[Expired][IA, IL] First State Bank Of Illinois $350 Checking Bonus ($500 With Loan)

Promotion has now expired, you can view the current best offers here.

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $350 or $500 with loan
• Availability: IA, IL only [Branch locator]
• Direct deposit required: Yes, see below
• Additional requirements: See below
• Hard/soft pull: Hard pull
• ChexSystems: Unknown
• Credit card funding: Up to $2,000
• Monthly fees: None
• Early account termination fee: Unknown
• Household limit: None
• Expiration date: None

The Offer

Direct link to offer

• First State Bank Of Illinois are offering a checking bonus. Minimum opening deposit of $100 required. Bonus is broken down as follows:
  • Earn up to $250 cash bonus when you have:
    • Direct deposit within 60 days of account opening
    • 10 debit card transactions per month within 90 days of account opening
    • eStatements within 60 days of account opening
  • Earn up to $350 bonus when you have all of the above and two of the following services:
    • Online Banking, Mobile Banking, Bill Pay, Balance Guard Savings, Balance Guard Line Of Credit
  • Earn up to  $500 bonus when you qualify for the above and:
    • Two of the following services: Online Banking, Mobile Banking, Bill Pay, Balance Guard Savings, Balance Guard Line Of Credit
    • Consumer loan with auto payments
• The bonus is actually a bit more complicated than normal, notice that up to bit? If we look at the fine print you’ll notice you actually receive a percentage of your monthly direct deposit.
  • $250 bonus is 5% of your monthly direct deposit capped at $250
  • $350 bonus is 10% of your monthly direct deposit capped at $350
  • $500 bonus is 15% of your monthly direct deposit capped at $500
• If you’re an existing member you can also get $100 for each person you refer (they don’t get an additional bonus). Feel free to share your referral information in the comments, but also let us know if it’s a hard/soft pull and if it can be fundded with a credit card.

The Fine Print

• Direct deposit must be payroll, social security or SSI
• Incentives will be paid out within 120 days of opening
• Offer not available to existing customers or those who accounts has been closed within 90 days or closed with a negative balance
• All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

The easiest account to keep fee free will be the free checking account, this has no monthly fees to worry about. I wasn’t able to find the fee schedule so I’m unsure if there is any early account termination fee or not.

Our Verdict

If you go for this bonus, you might as well go for the $350 bonus because the only difference is that it requires you to set up two services and two of those are online banking & bill pay. I don’t really get what the minimum direct deposit requirement would be to get the full bonus does it need to be a single direct deposit of $3,500+ or do you just keep getting 10% until you hit that $350 max? If anybody knows that or whether it’s a hard/soft pull and if you can fund with a credit card then please share in the comments. At this stage it won’t be added to our best bonus page because we simply do not know enough about it.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:

• A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
• 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