (they said because they do not have a machine). The branch is literally the size of my kitchen. The employees are very friendly. Will likely just use the account for the bonus and then close in 12 months.
Did they ask for proof of residency?
Drivers license which has my current address was sufficient for me
Did they ask for a paystub or utility bill to verify current residency?
“Early closing fee of $400 will be charged if your Bonus Account is closed within 12 months of opening.” – direct from their website. Yikes.
At least it’s churnable every 2-3 years lol by any chance did you apply in person and what’s your Chex score?
Is this is Chex sensitive this year? Thinking about applying for this, only 2 inquiries on Chex, P2 has a lot, but has slightly higher Chex score than me. Only 25 minute drive from me.
Seems like they have a limit one bonus per household. Anyone here can tell us if they go off the DL address or current address?
I was approved in branch with Chex 10/12, 10/24.
Tried with a frozen Chex first, but they told they cannot continue the application until Chex is unfrozen.
Thanks for the DP. Did they go off the DL address or did they ask for your current address?
They asked if the address on DL is my current address. It might imply that they might accept a non-DL address as the current address.
In my case, DL shows my current address.
You think application will get denied if address isn’t current?
Banks don’t really deny you for addresses in branch. It’s much easier to do verification in person. They might ask for some proof of address, like a utility bill.
If they don’t accept your address mismatch, they just wouldn’t process your application.
P1&P2 have same current address but different last name and different address on DL so I wonder if there’s anyway around the 1 household limit.
I’m curious if there’s any DPs that have successfully received bonus at a bank with the 1 household limit having same current address but different last name.
$500 was the max on a credit card
Can I ask what’s the reason behind on funding account with credit card? Does that count as DD?
deleted – somebody already answered below
Anyone have DP on CC funding? Being able to do 10k makes this worth considering even with the EATF
They have upped the EATF to $400 if you close your account within 12 months of account opening. “Early closing fee of $400 will be charged if your Bonus Account is closed within 12 months of opening.”
Woah!
Increased to $400.
Expires on 8/30/2025.
Still in-branch only.
Link: https://www.bankerstrust.com/400-offer/
Nebraska also has a branch.
Is it Chex sensitive in branch? Might give it a try I only have 2 inquiries but low score of 622. Suck if I get denied since it will be a 50 min drive round trip
They’ve increased the early termination fee to equal the bonus amount. Per the terms, “Early closing fee of $250 will be charged if your Bonus Account is closed within 12 months of opening.”.
This high ETF, the time requirement to keep the account and on top of the hard to meet monthly fee waivers makes this bonus not as appealing (you’ll either be needing $500+ Direct Deposit or 12 monthly debit transactions depending on the account chosen).
Thanks, added to post.
10000 in CC funding??? Who needs caffeine with news like this?
https://www.bankerstrust.com/personal/checking/250-offer/
what’s the reason behind on funding account with credit card? Does that count as DD?
You use a credit card to fund bank accounts because it (usually) counts as a purchase, therefore (usually) earning rewards/points on your credit card, and counts toward a sign-up bonus on the credit card.
However, chaos ensues if it gets charged as a cash advance, so it’s a good practice to lower you cash advance limit. Not all cards allow lowering this though and the cash advance limit is a set amount based on a percentage of the total credit limit. That’s where DP’s are so helpful to decide if try it or not.
Kel