[NC only] North State Bank $450 Business Checking Bonus

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: $450
  • Availability: Doesn’t seem to be anyway to open online and all branches are in NC [Branch locator]
  • Direct deposit required: Optional
  • Additional requirements: 50 transactions
  • Hard/soft pull: Unknown
  • ChexSystems: Unknown
  • Credit card funding: Unknown
  • Monthly fees: $16
  • Early account termination fee: Unknown
  • Household limit: None listed
  • Expiration date: None listed

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Receive a sign up bonus of $450 when you open a new North State Bank performance business checking account and complete the following between 90 to 180 days following the account opening date:
    • Complete 50 or more transactions in a statement cycle. Transaction include:
      • debit cards transactions, ACH debits and credits, and deposits and payments made through Online Banking

The Fine Print

  • Bonus is paid after the following requirement is met during one of the statement cycles between 90 to 180 days following the account opening date: 50 or more transactions in a statement cycle, including: debit cards transactions, ACH debits and credits, and deposits and payments made through Online Banking.
  • Account Opening Bonus subject to change without notice.
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

I wasn’t able to find a fee schedule, so I’m unsure if there is any early account termination fee or not.

Performance Business Checking – $16

This account has a $16 monthly maintenance fee that is waived if you do either of the following:

  • Maintain $3,000 monthly average balance
  • Maintain $40,000 average combined loan balances

Our Verdict

Obviously a massive bonus, shame it’s in branch only. Will be interesting to see what sort of business documents they require and what the opening process is like (including if it’s a hard/soft pull on your personal report). Keep in mind you need to complete the requirements between 90 and 180 days and within one statement cycle (e.g you can’t meet the requirements in the first 90 days) bit of an annoying rule but still very manageable considering debit card transactions are accepted. Will probably be adding this to our best business checking bonus list once we find out more.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
    William Charles
  • On July 10, 2017, 14:00

View Comments (11)

  • DP: Took the plunge for this bonus as well as the performance 2.0 personal checking since the closest branch is about 2 hours away. At any rate, I signed up for the personal checking bonus without issues and did confirm that for both personal and business the bank gives you grace of one month to get funds in order to prevent fees. In addition, after speaking with the branch manager apparently North State has totally revamped their accounts and this promotion isnt expiring in the near future in order to pull in new customers.

    I tried to open the business checking account I wasn’t able to unless I had a schedule C from my taxes or the documentation of assumed name from the registration of deeds within NC. Since I don’t have this paperwork I was not able to open up a business checking account per their bank policies. I was able to find branch rep within the Raleigh area who didn’t know about this bank policy and got through the entire opening process until their branch manager found out that I needed this documentation (right before depositing my opening funds...what timing). Since this bank is fairly small I personally don’t think there is a way around this without the documentation. Personally this bonus may be worth it for the $26 processing fees to file for the necessary documents to open the account.

    One last thing to note which I thought was interesting. If I opened up a business performance checking account and I had the personal performance checking then the fees on my personal account will be waived which means I would have to keep only $3k in the bank for 4-5 months to earn $650 back in bonuses.

  • Called them to ask some questions and get clarification. The manager I spoke with was very nice and extremely helpful.

    There were a few things that she said that made it sound like she wasn't 100% sure, but was still confident enough to answer, so potentially YMMV, but here you go:

    -It is a soft-pull on your credit (assuming you have to opt out of overdraft, but forgot to ask - sorry)
    -They DO use ChexSystems (she sounded very confident about this)
    -There does not appear to be an early termination fee (she was unfamiliar with one)
    -They do NOT do a waiver on the monthly fee for the first few months
    -You must fund the Performance Business Checking account (only one with the bonus) with a minimum $500 opening deposit (you can verify this on their website)
    -They do NOT take credit or debit cards for initial funding - check, cash, or MO only (she did say that they would likely place long-ish a hold on the MO, and also mentioned that a wire or ACH may work)
    -You do qualify for a Rewards Checking account with no monthly fees if you open the Performance Biz account (it's a $10 payout a month for estatements, 20 debit card transactions, and a $500 DD - meh)
    -It does also sound possible (didn't ask as I didn't want to sound too shady) to also get the bonus on the Performance Checking 2.0 (personal checking) account that YAR mentioned - T&C for that state that you're ineligible if you've previously had an opening bonus "related to a *personal* checking account"

    Unfortunately, I left my notes from the conversation at work, but I'll update tomorrow if I find anything else.

    • Thanks for the info, I'll wait for solid datapoints to update the post but that's extremely useful as a starting point.

      • Fair enough, will update when I know more! That said, their website does specifically state "Open with $500 deposit," for this particular account, but then again who knows if they give you wiggle room with it.

    • Also, just remembered. Applying as a sole prop, you only need an ID and an "official" document which shows your social - SS card, tax return, W2, etc. I'm going Friday and will update with results.

  • I'm in the Piedmont Triad in NC. Branches are only located in Wake County and Wilmington. It's good for people in those locations, otherwise considers quite a haul from the rest of NC to open in branch. I was hoping to be a dp regarding the hard or soft pull and chex report.

    • I'll try to open both a biz and personal checking account this weekend. We're from Greensboro but $650 (for both) is definitely worth an hour drive.

  • They also seem to have a personal checking account -
    https://www.northstatebank.com/personal/checking
    Performance CHECKING 2.0
    with a $200 account opening bonus

    that makes you jump thru hoops to get it, but is doable:

    Bonus is paid after the following requirements are met during one of the statement cycles between 90 to 180 days of the account opening date: 1) at least 20 paid debit card transactions (not including ATM transactions); 2) at least one direct deposit within a statement cycle.

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