Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount:
- Availability: MA, Pittsfield/Hinsdale area
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $500+ per month for six months
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Yes
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: $15, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: Unknown
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: None listed
Contents
The Offer
- Pittsfield Coop Bank is offering a bonus of $750 when you open a new checking account and complete the following requirements:
- $750 bonus
- Open an interest checking account with a $500 minimum
- Set up direct deposits, a minimum of $500 each month for six months is required
- Sign up for a Mastercard debit card and uChoose rewards
- Make 25 debit card transactions in any combination of POS Signature (credit) or POS Pinned (debit) transactions during the cycle period
- $500 bonus is the same but only requires 15 debit card transactions
- $750 bonus
The Fine Print
- 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 a $15 monthly fee. This is waived with any of the following:
- $2,500 in all savings, checking, and money market accounts combined
- 15 debit card transactions and electronic deposits of $500 or more
Early Account Termination Fee
I wasn’t able to find a fee schedule so unsure if there is any EATF.
Our Verdict
Doesn’t work out of state. My reading is that the debit card transaction requirement is each statement cycle but others might disagree. If anybody signs up please share if it’s a hard or soft pull.
Hat tip to reader Gorb
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
Does anyone know what they mean by POS Signature (credit) or POS Pinned (debit) transactions?
Am I going to have to do in person transactions?
Yes, in person.
POS Signature (credit): you tap card –> approved.
POS Pinned (debit): you tap card –> you enter pin –> approved.
Approved with high Chex. Online banking setup after I called in to get the account number. Real DD is setup. Enrolled for e-statements. Debit card that I ordered is showing in the app (therefore I assume it got ordered and shipped indeed), so waiting to get it by mail and then enrolling in the uChoose Rewards program. Then 25 debit purchases for six months every month…
Beware when setting up online access for this bank:
1) Had to call to get account number after approval. Asked security questions on the phone. Provided number.
2) For online access the security questions went way back for me, like over 20 years one of them. The password field will allow over 17 characters for the password but will truncate anything over 17 when you setup. So if you use a longer password as I did beware only the first 17 chars are saved.
3) Adding external accounts through Plaid is a no-go, their code is still using Lax for some of it’s cross site scripting (saw this in dev tools) so the call out to verify never comes back and it just loops and loops. So use a hub account to transfer out.
4) Electronic statements is under Profile (upper right on web app) > EStatements. Then you have open a document with a code, put it in, archaic.
Friendly bank to deal with customer service but their infrastructure is very outdated. They also said my debit card would take 2 weeks to arrive :|. That was about a week ago and still haven’t seen it.
One more thing. The Bill payment in the account requires test deposits to the pittsfield account. Never seen this one before. So to use bill pay you have to wait 2 days for microdeposits.
Correction, microdeposits only took a day for me.
It’s 25 txs per month, confirmed with a bank rep. Not for me
No promo code?
Soft pull or hard pull?
I saw no hard pull, did pull Chex.
Went pending when applying from address near Boston. Chex alert soon after applying. So they pull Chex. No alert of hard pull, not yet anyway.
William Charles There is a $3.50 paper statement fee that can be waived by enrolling in e-statements. It was mentioned when clicking on “how to waive the $15 fee” during the app process. This bank really likes fees.
Thank you! Appreciated if you keep us updated.
Curious if you get approved. I also have an address near Boston.
What info did you have to give on the phone?
I just asked for status of the application and they said they would call me back. Two hours later I got my approval email.
Matt J
One more question. Did your initial funding come out prior to being approved or it hasn’t come out yet?
I funded from another account and got an email that I would need to verify microdeposits which haven’t hit the account yet. Funding did NOT come out prior to approval.
Matt J
Thanks! I just applied using my Boston address. It went pending. I will wait until next week and then maybe call. Appreciate your help!
Hope it works out. They seem pretty small so I’d give it at least a few days before calling.
Great! Thank you for being the spearhead.
Thanks, added dp
did you get approved?
What did they ask for on your call?
Does this even work in-state?? For example, in south Boston area?
NFG OOS.
$750 bonus requires 25x POS debit card purchases every month for at least 6 months despite the ambiguous wording.
How did you know you were OOS? Did it throw an error when you applied or did you see a service area listed somewhere?
Froze Chex and started app:
“Address is outside of business area.”
I’m outside MA, but it might not even be statewide there. It’s a tiny bank in the Berkshires.
Ah yes, that part of the terms don’t say 6 months.
“25 debit card transactions in any combination of POS Signature (credit) or POS Pinned (debit) transactions during the cycle period. “
What does NFG stand for?
Guessing it stands for No F*ckin Good? But idk what OOS means, is it Out Of Stock? lol. If so what does it mean together?
out of state
Perhaps it’s, “No Fucking Go”.
No f’ing good