[Expired] [AL, FL, NJ, NY, and PA Only] Valley National Bank $200 Checking Bonus

Deal has now expired and is no longer available. View the best current checking bonuses by clicking here.

Update 07/04/05: It’s actually only available in AL, FL, NJ, NY, and PA as you need to open a Premier checking account and that’s not available in DC, MD, VA, WV. In addition we incorrectly stated that this is the same bank as Incredible Bank, that’s River Valley Bank. Thanks to reader Ian for pointing this out.

Update 07/02/2018. Reposting as Incredible Bank bonus isn’t offered anymore and this bonus is now available in more states as well Thanks to reader Maggie & JuicyJosh.

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: $200
  • Availability:AL, FL, NJ, NY, and PA
  • Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum specified
  • Additional requirements: None
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft
  • ChexSystems: Unknown
  • Credit card funding: None
  • Monthly fees: $15, avoidable
  • Early account termination fee: None listed
  • Household limit: None listed
  • Expiration date: None listed

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Valley national Bank is offering a bonus of $200 when you open a new VNB Premier checking account and complete the following requirements:
    • Receive a qualifying direct deposit

The Fine Print

  • Cash reward will be credited within 90 days after initial direct deposit and may be IRS reportable.
  • All cash reward amounts are subject to change at the Bank’s discretion
  • A qualifying direct deposit is defined as a recurring payroll direct deposit or electronic deposit of pension or government benefit such as Social Security. Transfers from one account to another or deposits made at a branch or ATM do not qualify as direct deposits
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

There is a $15 monthly fee, this is waived if you have a minimum daily ledger balance of at least $99. There is no early account termination fee.

Our Verdict

Previously they have offered two bonuses:

I think this bonus is better than the first one listed as you don’t have to worry about hitting the requirements every month for 12 months. Most readers won’t be eligible for the second bonus and this current bonus is an extra $50 but does require a direct deposit. Overall I think this new bonus is probably the best they have offered, let’s see how strict they are on the direct deposit requirement though. I’ll be adding this to our list of the best checking bonuses. .

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
    William Charles
  • On July 2, 2018, 20:20

View Comments (269)

  • @chucksithe @will is this account churnable? wanna know if I should close my account or not.

  • Its 3/14 and I've still have not received a corrected 1099 from Valley National from the $200 clawback (I know the email said before 3/31, but its getting late in the game here). Can I get status check from those who had the clawback on their accounts and if they either called in or emailed Valley? Its been dead silent from Valley since the email.

    • I showed up in person. Not sure if they would have corrected anything if I hadn't told them, as clerk in question was very nice, but clearly had no idea what I was talking about (took about 30 minutes to call around to different departments in-person to semi-resolve). Not that I've yet seen a new form. That's supposed to be coming, but I think they're so disorganized at the management and software backend level, that they are basically counting upon you to tell them what they need to do in respect of your account. Granted we are still a ways away from the March 31 deadline.

  • Today I received an email saying that "There may be an error on your 1099 INT form. If you noticed an error on your form or received a form when you shouldn't have, please notify us immediately."
    This email included an email address for an actual person, so I am writing to her to request the $200.
    check your emails!

  • Valley National sent me a 1099 for the $200 bonus even though they retracted my bonus. What a crock. Now I have to waste time contacting them to fix this.

  • I received this email too, but if Im reading it correctly they want a monthly recurring $1000 DD until the bonus posts. Im not sure if I want to do that, I kept a $100 bonus, so it will be only another $100 for me. It seems like too much work for a $100.

  • Update: I just got an email from them, offering me to reopen my account and go through the offer again, under new stated parameters (min. DD of $1,000). Thinking about it... thinking hard.

    • Got it too, it looks like it's if you didn't receive the initial bonus.

      The email seems very odd though.

  • 7/9 opened with $100 ACH funding
    7/12 real DD $100
    7/30 real DD $100
    8/14 real DD $1000

    Still no bonus. I called today, was escalated to supervisor 2x, who said they need to research. They will supposedly call me back in a day or two.

    Also my online login still isn't activated, months after mailing back the signature form. Had to request & fax a new one -- hopefully will work this time.

    And their ATM machine ate my card when I entered the wrong (according to them) PIN. Pretty sure it wasn't wrong. Was told I could get it back from the branch staff the next day, only to come back and find they'd shredded it.

    Can't wait to be done with this POS bank! Not even having a branch across the street from make makes up for this level of hassle.

    • Happy ending!
      * they accepted the signature form via email and activated my login within an hour
      * upon logging in, I saw they had credited me the $200
      * the branch near me had closed, but the next closest one processed my closure via cashier's check no problem. I mean, they were still incompetent (took >20min of various employees asking each other how to do simple tasks), but I got my money.

  • DP: Wells and HSBC transfer do not count. I had to secure message them after they denied my bonus even after a real employer DD.

    If you guys tried an ACH transfer and then did a real DD, they seem to have put your account in a separate bucket and would not have credited me the bonus unless I contacted them. So for those still waiting after a real DD, message them.

    • I tried several pushes from Chase before doing a real DD and my account wasn’t put in a separate bucket. I did not have to call; my bonus posted according to their terms.

      Why would routine banking transactions put you in a separate bucket? I transfer funds all the time, not just to trigger a bonus.

      • From the email trail with the VNB rep, it sounded like they looked at the DD and then marked it as noncompliant for the bonus since my initial push of $1k was from ACH. The separate bucket meant they were no longer actively monitoring the account for posting bonus.

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