Extended to 6/30/2025
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $750
- Availability: IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, OH and WI
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Yes
- Credit card funding: Up to $300, no American Express cards.
- Monthly fees:
- Early account termination fee:
- Household limit:
- Expiration date: December 31, 2024
Contents
The Offer
- Associated Bank is offering a checking bonus of up to $750. Bonuses are as follows:
- $100 bonus when you open a new Business Foundation Checking account and maintain a $2,000 balance for 90 days
- $400 bonus when you open a new Business Core Checking and maintain a $5,000 balance for 90 days
- $750 bonus when you open a new Business Advanced Checking account and maintain a $20,000 balance for 90 days
The Fine Print
- This offer is limited to a new Associated Bank business checking account opened and funded through December 31, 2024. Open a new Associated business checking account and receive up to a $750 Bonus with one of three options:
- A. Open a Business Foundation Checking® account and receive a $100 bonus with a minimum deposit of $2,000 in new money within 30 days of account opening. Also, must maintain a minimum daily balance of $2,000 between days 31 to 90 after opening your account. OR
- B. Open a Business Core Checking® account and receive a $400 bonus with a minimum deposit of $5,000 in new money within 30 days of account opening. Also, must maintain a minimum daily balance of $5,000 between days 31 to 90 after opening your account. OR
- C. Open a Business Advanced Checking® account and receive a $750 bonus with a minimum deposit of $20,000 in new money within 30 days of account opening. Also, must maintain a minimum daily balance of $20,000 between days 31 to 90 after opening your account.
- New money must be funds from outside Associated Bank; deposits or transfers from existing accounts do not qualify. The bonus is deposited into the new Associated Bank business checking account within 120 days of account opening. Account must be open at the time the bonus is paid and must remain open for a minimum of 12 months. If the account is closed within 12 months, Associated Bank reserves the right to deduct the monetary bonus from the account prior to closing.Offer limited to one per customer and cannot be combined with other specials or offers. New customers opening online are limited to IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, OH and WI. Offer not available to customers who have received a new business checking account monetary bonus within the last 24 months and have or have had an Associated Bank business checking account within the last 12 months. Primary owner on the account must be 18 years or older to qualify. For tax reporting purposes, the bonus may be reported to the IRS on Form 1099. Associated Bank colleagues are not eligible. The offer is subject to change, at Associated Bank’s discretion, at any time without notice and other exclusions may apply.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Business Foundation ($100)
This account has no monthly fees to worry about.
Business Core ($400)
Business core has a $20 monthly fee, waived the first two months. After that is waived if you meet any of the following:
- Maintain average monthly balance of $5,000
- Hold $20,000 in average relationship balances.
- Utilize an Associated Bank Merchant Services Account
Business Advanced Checking ($700)
Monthly maintenance fee of $35, waived by:
- Maintaining an average monthly balance of $15,000 OR
- Average relationship balances⁵ of $75,000 OR
- Utilize an Associated Bank Merchant Services Account
Early Account Termination Fee
Account needs to be kept open for 12 months otherwise bonus is forfeit.
Our Verdict
Previous best bonus was a $300 referral but requirements were significantly easier. If you put $15,000 into a 5% account for 12 months (this is required for the $750 bonus to keep fee free) you’d miss out on $750 in lost interest, so that one is not worth considering (keep in mind you’d need $20,000 in there for the first three months to trigger the bonus). $400 bonus you’d miss out on $250 so that one is barely worth considering either. I’d probably just give this one a miss and hope for a bigger bonus to come along.
Hat tip to reader TheOtherCarl
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
20k deposit over 90 days at 4.75%= $240 at your other FI, that’d you lose our on.
This bonus works out to $510. Must change to the no fee checking after bonus posts to avoid the $35 monthly fee, assuming you are withdrawling your funds. The interest rate on this account is abysmal.
**Edit The hold is only 60 days. Get the funds in by day 30, and hold until day 90 after acct. opening. Even better!
2/7 Applied for Business Choice Ck online using SSN and the current personal act login, funded $500 w BoA card; Instant approved w act#; Act shows up in OLB; Saw $500 pending at BoA CC
*Noticed “Promo-2020” on the act opening details
1/13 Successfully opened this business account online, was logged in with my same credentials for the personal account. Funded with a debit card.
Was unsure opening online would work, as I had to go in person to open the personal account. There is a branch pretty close to me.
Anyone had an account autoclose due to activity? Ass bank did that to a personal account of mine in the past after only two months, but it’s been 4+ months on this one and it’s still kicking. oh well, guess I just need to wait the full year before shutting it down.
10/8/24 Business Choice Checking Account Opened
11/5/24 Deposited $20k
1/8/25 $750 Bonus Posted (Day 93)
Requested downgrade by secure message to no fee Business Access Checking Account.
Arguably the most important aspect of the bonus, is to product change after bonus posts.
Thanks for the DP, Lefty.
OOS in-branch DP: stopped by suburban Chicago branch to open consumer checking account for $600 bonus and business checking account for $750 bonus. Have an elderly parent that lives nearby and that I visit for several months out of every year, so actually could legitimately use a local account. Was told that all attempted in-branch openings now require back office approval before account opening can even be attempted. Spent about an hour with banker on day 1 with him gathering detailed information about my business and finances. Then took about 24 hours to get back office approval, at which point I had to come back for another 45 min visit to actually open the accounts. So if you attempt an in-branch opening from OOS, plan on two visits at least 24 hours apart.
9/13/24 – applied
9/16/24 – checking opened
10/11/24 – $5001 Fidelity push
12/19/24 – $400 bonus posted, switched to business access checking via SM
Very similar DP to
wilsonhammer. Bonus $750 posted three days after 90-day mark “NEW ACCOUNT BONUS”. Was able to product change to no-fee Business Access by SM.
Extended til 6/30/2025
bonus posted recently (within a week of the 90 day mark). was able to downgrade via SM. I’ll zero out in a few days and then close after 12 months (or whenever it auto-closes)
here was my opening experince
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ia-il-in-ks-mi-mn-mo-oh-and-wi-associated-bank-up-to-750-business-checking-bonus/#comment-1856673
This one is under the radar for sure. Soild bonus!