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Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $400
- Availability: NH, MA, RI, CT, DE, NY, NJ, PA, or FL.
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $4,000+ within 90 days of account opening
- Additional requirements: Use promo code
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Yes
- Credit card funding: Up to $500
- Monthly fees: $10, avoidable
- Early account termination fee: $25, 90 days
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: March 31, 2021
Contents
The Offer
- Santander is offering a bonus of $400 when you open an eligible checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Have direct deposits totaling $4,000 within 90 days of account opening
The Fine Print
- You must be 18 years or older.
- Offer is not available if any account owner is a current checking customer of Santander or had a Santander checking account in the last 12 months prior to account opening.
- Offer cannot be combined with any other bonus offer.
- Promotion Code must be entered at new account opening to be eligible for this offer, and cannot later be added to an account, or changed, unless it is presented and applied within 14 days of account opening.
- The account needs to be open for at least 90 days and remain open in an eligible account type until payment of bonus, which will occur within 30 days thereafter. In addition, the account must remain open and in good standing to be bonus eligible.
- Bonus is considered interest and will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099-INT.
- If multiple accounts are opened with the same signer, only one account will be eligible for the bonus.
- For new checking account customers only.
- Offer is only available to residents of NH, MA, RI, CT, DE, NY, NJ, PA, or FL.
- Eligible accounts include the following with these minimum opening deposit requirements: Simply Right® Checking ($25), Santander® Basic Check Checking ($25), Santander® Premier Plus Checking ($50), and Santander Select® Checking ($150). Offer expires 3/31/2021.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Basic checking has a $3 monthly fee, but that cannot be waived. Simply Right has a $10 monthly fee that is waived with any transaction to the account (deposit, withdrawal, transfer, or payment).
Early Account Termination Fee
$25 if closed within 90 days
Our Verdict
Santander has offered this $400 bonus in the past. Last time it required opening a Premier Plus checking account and this account is much more difficult to keep fee free. Because of that this bonus is significantly better (either eat the $3 fee or just do one transaction a month to keep Simply Right fee free). We have seen a $300 bonus that didn’t require a direct deposit, but there are a lot of datapoints for workarounds for the direct deposit requirement so most people should prefer this newer bonus. Because of that we will be adding this to our list of the best bank account bonuses.
Hat tip to reader Peek
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 not look like SoFi works for Santander bank bonuses.
https://www.santanderbank.com/pages/personal/simply300
Got a mailer w/ a code in the mail today
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/nh-ma-ri-ct-de-ny-nj-or-pa-santander-400-checking-bonus/
Found this ad pop up
It’s for select only which has $25 fee. Looks hard to keep fee free.
https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=DChcSEwivqq-V85_xAhWNnLMKHfvEDU0YABAAGgJxbg&ae=1&sig=AOD64_2KqCVeWA-TcgoWRspLHN-Y9omm-A&q&adurl=https://www.santanderbank.com/us/pages/personal/select-checking-accounts-acq?utm_source%3DGOOGLE%26utm_medium%3Dcpc%26utm_campaign%3Dtrilia-checking-acquisition-search%26utm_term%3Dsantander%26gclsrc%3Daw.ds%26gclid%3DEAIaIQobChMIr6qvlfOf8QIVjZyzCh37xA1NEAAYASAAEgJvavD_BwE&ved=2ahUKEwja7Z-V85_xAhUGTawKHc5SAaMQ0Qx6BAgDEAE
No bonus after 120-day account opening with meeting DD requirement.
I called them and was told there was supposed to be offered by a promo code when opening account.
Any idea for this situation?
DP:
2/12/21 Account open with $500 initial deposit
4/20/21 Chase transfer #1 $2000 (shown as “JPMorgan Chase Ext Trnsfr”)
4/27/21 Chase transfer #2 $2000
5/14/21 Bonus posted, so yes Chase ACH transfer still counts as DD
careful using this card online. foriegn transaction charges are steep. even when charged in dollars and you have no idea where the company is based.. so using the internet with debit card is like playing russian roulette….just a heads up. and fees for intl charges are non negotiable.
1/19/21 Opened account
2/27/21 Met qualifications
4/24/21 Bonus paid
5/17/21 Received letter stating they were closing my account in 30 days. No reason given, just that we can.
01/31/2021: Opened for P2 with Debit card from another bank $25
02/28/21: Pushed $4000+ from Cap One but used P1’s login to link account – don’t do this!
02/10/21 – 3/23/21 – $4000+ locked, letter received that said it would be sent back to sender after a time, waited. After 2 letters P2 finally had to call and request the reversal, they wanted us both to appear in branch but relented and finally reversed it. Took only 2 days to return to Cap One after that. Lesson learned, I will never use P1 login for P2 linking again.
03/04/21 to 03/31/21: Various pushes from Cap One Checking to total over $4000 second time from P2s linked acct just to make sure it counted.
05/01/21: $3 Paper statement fee, bleh. Shut off as soon as noticed.
05/04/21: $400 bonus posted 🙂 Was thankful it worked out after the lockup.
Opened in Jan. Used Serve and Discover. Bonus posted end April
02/01/21: Account opened $500 citi DC
02/09/21: Push $4001 from Charles Schwab Brokerage
05/04/21: $400 bonus posted
I like this account to make external transfers so probably will keep it