Terms state ‘Valid for the recipient of this offer only’
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $400
- Availability: CO
- Direct deposit required: Yes, two totaling $4,000
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft without overdraft protection
- ChexSystems: Unknown, sensitive
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Unknown
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: February 28, 2025
Contents
The Offer
- Patelco Credit Union is offering a $400 bonus. Bonus is broken down as follows:
- Earn $300 by opening a Free or Interest Checking account, enrolling in eStatements and have a minimum of two (2) consecutive qualifying monthly direct deposits into your new Patelco checking account totaling $4000 or more by May 31, 2025
- Earn $50 by opening a Money Market account along with your new Free or Interest Checking account
- Earn a final $50 by enrolling in RoundUp and accelerating your savings even further. Sign up in Patelco Online™ here.
The Fine Print
- Valid for the recipient of this offer only for checking account opened during promotional period January 7, 2025 to February 28, 2025.
- In order to qualify for the first $300 bonus, you must meet the following criteria 1) become a new Patelco member by opening a checking account by February 28, 2025. 2) sign up for e-statement 3) have a minimum of two (2) consecutive qualifying monthly direct deposits into your new Patelco checking account totaling $4000 or more by May 31, 2025. Qualifying direct deposits are electronic deposits of payroll (paycheck), government benefits payments, Social security, pension or other income received through the Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) Network. Deposits that do not qualify include, but are not limited to, internal Patelco account to account transfers, check deposits, peer-to-peer transfers (e.g., transfers from Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, etc.), ATM or branch deposits, ATM transfers, or remote deposits. You can earn up to an additional $100 ONLY after you’ve qualified for the first $300 reward before the qualification period ends on May 31, 2025. Earn an additional $50 by opening a Money Market Plus or Money Market Select account. Earn an additional $50 by signing up and using RoundUp at least once for your debit card purchases.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Neither account has any monthly fees to worry about.
Early Account Termination Fee
I wasn’t able to find a fee schedule so unsure if there is any EATF.
Our Verdict
Previously this was only $100. I suspect most readers won’t be eligible due to how ChexSystems sensitive they are.
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
Thank you for your recent application to become a member of Patelco Credit Union. We carefully considered your application and regret that we cannot approve it at this time for the following reason(s):
Due to recent excessive ChexSystem inquiries
Has anyone tried walking to a branch and asking if they could extend an offer? Maybe there are flyers available?
How are non members being ‘targetted’ for this target only offer? I live in their service area and am a non-customer. Never got any flyers from them in the mail which is how I would assume they would ‘target’ non-customers with this offer.
One DP below about someone having just a CC with them at first then receiving a checking offer
Correct, even though I count as a member (it’s a CU, so I needed to open a membership along with the CC).
Got it, so basically unless you want to risk a 5/24 to potentially be targeted for this, its not worth it.
So does each DD need to be over $4k? Or will 4 $1k DDs in a month still work?
In response to several of the comments below, there are two concurrent versions of the offer — one for existing and one for nonexisting members — and both are *targeted*.
Also, if you are OOS from California, you can join via the FFA, and Patelco will pay your fees if your application is approved. (This is how I joined back in 2023 to open a CC, since they have a pre-qualification tool.)
Hope this clears it up. In the post title, “[CA only]” should be replaced by “[Targeted, nationwide].”
While what you wrote is correct, it is very rare for
William Charles to ever remove a state restriction from the title completely even if we have proven that the offer works nationwide. The best that you can hope for is an update to the article!
Since this offer is targeted, I think it would be a bad idea to show it as nationwide anyway.
I can see the title got changed, this will certainly address most concerns
William Charles
Did you miss this comment: #2005759 ?
I probably don’t get what you mean….
William Charles did the correct thing to amend the title, since it had already created enough confusion. I would have also eliminated “CA only,” like I said, since it’s just not correct, but this will likely help many people. Correct?
It seemed like you were alerting
William Charles that the title was changed when he was the one that made the change. That’s all I was getting at.
Of course changing it to “Targeted” will help people. That’s why I asked Will to make the change in the 1st place!
I’m certainly not as familiar with this site as you are, but my understanding is that he’s running the business (plus there is one more person who was assigned certain writing and moderating privileges, and that’s probably it). So yes, I did assume he’d made this change, which I appreciated. In any case, I’m perfectly happy — and for as long as things make sense to me, I’m glad to help. Cheers.
We’re reviewing your application.
Every credit union requires membership. Your application shows that you’re eligible for membership by enrolling in the Financial Fitness Association (FFA).
No need to take action just yet
We’ll send you an email with instructions to accept FFA’s terms and conditions and complete your membership. If you completed this application and are already a Patelco member, you don’t need to join FFA.
[applied oos]
I got the same message today after applying from OOS (MD). Applied with chex frozen, too.
I don’t freeze Chex, and I wasn’t targeted, for data purposes
They sent an email 2 days later asking me to unfreeze chex and to email them back to process the app again. No mention of me not living in CA.
Instant approval. They pulled chex. Live in footprint. Experian was unfrozen. E-statements was turned off by default, needed to change to paperless.
Chex:
2/1mo
4/3mo
10/12
Did identity verification go through as is, or were things needed to be uploaded?
And by footprint, do you mean in radius of a branch, or CA in general?
I see CA, but they seem to have no branches outside of the Bay Area.
Scanned QR code on my phone which took me to 3rd party that asked for photo of ID and selfie.
Did you receive an offer from them in the mail or by email? How about a confirmation that the bonus was attached to your account?
It looks like I jumped on this without reading the terms carefully. I wasn’t targeted so I may be ineligible. I’ll have to contact them next week to see if the promo got attached somehow. Not holding my breath.
It may be best not to contact them if it’s targeted; that could bring it to their attention. Unless you wanna act like you got the mailer to “verify the promo was attached” or something
were you targeted for the offer?
No. The link to the offer didn’t look like that of a targeted offer or referral so I figured it was open to all. I suppose they have a list of email and physical addresses that were targeted which will have to match the application.
“criteria 1) become a new Patelco member by opening a checking account by February 28, 2025”. I am an existing Patelco member with a Money Market account. I never have their checking account. Am I eligible for this promotion?
Per the previous bullet, “Valid for the recipient of this offer only.” Have you been targeted?
No, because the offer is targeted and you are already an existing customer! However, feel free to try for it like
Amalie did.
Here is my version of the promotion, since there seems to have sent out more than one:
“[First Name,] as your financial partner, we’re continuously looking for new and rewarding ways to help you save more and manage your daily finances with ease.
That’s why we’re excited to share this member-exclusive (and limited time!) opportunity to earn up to $300 when you make the most of your banking relationship with Patelco.”
And here’s the relevant portion of the fine print:
“Valid for the recipient of this offer only for new checking account opened during promotional period of February 10, 2025 to March 14, 2025. In order to qualify for the first $200 bonus, you must meet the following criteria 1) Be a Patelco member on or before January 31, 2025 without a primary checking account. 1) Open a Patelco primary checking account by March 14, 2025. 2) sign up for eStatements 3) have a minimum of two (2) consecutive qualifying monthly direct deposits of $500 or more into your new Patelco checking account for direct deposits totaling $1,000 or more by April 30, 2025. Qualifying direct deposits are electronic deposits of payroll (paycheck), government benefits payments, Social Security, pension or other income received through the Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) Network. Deposits that do not qualify include, but are not limited to, internal Patelco account to account transfers, check deposits, peer-to-peer transfers (e.g., transfers from Zelle®, PayPal, Venmo, etc.), ATM or branch deposits, ATM transfers, or remote deposits.
2 You can earn up to an additional $100 ONLY after you’ve qualified for the first $200 reward before the qualification period ends on April 30, 2025. Earn an additional $50 bonus reward by opening a Money Market Plus or Money Market Select account (not eligible if you already have an existing Money Market Plus or Money Market select account as of January 31, 2025.) Earn an additional $50 bonus reward by signing up and using RoundUp at least once for your debit card purchases. The cash bonus will be credited to your new Patelco checking account on May 30, 2025. Must be 18 and over to qualify. Available on Free Checking and Interest Checking accounts only to the recipient of this offer.”
For anyone OOS that is interested in possibly following
Jjohn8219’s path to getting targeted for future offers, I just looked through their credit card offers.
This one has a $200 bonus on $1500 spend: https://www.patelco.org/credit-cards-and-loans/credit-cards/rewards.
This one offers 0% interest for 6 months on balance transfers with no balance transfer fee: https://www.patelco.org/credit-cards-and-loans/credit-cards/low-rate.
Good point, and their credit cards offer a pre-qualification tool (YMMV, of course, on its reliability).