Bask Bank $200 Checking Bonus, Direct Deposit Not Required

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• TL;DR: Bask’s privacy practices regarding the retention of sensitive info are sketchy at best. If you provided Bask your ID/selfie at sign-up and aren’t keen on them retaining them indefinitely, you should request they be deleted in accordance with P.L. 115-174, whereby you’ll likely be told to go pound sand (if they even respond), giving you basis for a CFPB claim. 
   
  I’ve had Bask Savings accounts (interest & mileage) for several years. I decided to do this checking offer in September but was annoyed that they were requesting a copy of my ID/selfie, particularly since I already have an account with them. Their online Privacy Policy states, "We will retain your Personal Information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Policy," so I attempted to call them to confirm the images would be deleted immediately after they confirmed my identity.
   
  The Policy gives a contact at Texas Capital, but after calling the provided number, the clueless rep directed me back to Bask’s general customer service, who again redirected me to submit a message through the online portal. This started a month-long back and forth of boilerplate/evasive responses, where they ultimately said that they would keep the images indefinitely per regulations they refused to disclose. I pointed out that the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (P.L. 115-174) states, “The financial institution must delete any copy or image of an individual's driver's license or personal identification card after use,” which is also in agreement with the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act that went into effect this July. After repeatedly requesting to speak to the Privacy department directly, I was finally called by a general customer service manager, who: apologized profusely; concurred that Bask's requesting the images was excessive in the first place; stated that the Privacy department doesn’t engage with customers directly; and encouraged me to file a CFPB complaint to get a direct answer from the Privacy department (if it even exists) since they wouldn’t provide the requested information—even to him. 

• Glad I looked at the comments; never would've looked twice at the Prodege MyBankTracker offer otherwise (thanks to those who posted about it). Did the MyPoints offer and selected Bask Bank, auto-approved as an existing checking customer with Chex frozen

• Just received this...

  Your bill payment is delayed by one day.
  Due to a technical error, your bill payment that was scheduled to be delivered today, will now be delivered tomorrow. The estimated delivery of your payment has been updated to Thursday, November 14, 2024.

  Our team is taking the necessary steps to prevent this from happening again, and we apologize for any inconvenience. If you have any questions, we're here to help. Contact Customer Support at 833.260.4320 Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.

  Thank you.

  • That happened for me in October.
    @guest_1943035

• May I ask how much money you are keeping in the checking in general?

  I dont have any CC bills to pay as of now, so I thinking of overpaying my 2 BoA cards by $26 each month for the next 4 months. Planning to keep about $500 so that it doesn look that obvious :)

  • Put in $60. The $50 credits at the end of each month so you'll hit a minimum of $2 in the 4th month and end up with $52 when you're done.

    When the $52 4th statement closes withdraw all but $1-$5.

    If you want to micromanage it instead and you've got Bask Savings (4.85%) you can transfer between Bask accounts instantly.

    • Thanks. I transferred $220 and set up 2 recurring payments of $26 and $27 each to 2 separate BoA cards for 4 months. I thought lets keep enough money to cover them even if the credits dont hit.

      I havent used the 2 BoA cards in years but the good thing is that they automatically send you a check if you have a negative balance for a few months

  • I keep a $1 balance.

• Just to confirm, you can make two payments per month on the same day to the same biller?

  • Worked for me.

• I opened this account on September 20th. Haven't done anything with it yet, so missed my bill pay opportunity for October. Am I SOL since I missed a month?

  • No. You can take advantage of the offer any 4 months through & including March 2025.

• Applied on 10/31 late night and got instant approval with Chex frozen. Have to take the photos of DL and selfie at the last step.

  • Interesting DP. I wonder if you (@guest_1943075) were a current or past customer of Texas Capital Bank (which is who pulls Chex when you apply for Bask Bank). Personally, I let them pull Chex because I figured it was going to be a hassle if I didn't.

    • Yes! As the previous comment, I opened the savings in 2022 without any promo. I still keep the account with only a dollar balance.

  • i was instant approved too but then they made me thaw chex to finish opening

    • Probably I already had the savings back to 2022. After the acct approved, I was able to set up bill pay and schedule funding process.

• I already have bask savings from 2022 (opened for the rate and not through SB or MP)

  Do you think they will still pull Chex for an existing savings customer if I open the checking now?

  @guest_1915257 I am so confused about this QunStreet thing, what is that? Is it related to the MP/SB offer for the savings account?

  thanks

  • I purposely opened the Savings & Checking on the same day so I did not have to worry about additional Chex pulls. Sometimes banks will let you get away with opening an additional account without pulling Chex or having it frozen, when you are an existing customer. Some times they won't. I cannot say if that is the case here, but it's fairly easy to find out. @guest_1943035

  • QuinStreet is what the savings offer is labeled as in SB when you see your activity tracker.

    Not sure about Chex pull, they didn't double-pull when I opened each account on a different day, but I was only a day or two apart. If you're worried about it, you can try applying with Chex froxen and see if it works (worst case, they make you thaw to open)?

    • Thank you. Yes, I will do that today. I recently did the Valley checking $400 and those idiots are sensitive to Chex even after opening the account (they are closing them) so trying to be careful.
      The other one on my list is the Valley Direct SB/MP offer. I have the same question for that too and they are already known to be Chex sensitive.

      My plan is to do Bask checking today with Chex frozen and while logged into existing account
      And then try Valley Direct through MP with Chex unfrozen.

      • I would go in on both with Chex frozen, because you are a past/current customer of both, and let the chips fall where they may. However, could cause problems with portal tracking. GL! @guest_1943035

        • thanks

• p1: 3rd month, no issues. i set up a reoccurring $25 x 2 payment to my bofa card each month. i leave the bonus in there so i don't have to keep transferring from other accounts

  p2: rejected

  both are chex lol/24

• Doing billpay has not been working :( is billpay not ok?

  • both bill payments have to be electronic, not mailed checks. you should be able to tell if it'll work for electronic payment because there will be a little E next to the payee

    • I addd 2 bofa CCs and they show an E with a circle around it, was that the one you were referring to? thnaks

      • That will work! @guest_1943035

  • Are you bills getting paid as checks mailed? I didn't receive the bonus this month, so I reread the fine print, it says payments that have to be made via check mailing do not count towards the bonus. One of my payments was mailed.

  • provide more detail. Its pretty easy. Send 2x bill payments totaling $50 or more. I send 1 for $25 and 1 for $26, posting fine for me

  • No issues here.