Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.
Update 3/17/23: Deal is back and valid until May 27, 2023.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $600
- Availability: CO, IA, IL, KS & TX
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $12,000+
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Yes, not sensitive
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: $24
- Early account termination fee: $15, 90 days
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date: June 18, 2022
Contents
The Offer
- TBK Bank is offering a bonus of up to $600 when you open a new AIM checking account. Bonus period is March 14, 2022 through June 18, 2022. Bonus is broken down as follows:
- $500 when you receive at least 3 direct deposits totaling a minimum of $12,000 within the promo period
- $50 when you have at least 3 recurring automatic transfers from this account to a TBK Bank savings or money market account
- $25 when you have 9 Bill Pay transactions to service providers clear/debit during the qualifying period
- $25 when you complete 50+ one time or recurring point of sale (POS) transactions within the qualifying period
The Fine Print
- The promotional Bonus incentive offer period is March 14, 2022 through June 18, 2022 and subject to change at any time.
- During this promotional period, AIM Checking account opened and used can earn up to a total of $600 during the qualifying bonus offer period.
- Qualifying Bonus period is 120 calendar days following the open date of the account.
- Any qualifying bonus will be credited to this AIM Checking account on the next business day following the end of the bonus period if account is open and active. Limit one of each bonus type.
- Converted accounts are not eligible for bonus.
- Cash bonus payments may result in interest being reported to IRS.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
- Must be a Citizen or Permanent Resident
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
This account has a $24 monthly fee, this is waived if you do any of the following:
- Maintain Average Available Balance of at least $5,000
- Total Relationship Balances of at least $25,000
- At least $4,000 in total Direct Deposits
Early Account Termination Fee
There is no early account termination fee.
Our Verdict
Previously there was a smaller bonus, but that required a smaller direct deposit. This is obviously a huge bonus but the direct deposit requirement is quite big as well. We don’t have a lot of datapoints on what does/doesn’t work for that direct deposit requirement but this is a bonus worth doing for those that can easily change their direct deposit and have a large enough one.
Hat tip to reader Jeff P
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
This bank auto closed my checking and savings accounts I believe about 30 days after I withdrew all funds out of the accounts. My online login has been disabled, I didn’t receive notification of a January/February statement by email and my accounts all had zero balances.
I was able to open a few savings accounts with my Fidelity CC for cashback before that stopped working a couple of years ago (I completed the older $600 checking bonus). I also stopped being able to open additional savings accounts after five, not sure if that is their limit, or if they just won’t open accounts for nationwide customers anymore (I’m out of footprint in So Cal).
Their savings accounts have no monthly fees if you’re over a certain age, but their so-called base (free) checking account has a $20 monthly fee if you’re inactive for over 90 days. This is the account type that I initially downgraded to since the AIM checking account is more difficult to keep fee-free. Not sure if I will try to churn their bonuses again in the future.
The tax form I received from TBK for the bonus is 1099-MISC instead of 1099-INT. Weird. Has anyone else got the same?
My previous TBK bonuses were reported on a 1099-MISC.
Most banks prefer to report the earnings on a 1099-INT but some prefer to use 1099-MISC. In the end, they both get treated exactly the same on your tax return.
Sort of agree, but technically, my 1099-MISC’s are entered on a different block than 1099-INT. The math ends up being the same, because it’s not considered self-employment income.
Yes, I should have been a bit more clear. The end result on your tax return is the same whether it’s a 1099-INT or a 1099-MISC, but they are entered and calculated in different sections and steps of the 1040.
I had this account years ago and just received a marketing email from TBK about a $200 offer. Is this churnable?
What do the terms say?
It’s been proven churnable in the past.
But…. Pretty sure they’re no longer entertaining Nationwide applications so you need to be in footprint.
I believe the $125 bonus for their Everyday Checking and $200 bonus for their AIM checking have been promoted on their website for years. The terms do not seem to prevent churning. Mothman69 has successfully churned it:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/co-ia-il-ks-tx-tbk-bank-600-checking-bonus/#comment-1518044
I have kept a savings account open with TBK. Like you, I am waiting for a better offer.
TBK Bank bonus
$200 https://www.tbkbank.com/personal/personal-checking/aim-checking/
$100 https://www.tbkbank.com/personal/personal-checking/everyday-checking/
$50 https://www.tbkbank.com/personal/personal-checking/launch-checking/
Offers valid from 6/22 or 1/23 but no end date specified. Looks like in-branch only.
Terms require direct deposit, automatic transfers, bill pay and point-of-sale purchases for any bonus. May be worth it to some.
I did one $5k from Alliant right after the account was opened to avoid the fee. It was categorized as a utility payment (gas). Not sure if this can be included for the 12k DD requirement.. I already did 2 x $4k from Fidelity (loan payment). To be safe, I will do one more 4k from Fidelity. As for the $25 for 9 bill pay and $25 for 50 point of sale bonus, what are the best and most effective ways to get them done? I can try to do 9 bill pays in 30 days but I may have to split one bill into a few payments of smaller amount. It seems a bit overwhelming to do 50 POS transactions…. I can load the debit card on Apple Wallet and keep buying cheap items like one banana, one apple, a few mushrooms, etc. at grocery stores. Are there any other ways to get this done?
One last question is if can I transfer out some funds which had been transferred into the account? I intend to keep the minimum 5k to avoid the service fee.
Thank you for the answers I was looking for. I am almost done with the 9 x bill pay requirement. I just paid $1 to my credit cards and repeated for a few days. I am not quite familiar with the paypal subscription.. The link opened a subscription page and it does say $.01. I need to add TBK debit card. I suppose all I do the same thing 5 times… Is the money going to my pay pal account? I am not too worried about $.50 but I am just wondering…
Thanks. I am not familiar with the Paypal fee. Do I get charged for the fee in addition to $.01 each time x 50? I suppose I can create a similar subscription with my Paypal business account and transfer from my regular Paypal account. It may be too time consuming for this bonus of $25 but it may be useful if I do more bonus offers which require debit card transactions.
No, you only get charged $0.01 per transaction.
$500 bonus was in the account this morning (124 days from opening):
7-Apr – Account opened
18-Apr – $5k push from Schwab Brokerage
18-May – $3.5k push ” ”
14-Jun – $3.5k push ” ”
9-Aug – Bonus posted
Opened 4/07. No bonus yet..
Both P1 and P2 got the $600 bonus last night. Real DD and Amazon Reloads.
$600 posted for both me and P2 yesterday afternoon. We both opened in branch on April 3, so that puts it right at the 121 day mark.
I posted the sources for the DDs below if you want to see what we used, but it was 85% Fidelity for both of us by dollar value. Scroll down to my earlier comments if you want to see how everything was coded – even my sole real paycheck did not code as “direct deposit,” so you shouldn’t use that to judge whether it’s working.
We both primarily used Amazon reloads for the debit swipes.
$550 bonus posted today
When did you open your account?
121 days back
Bonus posted 07/20 $525. Exactly on the last 120 calender day since opening