Update 12/10/23: Deal is back, no end date.
Update 12/3/22: Deal is back and valid until December 31, 2022. Hat tip to reader Bockrr & alopez14
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:Â $200
- Availability:Â Long beach location
- Direct deposit required:Â Optional
- Additional requirements:Â See below
- Hard/soft pull:Â Soft pull
- Credit card funding:Â Unknown
- Monthly fees:Â $5, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: 6 months, bonus forfeit
- Expiration date: December 31, 2022
Contents
The Offer
- Southland Credit Union is offering a bonus of $200 when you open a checking account at their Long Beach location and complete the following requirements:
- Establish direct deposit into your Long Beach Checking Account with an amount of $200 or more, OR,
- Utilize our Bill Pay service to pay at least one recurring bill using your Long Beach Checking account.
The Fine Print
- $200 reward will be deposited to the Long Beach Checking account on the next available business day upon receipt of first direct deposit or first bill payment made.
- Qualifications must be met within the first 90 days of account opening to qualify for rewards.
- Qualifications include direct deposit of at least $200 or recurring use of ePay/Bill Pay, and the Long Beach Checking Account must maintain a positive balance.
- If these qualifications are not met within the first 90 days of account opening, rewards will not be paid.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fee $5
There is a $5 monthly fee, this is waived with Direct Deposit or Use of Bill Pay every month.
Membership Fee $15
This is waived if you open the account with an initial deposit of $25 or more. You also need to work for one of the participating employers or live, work, worship or attend school in the following areas: Orange County, Artesia, Bellflower, Brentwood, Cerritos, Culver City, Downey, Downtown & West Los Angeles, Hawaiian Gardens, La Habra Heights, La Mirada, Lakewood, Long Beach, Marina Del Ray, Mar Vista, Norwalk, Pacific Palisades, Paramount, Santa Fe Springs, Santa Monica, Signal Hill, Venice. You can also join if you have an immediate family member who is already a member.
Early Account Termination Fee
6 months, bonus forfeit
Our Verdict
There is a more widely available bonus, but that is only for $175 and there are more requirements. Will add this to the highly location restrictive bonus section of the best bank bonus page.
Hat tip to Natanael
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
I called in two weeks ago. I inquired about the offer. The employee put me on hold for five minutes. She responded saying the offer was no longer valid and hanged up.
Still going on if anyone is interested.
Are you sure the offer is still active?
This was easy! As long as you don’t mind going into the branch. I parked in the Amazon locker parking. Bonus was awarded the NEXT DAY after using the bill pay service.
No, I just did it. Not a busy day since school was not in session.
This was one of the more mortifying experiences in the books. There were no customers in the branch or anywhere around the branch. There was one employee in the branch. I ended up being denied for chex inquiries.
As others have mentioned, finding parking as well as the branch was kind of a pain. Maybe I’ll look back in time and laugh but the experience was not too fun.
My in-person application early last week went to Compliance, and they finally got back to me today asking to see 2 years’ worth of tax returns. You’re a credit union, not a real bank! Hard pass.
Based on member services, the location will be closed along with the CSULB campus from December 23 – January 2. The offer effectively expires today.
William Charles
There is no expiration date on the promotion page anymore so this offer might be back.
William Charles
The promotion page is a 404.
The location is closed on weekends
…most banks are 😂
The only geographical restriction I see is the one on the home page: “It’s simple. If you live, work, worship or attend school in Orange County or Los Angeles County, Southland Credit Union is your Credit Union!”
Probably the major hassle is that you have to drive to and park at the campus branch both to open AND close your account.
Source: https://www.southlandcu.org/join/benefits-of-membership/
You can convert your account to the Cash Rewards checking account after the 6-month timeframe like
Davis suggests below. The nice thing about doing this is two-fold:
1) You can get the $10 monthly bonus/reward for using your debit card 10x during the month. Nets an extra $120.
2) You can close out the Cash Rewards checking account online by calling or sending an SM. So, if you’re not interested in the monthly bonus, then you can close immediately after conversion.
The Cash Rewards checking account does requires a monthly DD; otherwise, you get charged $5/month.
Link: https://www.southlandcu.org/save-spend/checking/long-beach-checking/
Still expired, says 2021.
2022 language: https://www.southlandcu.org/join/welcome-long-beach-state/
This is still active. I just signed up late November ’23.
Just called the Long Beach branch to see if this offer was still active, per the person I spoke to and the offer page itself, this bonus offer is now unfortunately expired.