Update 10/20/21: Terms now state: ‘Effective October 20, 2021, you must open a Laurel Road CheckingSM account simultaneously while refinancing your student loan with Laurel Road’. Hopefully the bonus is honored for those that applied before this was added.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $500
- Availability: Nationwide
- Direct deposit required: $2,500+ within 60 days
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown
- ChexSystems: Unknown, Chexsystems sensitive
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: $25, 180 days
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date: December 31, 2021
Contents
The Offer
- Laurel Road is offering a $500 bonus when you open a new checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Make one or more direct deposits totaling at least $2,500 within 60 days after account opening
The Fine Print
- You must open a Laurel Road CheckingSM account by 12/31/2021 at 11:59 p.m. (ET) and make one or more direct deposits totaling at least $2,500 within 60 days after account opening to receive the $500, which will be deposited into your account within 60 days of meeting requirements.
- Normal account service charges and balance requirements apply to these accounts
- . Qualifying ACH direct deposit transactions include most payroll, Social Security, pension and government benefits deposits.
- Limit one gift per qualifying account.
- Limit one gift per individual.
- The value of the gift will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099-INT.
- If you close your account within 180 days of account opening, you will be charged a $25 account early closure fee.
- Other miscellaneous charges may apply. Accounts overdrawn or closed at the time of gift payment are not eligible. Offer is subject to cancellation without notice and cannot be combined with any other offer. Laurel Road / KeyBank is not responsible for, and will not honor, promotional offers that appear on third-party websites that are not authorized by the Laurel Road/KeyBank.
- 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
Early Account Termination Fee
$25 if closed within 180 days
Our Verdict
Laurel Road seems to be the Keybank subsidiary for student loans, you don’t need to refinance a loan to be eligible for this account though (scroll down to ‘Not Ready To Finance’). I assume it’s a soft pull to open as that’s what Keybank is as well. Honestly this promotion is almost certainly going to be pulled early as I can see it’s going to be extremely popular. I’d recommend signing up ASAP if interested and don’t be surprised if there are some issues along the way. We will add this to the best checking account bonuses.
Hat tip to Maximizing Money
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- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
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- 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?
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View Comments (452)
@will - looks like this is back but lowered to $300 bonus.
https://www.laurelroad.com/refinance-student-loans/checking/#linked-checking
"Effective February 1, 2022, you must open a Laurel Road Checking account simultaneously while refinancing your student loan with Laurel Road by 06/30/22... "
"Accounts with zero balance and three full months of inactivity are closed automatically on the last day of the third month. So, if your account balance is $0 on the last day of this month, your account will be automatically closed."
Anyone know do you still pay the fee if they close it early for you? I guess I can just do a transfer in and out and let the next inactivity alert close it...
Hello, did your account auto close yet? I did some activity to keep it active one last month but now am letting it go dormant. Would like to avoid contacting them if auto close actually works? Thank you.
@guest_1375558 Due to the wording ("if your account balance is $0 on the last day") I transferred a little in the month of Feb but did not transfer it back out until March to make sure I didn't pay a closure fee. So the inactivity timer restarted: April, May...now June. I expect they will send the notice again soon but for now it's still open. Obviously if we had known about this timer we could have done things perfectly to auto close after the 180 day mark but for now I have no DP to help you.
@guest_1375558 They sent me the email again on 06/13/22, however as of today (07/22/22) the account is still open. They also tried calling me twice which I ignored. Looks like I will have to manually close.
Fun times! I got and ignored the call also. Now I see account transferred to Key Bank with statement notification email. Likely for you as well. Happy August and thanks for the DP. This should be fun to unravel. I will post back if I figure out anything.
Couldn't get an answer on why I got an email from Key Bank. As usual, LR horrible to deal with. Key Bank Executive CS is 800-539-8336 if you need them. They weren't that great either, but I got the account closed.
A DP for anyone interested in doing this bonus under the new terms - just last week I refinanced some student loans with Laurel Road and at the same time, I applied for and was approved for a Laurel Road checking account. This is after being denied back in October due to Chex. I just checked and this time they did not even pull my Chex report.
Applied 10/19/21, approved 10/20/21.
Two real DDs of >$1500 on 11/16 and 12/16.
$500 bonus posted 1/12/22.
I thought I was SOL on this one since I got approved the day they changed the rules to require the loan refinancing (which I did not do). Pleasantly surprised I got this!
Anyone get a bonus in January yet?
Just posted today. DD complete last month
Yes! Same here!
10/19/21 - Acct Open
11/05/21 - 1,250 DD from employer
11/19/21 - 1,250 DD from employer
12/13/21 - 500 bonus received
My last $1251 DD didn't going in until the 17th, so still waiting on my bonus. Maybe next month.
The bonus is honored for all who applied before T&C were updated.
Do we need to keep the $2,500 in the account after bonus posted?
No. Don’t close account immediately though. Wait at least 180 days. There’s no fee anyway so maybe leave $10-100 in there and close in 6-12 months.
Positive DP
I waited for website traffic to die down, and applied around midnight (Pacific) on 10/20. As most of you are aware, they changed the terms in the morning of 10/20. So I was definitely delighted when the bonus posted.
10/20 - Account opened (Before term change)
10/29 - DD from employer
11/12 - DD from employer
12/13 - +$500 "Laurel Road Checking Welcome Bonus" posted
The 2 DD totals to around $2.5k+
Good luck DoC crew, hope you get yours too!