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Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $100
- Availability: Offer is available to residents of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $500+
- Additional requirements: Debit card with 5 purchases totalling $250+
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- Credit card funding: Up to $2,500, no American Express
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Account must be kept open for six months, otherwise bonus will be forfeit
- Expiration date: None listed
The Offer
- Open a free checking account with First Midwest Bank and receive a bonus of up to $100:
- Add a Debit Card to any new Checking Account and make at least five purchases totaling $250 & receive $50
- Add a Direct Depsit of $500 or more to any new Checking Account & receive $50
The Fine Print
- Offer is available for a limited time and may be withdrawn at any time without notice.
- Offer not available to existing First Midwest Bank checking clients or those clients whose accounts have closed within the last 90 days.
- Open a new First Midwest Bank consumer checking account (subject to approval) and do one of the following to get $50 or do both to get $100: activate a monthly qualifying Direct Deposit of at least $500; use Debit Card linked to new checking for at least 5 purchases totaling at least $250.
- Direct Deposit and Debit Card usage must be completed within 60 days of account opening.
- Qualifying debit transactions cannot be completed consecutively at the same terminal within less than a 24-hour period or via transfer to a prepaid debit card or other payments service.
- Incentive will be awarded within 90 days of meeting requirements.
- A qualifying Direct Deposit includes salary, pension, Social Security, or other regular monthly income electronically deposited to account by employer or an outside agency. Transfers from one account to another, or deposits made at a banking location or ATM do not qualify.
- Minimum opening deposit of $100 required. Primary account holders are eligible for one checking incentive per calendar year.
- If account is closed within six months of opening, we will deduct the incentive from balance at closing.
- This offer cannot be combined with any other offer(s)
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
This account has no monthly fees, there is an early account termination fee though. If you close the account within six months then you will forfeit the bonus
Our Verdict
Pretty good bonus if you can still fund with a credit card, if we can confirm that we will surely add it to our list of the best bank account bonuses. Please share any experiences you have in the comments below.
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- Introduction To ChexSystems
- Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
- 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
I can’t get any CC funding to go through with this bank. Tried first a couple times with Cap One Venture, each time I get a failure message. Eventually I got a letter saying it was denied. Tried again with Citi AA and same issue. I am doubting it is the CC denying the charge.
Citi Platinum coded as a purchase $1500 went through
FMB called me into their Branch to confirm the account and have 2 forms of ID (DL and a bill with my address on it) so they can send me my debit card. Payment posted on my Citi Prestige and was ready to be withdrawn/used by the time I got my card.
While sitting in the bankers cubicle they asked me some less then normal questions like if this was tied to my college since 30 other students made an account that same week (although no affiliation to my college so I am not sure why they thought that). I said no and that I signed up because they had the bonus offer. They told me that I was not the first one to mention this offer and asked for a screen shot which I supplied. They did tell me that they will honor this promotion.
I would advise against opening it, especially if you’re in Wisconsin. They’re saying that the promo is not a thing. There also aren’t any branches in Wisconsin at all.
Apparently they are not honoring this; they said that it must be part of a fraud issue.
The CC funding had gone through (posted as a purchase on United MPE), so they’re going to refund it to the CC. They said they couldn’t refund it any other way.
Doc, I couldn’t find the bonus page.. Can you please check on this? Thanks!
What bonus page?
Did they remove the offer? Not able to find
First Midwest bought the bank that I used. They ruined it. I cannot get anyone from mortgages to call me back.
Hit ’em hard, take these bastards’ free money!! Fund it with the card with the highest interchange fees.
I’m sorry to hear that Eric. While you did have a poor experience with FMB I have had nothing but excellent service from them as a previous customer. They did never buy the bank I was using and change the culture, rules, and maybe even personnel so I can understand where you would be coming from. I do plan to keep this account open after the bonus since it is free, that way I can run MO’s through while at home and at school.
anyone think a discover ach will trigger?
I assume so, not 100% sure how it works.
Just opened an account and funded $2500 with Southwest Premier. Already showing a pending $2500 charge on chase.com.
Let us know if it goes through as purchase, $2,500 was the limit right?
$2,500 was the limit
I lowered my cash advance limit for Chase Fairmont to $100, and was able to fund $2,500
$2500 limit. My CA limit is <$2k so I'm assuming that it wouldn't have gone through if it was going to post as a CA. I'll comment back in a couple days if/when it posts.
i just visited the page for First Midwest Bank, but i don’t see how/where to open an acct online. Can you post a link to the bank’s site – i wonder if there is more than one, like with Pinnacle.