Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $175
- Availability: Nationwide
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $1,000+
- Additional requirements: Be referred
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Yes
- Credit card funding: Up to $500 via credit card
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: None
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date:06/01/2024
Contents
The Offer
Direct link to offer (be sure to sign up with a referral link, you can find and leave links on this dedicated page)
- Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a $175 referral bonus to the person being referred when they open a Preferred or Signature checking account with $25+ & do a qualifying Direct Deposit of $1,000+ within 60 calendar days of opening. Person referring gets a $75 bonus.
The Fine Print
- Offer available from January 29, 2024, through June 1, 2024. In order for both the referred individual and the referring FAIRWINDS member to each qualify for and receive the referral reward, the following conditions must be met: The referred individual may not have previously been an owner on or a party to a FAIRWINDS account; the referred individual must open a new FAIRWINDS consumer Preferred or Signature Checking Account with a minimum deposit of $25.00 at new account opening; during the eligible program period, the referred individual must open the new account using the referring FAIRWINDS member’s unique referral link; and the referred individual must receive in the new Preferred or Signature Checking Account a cumulative qualifying direct deposit(s) of $1,000.00 or more (excluding the new account deposit used to fund/open the account) within 60 calendar days of opening. A “qualifying direct deposit” is an Automated Clearing House (ACH) deposit of a paycheck, pension, or government benefit (including Social Security) from the government or your employer. Person-to-person transfers (such as Zelle, PayPal or Venmo) and bank transfers between a FAIRWINDS account or an account at other financial institutions or brokerages do not qualify. The referring FAIRWINDS member must be in good standing with the credit union and must be an owner of a FAIRWINDS consumer Spending or Checking account in order to be eligible for a referral reward. FAIRWINDS Credit Union employees are not eligible to receive any referral program rewards.
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Easiest account to keep fee free is preferred checking account. This has a $10 monthly fee:
- Waived with either $1,000 in total monthly direct deposits, or
- with $10,000 or greater average monthly deposit balance*,
- or by maintaining an investment** account balance of $10,000 or greater.
Early Account Termination Fee
I wasn’t able to find any mention of an early account termination fee in the fee schedule.
Our Verdict
Not as good as the previous $200 deal, but not sure that will ever return. Obviously an even better if you can refer a few friends/family members as well. Do not share your referrals in the comments, you can share them in this linked post instead. We will add this to our list of the best checking bonuses.
Hat tip to reader Gadget
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
View Comments (238)
Used a referral, auto denied due to unable to verify identity via Equifax. My Equifax is not frozen. Any recommendations or appeal I can do here?
09/9 Open $505 with Citi Double Cash codes as purchase
09/17 $1001 Wise
10/3 $1001 Wise
10/15 7:03PM $175 Referral Bonus Posted
Changing checking account to Freedom Spending to keep relationship with no fees. They have a 0% APY on purchases and balance transfers with 0% balance transfer fee credit card I want in the future.
To change the type of checking account you have, follow these steps:
CD opening worked with Chex frozen as an existing customer. 1st attempt as a "new customer" was denied citing identity issues, and they did not try to pull Chex (nothing in Inquiries Viewed Only By You) so I'm guessing it was the existing membership. 2nd attempt as an existing customer was blocked initially by BofA, and again when they ran it the next day, then went through with the 3rd app a few minutes after clearing my card. No cash advance.
The reason I tried as a new member first was because they only have Paypal for CC funding on new member applications. Existing member apps do have CC funding but no Paypal (was going for category spend). It only appears as an option when the amount you're funding is <=$505, which eliminates all their CDs except the "Add-On" ones because of their minimum funding amounts.
Wait, so were you able to open the checking or a Fairwinds CD? I had a denial citing unable to verify identity for the Checking Account. They told me to re-apply when I called in.
CD. I already had a checking account, and was going for a CD in the hopes of avoiding a Chex pull. What was it you were trying?
How does the Add-On work? Can you add more with CC funding? And then after 6-months all the funds in it mature?
I'm just starting to figure this out, but no, can't "add-on" more with CC unfortunately. Only through an application. Early withdrawal seems to be possible from terms but there's no option to transfer *to* my checking account with them, so I'm guessing there's a wait period; the User Agreement for Transferring Funds suggests 65 days as a number. Given all that and the low interest rate for the Add-On CDs, I think FCU's probably not the best option long-term tbh
7/19 account opened
8/29 $1000 push from Novo
9/16 $175 bonus posted
7/13 - Opened account and funded with $500 via Payapl using Citi DC
7/24 - Real DD $500
7/31 - Real DD $500
8/15 - $175 bonus posted
7/26: open account with $500 from U.S Bank Cash+ card, coded as purchase
7/30: deposit $1000.87 with Wise, "Payroll" memo
8/15: $175 bonus posted
Will downgrade to Freedom Spending account to avoid paying monthly fee.
@6 looks like they extended the promotion to the end of the year. Can we get you to bump this so we can get some referral postings?
@2 wrote this article. Why did you ask @6 this question?
No
Funded using U.S Bank Cash+ card, coded as purchase.
is this a once in a lifetime bonus ?
Currently, yes.
"to qualify for and receive the referral reward, the following conditions must be met: The referred individual may not have previously been an owner on or a party to a FAIRWINDS account"
Received the bonus today and trying to downgrade. But whenever I try to submit a secure message, I get this error: "Captcha verification failed, try again!" There is no Captcha task or anything displayed. Is this happening to anyone else?
why downgrade ? i thought there was no Early Account Termination Fee ?
To change the type of account you have, select "Additional Services”, and choose "Documents & Forms". Select the "Checking Account Change" Online Form. You can also complete this from the FAIRWINDS Mobile App. Select the “More” screen, tap “Documents & Forms” and select “Checking Account Change”.
Awesome tip! Super easy
I had no issue a few min ago with captcha displayed. Have you tried incognito mode? I was on the chrome fyi.