This deal has expired, but you can still get $100 plus $100 for the person that refers you here.
We’re reposting this deal because it’s a good one and has been extended until September 25th, 2015.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200
- Availability: Must live or work in MA
- Direct deposit required: Optional, recurring direct deposit of at least $1,000 (+$100)
- Additional requirements: Two online bill pays (+$100)
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- Credit card funding: Up to $1,000
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: $25, 90 days
- Expiration date:
July 15th, 2015September 25th, 2015
The Offer
- Receive a sign up bonus of $200 from Blue Hill Bank when you apply online or in branch and mention the promo code CHECKING200. You also need to complete the two following requirements, broken down as follows:
- Receive $100: Two online bill pays
- Receive $100: Recurring direct deposit of at least $1,000
The Fine Print
- Direct deposit and bill payees must be established and paid by November 30, 2015. Incentives will be paid by December 31, 2015
- One per household
- Valid for new checking customers only
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Blue Hill Bank offers a free checking account, the only requirement is that you must open it with at least $10. Their fee schedule says that there is an early account termination fee of $25 if the account is closed within 90 days.
Our Verdict
This is a great bonus, you can initially fund $10,000 with a credit card, which means if you’re using a 2% cash back card you’d earn another $200. You can also get at least $100 of the bonus with no direct deposit, meaning things aren’t a total loss if doing an ACH transfer doesn’t work. We’ve added this bonus to our list of top bank account bonuses and it can also be viewed in our sortable table of all checking promotions.
Direct link to offer | Screenshot of offer
Hat tip to Maximizing Money
View Comments (36)
Declined my account for Chex reasons.
It looks like this bonus came back! Fine print says it will expire on October 31st, 2016.
https://www.bluehillsbank.com/personal/checking-accounts/checking-account-offer/#
May need to create a new post if terms are very different or maybe just reuse this one?
Thanks, will post soon.
Bonus posted December 7th
DON'T! Bonuses will be paid out some time in December.
The link you provided seems to be not available because they updated their website recently. I try to find the same offer and it seems like it is not there on the site anymore.
CC funding now appears to be limited to $1,000.
Too bad. They take AmEx too, which would have been nice.
You sure? Somebody else funded 10k on the 10th as well....
When I saw that they limited funding to $1,000 I bailed on the application. But evidently my attempt to fund for $10,000 triggered a pending charge like @Duan above. Their web form limits funding to $1,000 but they go ahead and authorize for $10,000? Unbelievable.
Even though I bailed on the application after seeing that funding was reduced to $1,000, I got an email from them today saying my application was denied.
They don't reveal what the funding options are until after submitting personal information, then they put a temporary authorization on my credit card for an amount greater than what their system doesn't allow, then even though I bail on the application they deny me an account? Some operation!
Application declined as well. Got a latest copy of my ChexSystem report which turned out to be clear. Tried two other banking bonuses listed here and also got declined. One said they couldn't verify my identity. 4 out of 5 id verification questions have nothing to do with me.
You may wish to submit a new application to Blue Hills with a new login. It took me two tries.
Their phone customer service is pretty friendly, too.
My experience was exactly the opposite. I tried twice and both times failed. The system couldn't verify my identity for some reason. The problem is their system charges your funding card up front, before verifying any information. So I ended up with two large pending auths on my cards that ate all my available CL.
Usually the auths should fall off very soon as there was no transaction, but Blue Hills doesn't have any capability to remove them. (Remember they are a bank! What a surprise.) The holds would stay on my cards for 30 days before being automatically dropped. I had to contact my card issuing bank, who told me only merchants can remove holds, either electronically or by calling in to the bank.
Blue Hills was not very cooperating or responsible for the mess they had caused. In fact, a representative I spoke to was extremely rude and hung up on me, shouting "you are not a customer, you don't have money with us". Took me 5 calls to reach a manager at the call centre, who still wasn't professional or capable enough to complete the simple task.
Finally my bank took care of it as a one-time exception, after I called a backdoor number.
For those using Chase/Barclay cars, are you setting the CA limit to $0? I have a Chase freedom with a $10k limit but wanted to avoid any chance of CA
As long as you fund more than your cash advance limit, the transaction will be declined if it is processed as a cash advance.
For example, my Chase Hyatt has a $2000 cash advance limit, but I funded my account with $10,000 and the transaction went through because it was coded as a purchase.
Since I don't have a credit limit of $10,000, is it possible to do two separate credit card funding transactions, one from arrival, one from miles and more?
No
Thanks for the great information regarding the bonus and credit card funding for this bank.
I funded my Blue Hills Bank checking account with $10,000 charged to my Chase Hyatt credit card which coded as a purchase.