[MA, CT, RI & NH] bankESB (Easthampton Savings Bank) $325 Checking Bonus – Direct Deposit No Required

Update 6/10/23: Deal is back and also available in RI & NH.

Update 10/16/22: Deal is now $325 for customer appreciation week.

Update 9/27/22: Checking bonus will be $325 for customer appreciation week (10/15-10/22).

Update 1/19/21: Same deal also available at sister bank for CT & other parts of MA. Hat tip to reader G

Update 4/4/19: Deal is back again. Hat tip to reader ellisder

Update 01/24/18: Only available in MA now unfortunately. No longer available in CT, RI (it will show the MA only restriction on second page of sign up). Hat tip to reader Sarah.

  • Maximum bonus amount: $200
  • Availability: MA (Hampden, Hampshire or Franklin County), CT, RI
  • Direct deposit required: Optional
  • Additional requirements: See below
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft
  • ChexSystems: No
  • Credit card funding: Can fund up to $1,000 with a credit card, Visa, MasterCard or Discover are all accepted
  • Monthly fees: None
  • Early account termination fee: Need to keep account open for 365 days to get full bonus, $10 early account termination fee if closed within 6 months
  • Expiration date: None listed

The Offer

Direct link to offer: MA | CT & MA, RI & NH

  • Open a new checking account with bankESB and receive a bonus of up to $300. Bonus is broken down as follows:
    • $150 promotional offer is for enrolling in eStatements and having a minimum of $1,000 in aggregate direct deposits posted to the account OR enrolling in eStatements and conducting a minimum of 25 point of sale (POS) debit card transactions of $10 or more posted to the account within the first 90 days of account opening. The bonus will be credited to the account by the last day of the statement cycle following the 90th day the account was opened.
    • $150 loyalty bonus will be paid after the account has been open for 12 months if the account is still enrolled in eStatements and has an active recurring direct deposit posted to the account within the last statement cycle OR if the account is still enrolled in eStatements and has an active debit card (defined as 5 point of sale (POS) transactions of $10 or more posted to the account within the last statement cycle). The loyalty bonus will be credited to the account by the last day of the statement cycle following the 365th day the account was opened.

 

The Fine Print

  • $100.00 promotional offer is for opening a personal checking account and activating direct deposit (of at least $25.00) or signing up for online banking and conducting 5 debit card transactions using your debit card within the first 60 days of account opening ($100.00 will be credited to the account by the last day of the statement cycle following the 60th day the account has been open).
  • $50.00 promotional offer is for making 5 bill payments using online banking and enrolling in eStatements within 60 days of account opening ($50.00 will be credited to the account by the last day of the statement cycle following the 60th day the account has been open).
  • Minors (anyone under the age of 18) are not eligible for Online Bill Pay.
  • $50.00 loyalty bonus will be paid after the account has been open for 12 months ($50.00 will be credited to the account by the last day of the statement cycle following the 365th day the account has been open).
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

The basic checking account doesn’t have any monthly fees, it makes sense to just keep this account open for at least a year so you get the $50 anniversary bonus as well. There is a $10 early account termination fee if the account is closed within six months.

Our Verdict

This is a great bonus, it’s a soft pull and you can fund with a credit card and there is no direct deposit requirement. Only downside is that you have to wait 365 days to get the last $50, but not really a big deal because there is no monthly fee on the basic checking account. We’ve added this to our list of the best bank account bonuses because of how good it is.

They’ve previously had a similar $200 deal, but it required referring somebody so this is a lot less hassle for people.

Big thanks to reader, Dave who let us know. Please consider sharing bank bonuses with this site so we can make it even better.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
    William Charles
  • On June 10, 2023, 15:00

View Comments (129)

  • new terms

    $150 promotional offer is for enrolling in eStatements and having a minimum of $1,000 in aggregate direct deposits posted to the account OR enrolling in eStatements and conducting a minimum of 25 point of sale (POS) debit card transactions of $10 or more posted to the account within the first 90 days of account opening. The bonus will be credited to the account by the last day of the statement cycle following the 90th day the account was opened. • $150 loyalty bonus will be paid after the account has been open for 12 months if the account is still enrolled in eStatements and has an active recurring direct deposit posted to the account within the last statement cycle OR if the account is still enrolled in eStatements and has an active debit card (defined as 5 point of sale (POS) transactions of $10 or more posted to the account within the last statement cycle). The loyalty bonus will be credited to the account by the last day of the statement cycle following the 365th day the account was opened.

  • Follow up: Keeping the account open for year bonus posted 6/28/24. Account open date was 6/14/28. Going to withdraw and leave the accounts at $0 for automatic closure per @Patrick's DP.

  • DP:
    2023-10-11 open, initial transfer $10. setup DD and estatement
    2023-10-12 direct deposit
    2023-12-29 both $200 and $50 posted.

    2024-01-24 Zero out account.
    2024-03 end noticed i can't login the website any more. Called CS and was told the zero balance for 2 month automatically closed the account.
    Since mine was closed already. There's no way to reopen it for the bonus. Well. Fortunately the bonus was in 2023 and I've already got all the tax forms.

    So if you intend to get the 1-year bonus. You'll need to keep some $ in the account.

  • It appears the applicant must be within some distance of a branch in order to open an account online. At the beginning of the application, a ZIP code must be entered, but the system doesn't seem to check to see if it's in range. After uploading ID and a selfie, the mailing address and ID details are entered, but I got an error message saying that the address must be in the ZIP code used to start the application. Customer service indicated that the error might be appearing if the applicant is too far away; a branch visit would be required. BankESB is in the western part of Massachusetts and I am in the Boston area. Fortunately, the problem seems to occur before a Chex inquiry is done.

  • Seems like dogwater, tried from NH and got application failed, cant open. Wouldnt bother with this if your out of MA

  • Does the bank require upload of a state/drivers license? Or can residency status be proven via security questions at time of application?

  • I opened all 3 (abington, bankesb, bankhometown) mid June did a mix of 5 real debit purchases and amazon reloads per account and enrolled in eStatements. Payout was on 8/31. Will keep each account open for a year for the final bonus.

    • Ok so you can open accounts at all 3 and get the bonus for each one? Because I am waiting on Abington bonus and then saw this account and got confused because the bank name is different (bank home) but the offer looks exactly the same except $100 more and I wasn't sure if I could still do this offer in addition to Abington?

      • Yes you can open the account with all 3 banks and get the bonus. I already got the bonus from 2 banks just waiting to get the bonus from bankESB.

  • "$50.00 promotional offer is for making 5 bill payments using online banking and enrolling in eStatements within 60 days of account opening"
    ---------------------

    Note the terms have changed to:

    "$50 promotional offer is for making 5 bill payments using Online Banking OR enrolling in eStatements within 60 days of account opening"

    Note the word "OR".

    So I take it it means that you can get the extra $50 by:

    (1) making 5 bill payments using Online Banking within 60 days of account opening

    OR

    (2) enrolling in eStatements within 60 days of account opening

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