Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $300
- Availability: ID, WA & OR. More details here
- Direct deposit required: No
- Additional requirements:
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Can fund with a credit card, up to $5,000
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: $20, 180 days
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: None listed
Contents
The Offer
- Gesa Credit Union is offering a bonus of up to $300 when you open a new Colossal or Advantage checking account. Bonus is broken down as follows:
- Get $200 when you:
- Open your new checking account
- Sign up for Online Banking and eStatements
- Complete 10 debit card purchases (excluding ATM transactions)
- Get an additional $100 when you keep your account opening for a year
- Get $200 when you:
The Fine Print
- For a limited time only, a $200 incentive will be paid to the member’s savings account within 30 days of meeting all qualification criteria provided criteria are met within 60 days of the checking account opening.
- The incentive payment is subject to required IRS reporting.
- To be eligible for the incentive, you must open a new Colossal or Addvantage account, enroll in Online or Mobile Banking, signup to receive electronic statements and complete 10 Gesa Visa® debit card purchases (ATM transactions excluded).
- To be eligible for the additional $100 incentive, your account must remain open 12 months after the original open date and must be in good standing. The additional $100 incentive will be paid within 30 days of the open anniversary date.
- Maximum $300 incentives per member. Member must not have had a Gesa Checking account within the last 90 days.
- The checking account must be opened with a minimum deposit of $5 if opened in the branch ($25 if opened online).
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
This account has no monthly fees to worry about
Early Account Termination Fee
A $20 fee is charged if the account is closed within 180 days according to this fee schedule.
Our Verdict
Much better than the previous $100 deal. You do need to keep the account open for 12 months to get the full bonus, but that isn’t difficult as there is no monthly fees to worry about. Always nice to see big bonuses with no direct deposit requirement, will add this to our list of the best bank account bonuses.
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 (106)
Cannot fund with credit card. It says it's not allowed.
Funded with Chase Sapphire. $2K, coded as purchase.
Did anyone receive a 1099-INT (or MISC) for the bonus posted last year, in 2022? The fineprint says this is reportable to IRS, but I didn't receive a 1099 nor can I see one in the tax docs section on my account
I received a 1099-INT but the bonus is not on there, only the interest earned on my savings account. Is there any way that the bonus is not taxable?
"Q1 2022 NEW CHECKING INCENTIVE - 1 YEAR BONUS" $100 posted on 2/10
+1; was added to savings
My $100 part of the bonus posted on 2/10/23 for keeping the account open for a year.
Same for us.
Anyone get their $100 yet?
It's been 1 year since I opened the account, though still within the 30 days after 1 year
P1 got it. P2 still waiting.
Scratch that. It appears P1's $100 bonus was from a recent referral. Both are still waiting for the anniversary bonus.
Not yet. I just received my Google Calendar reminder that today has been 1 year since opening.
Let the Watch (and Wait) Party begin! 🎉
deal dead?
There's now a bonus of $100 that's only available through referral from an existing member: the only requirement is to open a Smartplus Checking account and a savings account using an existing members, I think the minimum funding is $25 for each account. Any chance we could get a referral thread going?
No. They often offer $300, significantly better than a $100 referral bonus.
Spoke to an agent today. They said that current ADDvantage accounts would be automatically transitioned / migrated to SmartPlus checking accounts in the future. Was also told that if I convert to the SmartPlus account, I'm still eligible for the 1-year portion of the $300 bonus.
Why is everyone mentioning depositing 5k into account when opening it? Are you trying to get around cash advance fees? Just curious since it does not say anything about needing to deposit 5k to get bonus.
Applied March 28th, and account was approved next day. Used Chase Ink Preferred to fund $5000 and was coded as purchase. Worked like magic. Waiting for the bank card to arrive.