[Expired][CA only] Fremont Bank $150-$500 Checking Promotion, Direct Deposit Not Required

This bonus has expired, view more Fremont bank bonuses here or the best checking bonuses here.

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $500
Availability: Must be a Californian resident
Direct deposit required: None
Additional requirements: See below
Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
ChexSystems: Unknown, ChexSystems sensitive
Credit card funding: $100
Monthly fees: $18+, avoidable
Early account termination fee: $50, six months
Household limit: One
Expiration date: ~~July 31st, 2018~~ August 15th, 2018

Contents

1 The Offer
2 The Fine Print
3 Avoiding Fees
- 3.1 Monthly Fees
  - 3.1.1 Freedom Checking
  - 3.1.2 Premier Checking
- 3.2 Early Account Termination Fee
4 Our Verdict

The Offer

Direct link to offer

Fremont Bank is offering a bonus of $150 or $500 for opening a new checking account.
- $150 bonus when you open a new Freedom checking account with the promo code 150Freedom and make 5 debit card purchases of at least $5 within 45 days of account opening
- $500 bonus when you open a new Premier checking account with the promo code Premier500 and maintain a minimum daily balance of $50,000 for 90 consecutive days

The Fine Print

$150 bonus:

Offer valid for new Fremont Bank personal checking clients only. Clients who already have a personal checking account with Fremont Bank as a primary or secondary account holder are not eligible for this promotion. The client must not have closed a personal checking account within 180 days of the promotion start date (on or after May 01, 2018). The primary account holder must be 18 years or older at the time of account opening. Offer available only to legal U.S. residents with a U.S. address in California.
Account bonus is limited to one per household.
The offer is non-transferable and may not be combined with any other offers.
Offer subject to change and may be discontinued at any time. Offer available to accounts opened online only and does not apply to accounts opened in a branch.
To participate in the promotion, 1) open a new Freedom Checking account online using promo code 150Freedom between May 01, 2018 and Jul 31, 2018 and 2) Make 5 or more qualifying debit card transactions*** within 45 days of account opening.
The account bonus will be credited to the new Freedom Checking account within 30 days from the end of the month after qualifying debit card transactions are made. “150 Freedom Bonus Offer” will appear on the checking account statement when the bonus is credit to the account.
The new account must be open and in good standing at the time the bonus is credited to the account. The account bonus will be forfeited if the account is closed before the bonus is posted to the account.
If the account is closed within six (6) months of opening an account closure fee may be charged, see Deposit Account Agreement Book for more information.
Bonus is considered interest and will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099-INT, as required by applicable law. Client is responsible for any taxes.

$300 bonus:

Offer valid for new Fremont Bank personal checking clients only. Clients who already have a personal checking account with Fremont Bank as a primary or secondary account holder are not eligible for this promotion.The client must not have closed a personal checking account within 180 days of the promotion start date (on or after May 01, 2018). The primary account holder must be 18 years or older at the time of account opening. Offer available only to legal U.S. residents with a U.S. address in California. Account bonus is limited to one per household. The offer is non-transferable and may not be combined with any other offers. Offer subject to change and may be discontinued at any time. Offer available to accounts opened online only and does not apply to accounts opened in a branch.
To participate in the promotion, 1) open a new Premier Checking account online using promo code “Premier500” between May 01, 2018 and Jul 31, 2018 and 2) Maintain a minimum daily balance of $50,000 or $50,000 with combined balance option for 90 consecutive days⁶.
The account bonus will be credited to the new Premier Checking account within 30 days from the end of the month after 90 day minimum daily balance requirement has been met. “Premier 500 Bonus Offer” will appear on the checking account statement when the bonus is credit to the account. The new account must be open and in good standing at the time the bonus is credited to the account. The account bonus will be forfeited if the account is closed before the bonus is posted to the account. If the account is closed within six (6) months of opening an account closure fee may be charged, see Deposit Account Agreement Book for more information. Bonus is considered interest and will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099-INT, as required by applicable law. Client is responsible for any taxes.
All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

Freedom Checking

This account has a $18 monthly fee (plus $2 paper statement fee). This is waived if you do any of the following:

Recurring $500 direct deposit to your checking account or
$2,500 minimum daily balance or $5,000 with Combined Balance Option or
Automatic Loan Payment to an existing Fremont Bank personal mortgage loan or Home Equity Line of Credit.

Premier Checking

This account has a $29 monthly fee (plus $2 paper statement fee). This is waived if you do any of the following:

Minimum daily balance of $50,000 or
$50,000 with Combined Balance Option

Early Account Termination Fee

According to the fee schedule there is an early account termination of $50 if closed within six months of account opening.

Our Verdict

You’d need to keep $50,000 deposited for six months for the $500 bonus. If you put that same amount into a 2% APY account you’d earn $500 as well so it’s basically not really a bonus. The $150 bonus is worth doing though. It’s not the easiest account to keep fee free, but at least the bonus itself doesn’t require a direct deposit. If it’s a soft pull we will be adding this to our best checking bonus page. Just keep in mind they are ChexSystems sensitive so a lot of readers will be denied.

Big thanks to reader, Quango who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.

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