Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $700
- Availability: FL, NJ, NY
- Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum
- Additional requirements:
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Unknown, sensitive
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: $3-$12
- Early account termination fee:$25, six months
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: January 31, 2025
Contents
The Offer
- Popular Community Bank is offering a bonus of up to $700 when you open a new checking account. Bonus is as follows:
- Checking bonus:
- Earn $150 When you open a new Popular Easy Access Checking account, link two direct deposits (such as your paycheck or government benefits), and make 12 everyday purchases (like your morning coffee) in the first 90 days
- Earn $300 When you open a new Popular Everyday Checking account, link two direct deposits (such as your paycheck or pension), and make 12 everyday purchases (like your weekly supermarket run) in the first 90 days.
- Earn $500 When you open a new Popular Prestige Checking account, link two direct deposits (such as your paycheck or government benefits), and make 12 everyday purchases (like your dinner delivery) in the first 90 days
- Earn a $200 bonus when you open a new Popular Savings account, deposit a minimum of $8,000 in new money in the first 30 days, and keep a $8,000 average monthly balance for two statement cycles. Must have or open a Popular Bank consumer checking account to qualify
- Checking bonus:
The Fine Print
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
- Easy Access Checking. $3 OR $0 if you set up a recurring monthly direct deposit of $250
- Everyday Checking. $10 OR $0 if you maintain $1,000 in average monthly balances5 or set up a recurring monthly direct deposit of $750.
- Prestige Checking. $12 OR $0 if you maintain $2,000 in average monthly balances.
Early Account Termination Fee
There is an early account termination fee of $25 if closed within 6 months.
Our Verdict
$500 checking bonus is very good as it’s not difficult to meet the requirements to keep the account fee free. $200 savings bonus is worth doing as well as you only need to tie up funds for ~two months. Will add these to our best bank bonuses. I’d be surprised if these offers don’t get pulled early so sign up ASAP if interested.
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
How long for the bonus?
Mobile deposit rejected by popular bank.
Hi all,
I looking for some input. I opened popular bank account on 28 jan 2025 for promotion of $700. $500 for direct deposit in checking account and $200 for saving account by maintaining $8000 for two statement cycles. I need to bring balance by 30 days. I took cashier check for 8000 from Columbian bank and did mobile deposit on 22 feb.
However, popular bank rejected with reason cashier checks not accepted for mobile deposit. I called customer care , they informed me to visit branch. Tomorrow I will visit. Customer care said it will take 7 days to clear cashier checks for new accounts. Is it true? In that case I can’t meet their requirements. Can I ask branch staff for expedite the process?
My apologies if I am not following group rules for posting.
I think what they meant by “7 days to clear cashier checks” is that they would place a hold of 7 days on the money once deposited before making the fund available for withdrawal. The money should count towards your account balance once deposited, it is just that it won’t be included in your available balance during the hold period. So you should be fine.
Hi all,
For savings account promotion, I can do multiple deposits right? Or should it be single deposit. I am pretty sure its multiple. But just want to double check before deposit.
The terms in the post show “deposit a minimum of $8,000 in new money in the first 30 days”.
Therefore, multiple deposits should be fine.
I saved the following language regarding the savings portion of the promo:
“funding the account within 30 days of account opening by making one or more deposits totaling at least $8,000 in new money. “
All good
Mahendra G
I just checked my Chex inquiries under “Dispute.” I only have one inquiry from Popular on the day I opened with them. It is under “Inquiries Viewed by Others.”
If they were to make additional inquiries after account opening, I would think that those would show up under “Inquiries Viewed only by You.” As of right now, I don’t have any additional inquiries of any kind from them.
Does anyone see additional Chex pulls from Popular after your account opening date?
I would think
Kiwi got additional ones. Otherwise, how would they find out about new account openings?
I have not. I was planning to apply for Bank of Hope, which pulls Chex, sometime this month but it might not be worth the risk. My hope is that my Popular bonus posts before end of month as I just completed the requirements.
Just to update I did get my Chex report and sure enough there’s another inquiry from popular in inquiries viewed only by you the day after my fifth third inquiry. I guess each inquiry sends them an alert and someone takes a look at your whole report out of curiosity. No red flags in person. Definitely tread with caution here.
Have any of you heard of anything like this?
I’ve definitely seen it, yes. Some banks must have a contract with Chex to alert them when you get a Chex inquiry at other banks by sending them a notification. You will see a “Inquiries Viewed Only by You” inquiry for the recently opened bank on the exact same date that you get an inquiry at another bank. This can go on for months. They don’t necessarily take action on it, but they could.
Christopher Robin
Thank you
Gadget 🕵️♂️ Bank Bonus Geek 🔗 This explains why I have a ridiculous amount of Fifth Third “Inquiries Viewed Only by You” Chex pulls.
Kiwi
I got 3 inquiries “viewed only by you” from First Horizon one day after my chex pulled from 3 banks on 11/14,18,20
Did the “soft” inquiries stop after 2 or 3 months of account opening like what happened with me with Valley?
There is no new inquiry so far. They might have some features that alert the bank about multiple inquiries in 7 days but First Horizon didn’t care about that
Valley did the same non sense and I had to think twice about opening any new accounts. Now that I got my bonus, I dont care any more if they want to close it.
There should be some sort of laws to prevent this non sense and protect our financial privacy
I hear ya, but that privacy invasion is nothing compared to EWS banks…
If only! A Chex-free bank diet for the next three to four months? I don’t think I can last.
Just keep your Chex frozen until you receive the Popular bonus and transfer the money out. Do you really want to risk $700? That’s assuming that you are going for both bonuses.
I do freeze and thaw as warranted. Yes, I’m going for both bonuses. Whether I stay Chex free will depend on the timing of other deals and bonus amount.
No.
I just checked an old Chex report and I think that you are correct about Valley. I previously thought that they randomly did a “soft” Chex inquiry in the following 2 months after I opened my account in June because I had 1 in July and 1 in August.
However, I now see that I had a “hard” Chex inquiry the day before that. What’s interesting is that I had another “hard” Chex inquiry in July about a week before the other one and there was no “soft” pull from Valley for that. Any theory of why that would be the case?
Also, it appears that they stopped monitoring it as I didn’t receive any “soft” inquiry in Sept even though I had 2 “hard” inquiries that month. That makes me think that it is probably pretty costly to have this service so Valley must have cut it off after they were satisfied with my Chex activity after opening.
As far as why they stopped monitoring, I think that we can only hypothesize the cause. You could very well be right or it could be some other factor. A hypothesis that popped in my head is perhaps they stop monitoring once your account reaches a certain age.
Yes, I agree with you on that. The part that baffled me is that I had only 1 “soft” inquiry from Valley in July when I had 2 separate “hard” inquiries that month.
I actually just thought of a theory for that. Maybe Valley gets notified for each “hard” inquiry but only does a “soft” pull once near the end of each calendar month to view all of them. What do you think?
I wonder if we apply for so many accts that the SP are just coincidental. 😂 I’ve always seen these and they’re usually around the same time each month…
We all agree to lot of things because in current state there are no alternatives. Take arbitration for example, another non sense heaped on the customers.
Now imagine if govt were pro customer and kept a report on the banks and wrong doings they do and published it for everyone 🙂
I can imagine some Chex marketing clown selling this service to banks as way to avoid churners 🙂
they asked paystub for opening an account.
I didn’t open. It probably because when she asked me how I know about them, I said I saw the bonus. The branch is in 07107
What’s wrong with saying that? Isn’t that the truth?
WARNING they really are watching Chex systems after account opening for anyone doing this don’t apply to anything else. I’m planning to not apply to anything else until the bonus posts.
They just called me to ask why do I have so 10+ inquires in the last 6 months and one yesterday. After telling them I’m getting multiple CDs they didn’t like that I’d had more than 5 and they’re going to close the account because of yesterday’s inquiry. They told me they will get an alert every time a new inquiry pops up. For anyone reading this be really careful it’s another valley situation.
Yeah I have a Chex account and on alert they pulled it 3 times when I went in person lol.
I didn’t check that part but most definitely I avoided valley because of this and it looks like my fifth third churn inquiry got them to call me. I hope I can save someone with this info.
Three pulls on the same day should have consolidated into one.
Yeah just for the 5/3 account which was yesterday. I had a bad feeling when i saw them calling me.
So they are closing your account? Have you met the requirements yet for the checking bonus?
Thanks – this is the DP I’ve been waiting for. I opened my account in December and based on the DPs here and in an old Popular thread, have deliberately avoided any Chex pulls since.
Yeah they’re closing it and mailing a cashiers check. Really nice employees in person. I did notice the banker was his first time opening an account so there was no mention of Chex at all. But definitely the fraud department they’re watching. They told me I’m too much of a risk with 10 inquires.
Honestly as a bank I don’t know how someone banks there the app and features kinda suck lol
Ugh, sorry to hear that! Did you by chance already met the requirements for the checking bonus?
Oh no not yet sadly I should’ve known to steer clear of this one after the first branch denied me for not having my SS card
Oh noo, that sucks!! I hope they don’t find any reason to close my account! I def have a lot of inquiries, so I’m on thin ice, apparently :/
No, I haven’t. I haven’t applied for anything else since then. When I reviewed my Chex report, it shows they pulled it on the day of.
Similarly to Christopher Robin (sorry that Idk how to tag people yet lol), First Horizon did “soft pulls” every month for the 5 months that I had an account with them, but they never acted on it. I did open a couple of other accounts around the third month after First Horizon, and they looked at it twice in one month lol
The simplest way to tag someone is to find any comment that they made from anywhere on the site and manually type (DO NOT use copy/paste) it in this format “guest _ comment#” (without the spaces).
For example, to tag Christopher, you would type “guest _ 1999483” without the spaces and it will appear like this:
Christopher Robin and he will receive a “Mention” email.
Thanks, “guest_2000660”, I appreciate that info.
Please let me know if this worked :’D and what I did wrong if it didn’t.
You followed my instructions perfectly but it still failed to work. The reason that it failed is because I screwed up with the instructions that I gave you.
I forgot to include that you need to add “@” before “guest”!
Well, nobody’s perfect, “
Eric 🔗”. Thanks for following up on that 🙂
Not sure why I included the quotation marks on that… but this proves my point about not being perfect lol
Eric 🔗
Now we’re even,
FYI, I received the “Mention” email both times so you are a quick study. 😀
There is a $25 early termination fee unless you keep at least $2000 in checking and $500 in savings (you have to have a checking account open to receive the $200 savings bonus) and these accounts earn barely anything; is it better to close the accounts early since you’d earn more interest by keeping $2500 in a HYSA?
For the savings account bonus, say I opened the account on 12/15, my first statement cycle ends on 12/31. I need to deposit $8k before 1/14. Which cycle do I need to keep the average balance of $8k? Jan and Feb or Feb and March? Coz if Jan, I’ll need to deposit more than $8k to keep the required average balance.
My interpretation of the terms it’s Jan and Feb. Yes, if you wait past Jan 1st to make your deposit, then you would need to deposit more than $8k to meet the average monthly balance.
I just read the fine prints. It says “The $8,000 must be reflected in the end of day balance on day 30 and must be maintained for the following 2 statement cycles. ” Sounds like Feb and March?
Good catch!
Does anyone have any DPs for what can count as a DD for this bank? Reading the terms, it said ACH credits such as payroll, salary, etc. and didn’t explicitly mention anything about bank ACH transfers not qualifying. Just P2P and RTP are noted as non-qualifying transactions.
My Chex stats are probably high, but it might be worth the road trip to South Florida to make $500! Some of the comments on this post are quite scary, but I’ll likely try this bonus anyway.
Do tell which south Florida branch you go to as I’m here waiting to open it too
I visited the one in Ft. Lauderdale on Broward Blvd yesterday, but unfortunately, I didn’t plan well and got there too late in the day to open the account. I was opening another at Flagstar Bank up in Deerfield Beach when I realized that time was dwindling. I’ll go back again this coming week ^_^
Thanks for the update! Hopefully it goes well!
Bingo!
Prestige Checking and Savings opened successfully after visiting the same branch again. I wasn’t planning to try the Savings promo because I don’t have much wiggle room with my finances, but I thought I’d give it a shot. I buckled under the slight pressure applied by the beautiful banker.
There was a sign in the office space that basically said “We pull Chex to make our decisions” which made me quite nervous. When that portion came, the banker just asked me if I had opened accounts here and there, and I confirmed that I did as I am “trying out different banks to see which one I like the most” (Hint: The one that gives me the most money the easiest).
10+ inquiries since last July, which is as far back as she said she could see.
Made $25+ opening deposits in cash (I don’t believe there were any other options) and walked out happy that I get the chance to bank $700 😀
Awesome man!!! Happy to hear that you opened it successfully. One question though did they require you to have your social security card? They just turned me away asking for that and I dont know where mine is
Sorry that I didn’t see this sooner, but no. They asked me for my SSN, but didn’t specifically ask me to provide the card. I had it with me just in case, but I was told by the banker that it wasn’t needed.
Was that the end of your encounter? :/
Hey it’s okay no worries! Yeah the Hialeah one did ask me for a social card and turned me away apparently bank policy? I took your opening advice to call one more place and Coral gables told me come on in with a drivers license. Successfully opened and not a single question asked about Chex. I am concerned with the other commenter mentioning they’re going to monitor Chex after like valley. Hopefully that was a bluff lol. Glad we both got in!
Interesting…
Well I’m going to stay away from any more Chex inquiries until I get paid 😂 It’s too risky for me to lose that much money after the investment I made to head down there in the first place!
I don’t see this in best bank bonuses. Maybe forget to add?