Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.
Update 1/4/2020: Extended until December 31st, 2020.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200
- Availability: FL, IN, KY, OH & TN only
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $100+
- Additional requirements:
- Hard/soft pull: Hard
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Up to $500 online, not sure if possible in branch
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Unknown
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date:
December 31st, 2018 December 31st, 201912/31/2020
The Offer
- Republic Bank is offering a bonus of $200 when you open a new checking account with the promo code LX1/LX2. Bonus is broken down as follows:
- $100 for receiving a direct deposit of at least $100 before the end of the third full statement cycle
- $100 for completing at least 50 point of sale debit card transactions
The Fine Print
- Offer expires 12/31/2018.
- Offer available for new accounts only (excludes account conversions).
- All cash bonuses earned will be automatically deposited into the account on the first business day of the statement cycle following the statement on which the qualifying activity appeared and are reportable as interest on a 1099-INT.
- $100 cash bonus earned for receipt of direct deposit (an ACH credit transaction, such as payroll or other automatic transfer into your account) of at least $100 to your checking account, provided that the direct deposit occurs between the day the account is opened and the end of the third full statement cycle.
- $100 cash bonus earned if a total of 50 or more point-of-sale (POS) transactions are processed from the time the account is opened until the end of the third full statement cycle. This does not include transactions conducted through an ATM.
- Not valid with any other offer.
- Offer subject to change. Offer valid with flyer / promo codes only. Some restrictions apply.
- Valid identification required.
- Savings Accounts are not eligible.
- The following checking account types cannot be opened online. To apply for one of these checking account types please visit your local Republic Bank banking center: Easy Interest (Florida), Advantage Checking (Florida, Northern Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee), Simple Access (Kentucky, Northern Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Florida), Military Honors (Kentucky, Northern Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Florida).
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
The easy checking account has no monthly fees to worry about. I wasn’t able to find a fee schedule so I’m unsure if there is any early account termination fee or not.
Our Verdict
Unfortunately the hard pull on this account kills the deal. Previously the best bonus they have offered is a $100 bonus offered to both parties. Either way we won’t be adding this to the best checking bonuses due to that hard pull.
Big thanks to reader, Matt & Kelly C who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.
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
As a resident of Ohio, I applied today but got rejected:
Dear Xinqing,
We regret to inform you that we cannot open the account you have applied for at this time.
We also obtained your Chexsystems score and used it in making our credit decision. Your Chexsystems score is a number that reflects the information available in your Chexsystems report related to past debit performance.
Your score may change depending on how the information in your Chexsystems report changes.
Score Date: 2020-10-09
Your Chexsystems Score: 0575
Scores range from a low of 100 to a high of 899
Your Debit Bureau Reference number is 11H946689713
Key factors that adversely affected your ChexSystems score:
NO EVIDENCE OF PROPERTY OWNERSHIP
TIME AT CURRENT ADDRESS
NO EVIDENCE OF ASSET OWNERSHIP
NON-DEROGATORY PUBLIC RECORD HISTORY
RECENT UNIQUE FI DDA INQUIRY HISTORY
============
Does anyone know whether I can call them and get a re-consideration?
Just opened an account. It took a few days for approval and required a scan of my DL, but there was no hard inquiry. Chex ~20/24. CC funding up to $2,500 – didn’t code as a cash advance on my Alliant card
03-13-2020 – Account opened
03-25-2020 – Real DD posted (partial)
04-01-2020 – $100 DD bonus posted
– Throughout April I did 50+ Amazon reloads and small purchases –
05-01-2020 – $100 Debit bonus posted
Also I got a chex report last week and it seems like they did pull my report, as I have an inquiry from them. No hard credit inquiry, though
Left a zero balance in the account for a couple months and they automatically closed it. No need to call the bank 🙂 Perfect bonus
When you click apply on the website, it asks for a zip code. I entered one for Nicholasville (7 miles to the closes branch) and it says the offer is not available. I think this one is very YMMV
I agree, very ymmv. I got the not available message even though I’m in one of the listed state.
See my reply to your other comment about my phonemail with Memory/Republic last year.
… and by “phonemail” I mean phone call! 🙂
Can I close my Memory bank A/C now and then open this later (before 12/31 deadline)? Or is it one Republic Bank-associated bonus/ lifetime.
I don’t think we know the answer to this yet. We need somebody to be the DP. I’m willing to try as soon as I make the latest cc app rounds and some other bonuses free up room in my real DD. It’s been over a year for me since I closed, so I’m guessing they won’t check back that far but who knows.
I just realized that MemoryBank (many DoC readers got a bonus from here) is owned by Republic Bank? So I guess that makes most of us ineligible?
That was my comment. It is clear we were ineligible last year, but if you closed Memory over a year ago, it’s not clear whether we are still disqualified. I may try again. The worst they can do is what they did last time–call me and tell me I’m not eligible and do I want to continue to open the account.
I got two Chex pulls when I applied earlier this year (one immediate, one the next business day), in addition to the HP.
I have had an account with this local bank for about a year now. Overall they are pretty decent Bank.
They have a truly free checking account with no minimum balance.
They have decent ability for incoming and outgoing ach transfers. My biggest dislike is that they only allow approx five banks to be linked to it. If it weren’t for that, I could make this my primary checking account. (They clearly were not taking the average DOC user into consideration when they designed this account. 😀 )
FYI: deposits of money orders on their banking app may process initially, but will be rejected afterwards.. Deposit money orders in Branch only.
Hard pull + FIFTY debit card POS transactions required might make this the literal worst bonus I’ve ever seen. 😂
50 debit transactions is pretty easy. Reload amazon gift card or do Venmo.
Yeah, I wasn’t really talking about whether or not it’s easy. Just the fact that it’s so many in comparison to other bonuses.
I had a Memory Bank account last year and was disqualified from earning the bonus for that reason. Does anyone know whether this is churnable after one year? I don’t see any definition of what a “new account” is.
I don’t care about the 50 debit transactions… I’ve used small Venmo payments to my spouse ($0.01, $0.02, $0.03 etc), five at a time, for anything requiring debit card use. It takes seconds from my phone, I get to redeposit it back in our joint account, and I’ve never had that not work so far. The only barrier is that Venmo has a limit on how many different debit cards you can link within six months.
@Matt B I am prob going to give it a shot in a couple of weeks. I’ll report back here if I do. I need to wait until I’ve already met DD requirements for current bank bonuses and until I’ve applied for a few credit cards on my list. I’m not afraid of a hard pull for $200… I do that all the time for a cc bonus! The HP is annoying, but I’ve never seen a single inquiry make or break anything.
I agree about the HP. From the fine print, it seems to me any ach transfer would work, doesn’t need to be a DD. The word choice is a little confusing to me though