Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.
Update 2/13/22: Extended until 12/31/22. Hat tip to reader snailrock
Update 3/20/21: Extended until 12/31/2021. Hat tip to NH4NO3
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $100
- Availability: MA only [Branch Locator]
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $300+
- Additional requirements: eStatements and at least one mobile or online banking bill payment
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown
- Credit card funding: UnknownÂ
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: $25, six months
- Expiration date:
December 31st, 2016 December 31st, 2018December 31st, 2019December 31st, 2020
The Offer
- Receive a sign up bonus of $100 when you open a new eligible checking account with Reading Cooperative Bank and complete the following requirements:
- $50 when you set up a qualifying direct deposit of at least $300 within 60 calendar days of account opening
- $50 when you enroll for online banking with bill pay and complete at least one online payment within 60 calendar days of account opening
The Fine Print
- 50/50 incentive bonus offer is available for the following eligible accounts with a $10 minimum opening deposit: Value Checking, Value NOW Checking (Must maintain a minimum balance of $10 to earn Annual Percentage Yield of .01%), On-the-Go Checking, and Green Online Checking, and Green On-the-Go checking. Opening deposit must be a new money deposit (not a transfer from an existing Reading Cooperative Bank account)
- To receive a $50 incentive bonus for establishing direct deposit (Direct deposit include deposits made by your employer, or a federal or state government agency or retirement benefits administrator, and generally, made by corporations or other organizations. It does not include deposits to your accounts that are made by an individual using online banking or an internet payment provider such as PayPal.), you must establish a recurring electronic deposit of no less than $300.00 to the account and have received at least one instance of the electronic deposit within 60 calendar days of account opening
- To receive a $50 incentive bonus for online bill payment you must enroll in on-line banking with the bill-pay feature and initiate a successful on-line bill payment through Reading Cooperative Bank’s online banking system or mobile banking system within 60 calendar days of account opening.
- The incentive bonus will be deposited to the associated checking account within 60 days of completing one or both of the required activities associated with incentive. Each incentive is independent of the other. You may complete one or both of the required activities.
- The maximum incentive bonus is $100.00
- This offer may not be combined with any other offers.
- The incentive bonus is limited to one per primary account holder.
- Account must be in good standing at the time of payment; an account is considered to be in good standing if it has a positive balance and is not in the process of being closed.
- This offer may be withdrawn at any time without notice.
- Valid 3/1/2016 – 12/31/2016.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Their green online account does not have any monthly fees, unfortunately you can only open that account in branch. There is a $25 early account termination fee if the account is closed within six months of account opening according to the fee schedule.
Our Verdict
We don’t know enough about this bonus to say whether it’s a good deal or not. If you can fund with a credit card and it’s a soft pull, then it probably is. Otherwise, probably not. If anybody has any personal experiences, then please share them in the comments below so that we can update this post. As always, view bonuses we do recommend here.
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
- 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
Post history:
- Deal is back for 2019. Hat tip to reader ellisder
- Bonus is back for 2018, referral bonus no longer available. Thanks to reader EW
They just eliminated their dormant account fee
2/16/2022 Account Opened
2/25/2022 $301 real DD
3/01/2022 Secure message asking if I qualified
3/09/2022 Reply saying I qualified but credit will post after 60 days
5/03/2022 Secure message asking where promotion was
5/03/2022 Two $50 “50/50 promo” credits posted
Sorry, forgot to add
02/28/2022 $10.00 bill pay
Extended for the next year.
-Opened 3/21
-$7 bill pay on 3/31
-$300 push from Schwab Brokerage on 3/31
-Emailed on 4/5 to say bonus requirements have been met (as was requested when I opened the account)
-$100 bonus posted on 4/7
The $50/$50 referral bonus is slightly better if you have a family member referring you (https://readingcoop.com/friends-and-family-referral). It looks like there’s no mention of having to complete any sort of direct deposits/ bill pays. Of course, it’s best to check with the bank to make sure of that. Also, you’re only paying taxes on half of the bonus this way, as the half for the referring party would be 1099-MISC (*inserts generic consult tax advisor reference*)
Applied in December 2020 and got automated email that the bank would be in contact with me to complete the application. Never heard from the bank. Transfers for the opening deposits never occurred.
Second application attempt went through, but denied because of ChexSystems (5/6, 8/12, 19/24).
Extended to 12/31/2021. I think this bank always extends for another year, even though the webpage updates a little later.
The green online account is available online now but I wasn’t able to get through the application. Once it got to “Identity Verification” and I clicked next it failed with “Sorry, your application could not be completed.” Not sure if this was an issue with the application process or my very novel of a Chex report.
It’s probably for chex !!!
This is back until 12/19 https://readingcoop.com/50-50/
I went through the process of submitting an application, it seems you can only fund the account with a transfer from an existing account. Also, the link to open a new account from the promo page seems to be broken. You can open one from the main page, but it’s hard to know if the promotion will be linked to the account. For these reasons I abandoned my application.