Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $250
- Availability: CA, IL, NJ, NY, TX, VA
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $500+ for three months
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Unknown, not sensitive
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Six months, bonus forfeit
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date: December 31, 2023
Contents
The Offer
Direct link to offers: $250 for new members | $100 for existing
- Hanmi is offering a $250 checking bonus for new accountholders. Broken down as follows:
- Maintain $5,000 3-month average balance and enroll in uChoose Rewards® within 30 days of account opening and earn 15,000 points (worth $150)
- Use Bill Pay in each of the first 3 full months and earn 5,000 points (worth $50)
- Make a direct deposit of minimum $500 each month (For 3 consecutive months) and earn 5,000 points (worth $50)
- Hanmi is offering a $100 checking bonus for existing account holders:
- Receive 10,000 points (worth $100) when you set up a new direct deposit (min $500) and maintain for 3 consecutive months and Enroll in eStatement and uChoose Rewards® by 12/31/2023
The Fine Print
- Bonus Points Offer: This offer expires on December 31, 2023, and is subject to change and may be discontinued at any time without notice.
- Offer is valid for new checking customers who open the account with new money.
- New checking customer is defined as a customer or consumer who does not have an existing checking relationship with Hanmi within the past 60 days.
- Only one (1) eligible account per customer (SSN/TIN).
- New money is defined as funds that are not held at Hanmi Bank; funds withdrawn from another Hanmi account do not count as new money.
- Eligibility evaluation period is three (3) full months after account is open.
If the account is opened mid-month, the evaluation period will be begin at the beginning of the next full month. - Bonus uChoose Rewards® points will be awarded within sixty (60) days after end of evaluation period.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Simple checking account has no monthly fees to worry about.
Early Account Termination Fee
In the past account has need to be kept open for six months otherwise bonus is forfeit, unsure if that’s the case this time. The $5,000 required in the account doesn’t really earn interest so you’d lose out on ~$60 compared to a high yield savings account. Still definitely worth doing so we will add this to our best bank bonuses.
Our Verdict
Previously this was $300 and didn’t require a direct deposit. Nice part of this bonus is that it doesn’t require opening in branch.
Hat tip to reader Bockrr
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
Anyone know how to close this checking account?
Call the customer service and they said unable to close over the phone, must visit a branch.
Olympia found a new bonus offer and this is the link: https://www.hanmi.com/direct-deposit/.
Do any of you have an opinion on my question in the below comment?
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/contact-us/#comment-1861254
So you need to tie up $3k for the rest of the year and then receive $5k in DDs each month for the rest of the year to potentially get $500 (best case) or possibly only $350 (worst case)? That doesn’t seem worth the effort.
For me, it will only be a maximum of $450 as I am skipping June. I just calculated that I’ll be missing out on about $75 in interest for the 6 months and should receive $450. That’s a pretty good trade off IMO.
The only potential negatives are that I may not qualify at all based on the “maintain” wording that I pointed out and that I am delaying my eligibility for the next “regular” bonus offer by keeping my account open.
BTW, I just checked and this is your 1st comment in this post. Did you do this $250 bonus?
I did not. I think I passed on it last time because it was also too much effort/work for the payout.
Personally worth doing for me. Good return on a single chex hit. Lately not many bonuses left to do. Not the best bonus for sure, but still much better than nothing.
mothman69 Jimmy Johns 🔗 Please let me know your Chex stats after you are approved/denied. Mine are creeping up & I’m interested in opening this account but might have to pass depending on your results.
Sorry I don’t plan on attempting this offer.
PaulinTexas,
Below were my Chex stats roughly when I was approved back in December. I wrote “roughly” because I checked my report about 2 weeks before applying.
4/1, 8/3, 15/6, 22/12, 38/24
Eric 🔗 Wow, that’s encouraging as those numbers are higher than mine. 2/1, 4/3, 7/6, 16/12, 26/24.
What did you use as your DD & what will you use for this new promotion? TD?
Yes to both.
I thought you said below that TD did not work for the previous DD bonus? Why do you think it would work this time?
See my comment below.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/first-tech-federal-credit-union-300-checking-bonus-2/#comment-1859921
I’ll probably end up skipping this as well. Trying to keep the Chex count low after a big round of bonuses
Jimmy Johns 🔗 Eric 🔗 No luck for me. Applied on 6/21 & received the following email:
“Thank you for applying for an account with Hanmi Bank. Unfortunately, we are unable to open your account at this time. If you have any questions, please contact us at 855-773-8778.”
Called but their policy is to not reveal why the application was declined. Seems counterproductive to encourage people to call & then not have any questions answered.
So, no confirmation it was Chex but, it could be identity & the closest branch is 3 1/2 hours away.
I will dispute the Chex Inquiry.
Chex: 2/1, 4/3, 7/6, 15/12, 26/24
How successful are you in disputing Chex inquiries? I just started disputing my duplicates.
Jimmy Johns 🔗 I’ve had success with duplicate entries but not for being declined (yet).
Will use “The application was never processed due to identity verification issues. Request this Chex inquiry be removed or placed in the Inquiries Viewed Only by You section.” or something along those lines.
All Hanmi can do is say the Chex inquiry was valid & it will remain, but it’s worth a try.
Also declined with the same email. Chex is 1/1, 4/3, 10/6. I’m near a branch but there’s a DP of someone here being declined in branch for Chex so probably won’t bother trying.
Bertrand This is a pretty good bonus, so it might be worthwhile going to a branch. You either get to open the account or find out why. Please update if you give it a shot.
Eh, it’s not that great – $500 is nice but it’s a lot of work. And I’m pretty sure I’d just be wasting time and another Chex pull by going in branch. Like you, I called in and was told that they couldn’t tell me why I was declined. They said I was welcome to go in branch to apply but that there was no guarantee I’d be approved. I’ll pass and just try again online with P2.
P2 also denied with a cleaner Chex than me. 1/1, 1/3, 6/6, 14/12
I have a different DP. Was declined online. Later in the branch I was approved but it was another Chex hit.
part 3 of the offer: they will also match all points earned in the first 3 months (so up to an additional $150 there)
nvm i just realized that was already taken into account (so up to 7x$50+3x$50 bonus, max $500 if dd is maxed for june-dec)
Morris tamago William Charles
I just scoured the terms of the offer, and I didn’t see them define a QDD at all. If I missed it, please point it out to me.
Tbh eft are a 50/50 gamble for dd qual
tamago,
Did you mean to write “etf” (electronic funds transfer)?
Either way, my point is that if they didn’t define what a QDD is, then I have a case to complain. Are you in agreement that they did not define it?
Did any of you that used a “fake” DD get the 5K points for the DD bonus? If so, what did you use?
tamago,
I just redeemed for $200 CB. After that posts to my account and I transfer it out, I might ask Hanmi what I received the points for just to be sure.
Anyway, this was my 3rd (mostly) successful bonus from Hanmi. How many have you done?
i only did two with hanmi, this and the in branch one
Finally got the 25k pts. Dec enrollment
tamago,
I just checked and I only received 20K points. So either TD didn’t count as a QDD (likely) or they didn’t give me the points for the BP promo for some reason. Any way that you can see to check?
i just use employer DD since workday does instant deposit change
I only got 20k points, how to check where/why the last 5k points not there?
They should have sent you an email showing you if you didn’t qualify for the DD or BP offer like they did for tamago and me.
Anyone got the rewards points? open the account in Dec
No, still waiting after opening the account in Dec.
End of May, got the bonus points? any one who opened the account in Dec 2023?
Nope ill wait monday
Not yet
i mean if we’re playing it safe, ppl that started dec- jan/feb/mar then 60 day is till end of may
Got my points today:
did u sign up nov or dec
end of nov
ty
Morris,
Where did you see this? This would be helpful to me to see if I didn’t receive the points for DD (likely) or the BP.
The points showed up in a separate website (uchooserewards.com). I then request the rewards to send it back to my Hanmi account.
Morris,
It seems you you misunderstood my question. I am asking where you saw the following that you quoted above. As I wrote to tamago earlier, I would like to see if it shows “Not qualified” for the DD or the BP.
Got my points today:
yeah i don’t know where the above is. if i go to “my rewards” i see this:
Points
Description
Transaction Amount
25,000 Points
Offer used for arbitrary adjustments
4Q23 uChoose
$250.00
Same for me except 20K instead of 25K. 🙁
ohh i JUST (like literally right now) got an email from hanmi:
We are pleased to inform you that you have met the requirements to qualify for the uChoose Rewards bonus points for your checking account ending in 3169.
Total points earned are as follows:
The points were credited to your uChoose Rewards account on 6/6/2024.
I just came here to tell you the same thing. It was the DD, as expected.