This bonus has expired and is no longer available. Click here for the best current checking bonuses.
Bonus is back, thanks to reader Karen El for letting us know.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $300
- Availability: All of New York state except for the greater New York City area, Cleveland, Akron, Canton OH, Denver CO, Hartford and New Haven CT, Maine, Pittsburgh PA, Philadelphia PA, Portland OR, Seattle WA, South Puget Sound WA and Utah
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $500+ required
- Additional requirements: Use promotional code
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Mixed DP, most likely does. Also reports of being ChexSystems sensitive.
- Credit card funding: Up to $100
- Monthly fees: $7 avoidable
- Early account termination fee: $25, 180 days
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: January 12th, 2018
The Offer
- KeyBank is offering a sign up bonus of $300 when you open a new Key Advantage, Key Privilege or Key Privilege Select Checking Account checking account with offer code OASP0917 and complete the following requirements:
- Receive a direct deposit of $1,000 or more within 60 days of account opening
- Receive a combination of five debit card and/or bill payments within 60 days of account opening
- KeyBank is offering a sign up bonus of $200 when you open a new KeyBank Express checking account with offer code OAPE0917 and complete the following requirements:
- Receive a direct deposit of $500 or more within 60 days of account opening
- Receive a combination of five debit card and/or bill payments within 60 days of account opening
- KeyBank is offering a sign up bonus of $100 when you open a new KeyBank Hassle Free checking account with offer code OASH0917 and complete the following requirements:
- Receive a direct deposit of 300 or more within 60 days of account opening
- Receive a combination of five debit card and/or bill payments within 60 days of account opening
The Fine Print
- Offer is available to clients who do not have or haven’t had a KeyBank Hassle-Free Account® or a KeyBank checking account during the past 12 months. Receive $100 when you open a KeyBank Hassle-Free Account® between 09/30/2017 and 01/12/2018 and make a direct deposit of $300 or more and a combination of five KeyBank Debit Card purchases and/or KeyBank Online Banking Bill Payments within 60 days after account opening. Receive $200 when you open a Key Express Checking Account (this is the basic banking account in New York) between 09/30/2017 and 01/12/2018 and make a direct deposit of $500 or more and a combination of five KeyBank Debit Card purchases and/or KeyBank Online Banking Bill Payments within 60 days after account opening. Receive $300 when you open a Key Advantage, Key Privilege or Key Privilege Select Checking® Account between 09/30/2017 and 01/12/2018 and make a direct deposit of $1,000 or more and a combination of five KeyBank Debit Card purchases and/or KeyBank Online Banking Bill Payments within 60 days after account opening. Direct deposit transactions are limited to payroll, Social Security, pension and government benefits. There is no check writing with a KeyBank Hassle-Free Account. Coupon/code required to qualify. Coupon/code cannot be sold. Normal account service charges and balance requirements apply to the checking accounts. Refer to key.com for checking account service charges and balance requirements applicable to the checking accounts listed above. Limit one gift per qualifying account. Limit one gift per individual. Offer available in the following markets ONLY: All of New York state except for the greater New York City area, Cleveland, Akron, Canton OH, Denver CO, Hartford and New Haven CT, Maine, Pittsburgh PA, Philadelphia PA, Portland OR, Seattle WA, South Puget Sound WA and Utah. The value of your gift will be reported on Form 1099-INT. Your gift will be deposited into your account within 90 days of meeting requirements. If you close your Account within 180 days of account opening, you will be charged a $25 account early closure fee. Other miscellaneous charges may apply. Accounts overdrawn or closed at the time of gift fulfillment are not eligible for this offer. Employees of KeyBank, its affiliates, and subsidiaries are not eligible for this offer. Accounts titled as Trust Accounts, Estate, Non-Individual, and No access are excluded from eligibility. Offer is subject to cancellation without notice and cannot be combined with any other offer.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Key Advantage Checking Account $18 Monthly Fee ($300 Bonus)
The monthly fee on this account is waived if you do either of the following each statement cycle:
- The combined balance in any combination of KeyBank checking and savings deposit accounts, certificates of deposit, retirement deposits, investment account* (including annuity balances reflected on your KIS account statement) and credit accounts was $10,000.00 or more.
- You have a mortgage originated through KeyBank and you have an automatic payment deduction plan via ACH deducting $500.00 or more from your Key Advantage Money Market Checking Account during a statement cycle. If your mortgage automatic payment deduction plan should be discontinued, you may be subject to the combined balance requirements to avoid the monthly Maintenance Service Charge.
- You are a Key@Work program member and you have direct deposits totaling $1000.00 or more credited to your Key Advantage Money Market Checking Account during a statement cycle. If you should leave your current employer and direct deposits have been discontinued, you may be subject to the combined balance requirement to avoid the monthly Maintenance Service Charge until direct deposits are reinstated by your new employer.
Key Express Checking $7 Monthly Fee ($200 Bonus)
The monthly fee on this account is waived if you do either of the following each statement cycle:
- Direct deposits of at least $500
- At least 8 customer initiated transactions (any deposits, withdrawals, which includes transfers)
KeyBank Hassle-Free Account No Monthly Fee ($100 Bonus)
This account has no monthly fee to worry about
KeyBank Relationship Rewards Membership Fee $30
This is optional so make sure you opt out of it.
Early Account Termination Fee $25
If you close your account within 180 days, you are required to pay an early account closure fee of $25
Our Verdict
The best bonuses from KeyBank are when they offer $300 for opening a Key Express account. Unfortunately those aren’t very frequent anymore/at all and it seems like this offer is as good as it gets these days for KeyBank. They also have the following bonuses in other areas:
- [MI, AK, OH, ID, IN, VT] KeyBank $200 Checking Bonuses (currently expired)
- [WA, OR, CO, OH, PA, CT, NY] KeyBank $300 Checking Bonus
I think I’ll start adding these bonuses to our best bank account bonus page as even the $200 bonus is pretty good in comparison to other banks and the requirements to get the bonus and keep the account fee free aren’t too high. I personally don’t think the $300 bonus is worth considering due to how hard it is to keep the account fee free.
Big thanks to reader, Vijay who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.
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
Data Point
Santander works for Key bank as DD
Opened key account 1/11/2018
DD in $1001 from santander on 1/16/2018
Completed minimum requirements of
offer of:
5 bill pay on 1/17/2018
and
5 debit card transactions on 1/25/2018
$300 Bonus posted on 02/15/2018
1/16: opened with $50
1/24-5 5 bill pays
2/2- $500 ACH Capital One
2/15 $200 bonus posted.
Thanks DoC!
Thanks for the DP!
CapOne 360 coded as P2P for me.
Confirmed, Paypal counts as a direct deposit
Did it show up as “direct deposit, PayPal transfer”? That’s how it’s reading on my account. Just waiting to see if it triggers the bonus.
DP
11/13 – opened
11/21 – $1K DD from WF (coded as Direct Deposit DDA)
12/4 – 5 debit transactions (Amazon)
1/23 – $300 bonus posted
How did you initiate DD from WF? Thanks
On a roll today with bonuses posting. My BMT bonus posted today and now I discover my KeyBank bonus posted today as well. *Happy dance*
Here are the stats:
12/24/17 – Opened account (funded $100.00 with CFU coding as purchase)
12/29/17 – Transfer deposit from Capital One 360 of $1,042.50
12/2817 – 1/3/18 – Scheduled six separate bill pays totaling $100.00 to repay CFU
1/24/18 – $300.00 bonus posts!
Haven’t had a statement cut yet, so I plan to push/pull $1000+ each month until I clear the 180 day mark and then close the account.
Offer link claims offer has ended
Listed above: Expiration date: January 12th, 2018
Give it a week or two and likely there will be another offer on the table. Recommend doing this bonus first as they are Chex sensitive to too many inquiries – 1st hand experience.
Thanks.
Spark not accepted as funding source, would not accept CC funding after that. I think I had 12-15 bank accounts opened in 2017, was accepted tho with pop up offer of a pre-approved credit line (I declined).
DP: received the $300 for opening an Express account and DD’ing $500 in the mail today.
You received $300 for the Express checking? I thought it was only $200 for that account. If so, how?
Also got the $300 Express account mailer – $500 direct deposit only (no debit or bill pay required). Looks targeted, but you could try to ask in branch? FYI: Offer expires 2/23/18.
Finally closed our accounts and I think we should’ve done about a month or two ago. I told the CSR to close out and if there was any frees just deduct it and send us the balances. At least we got the clock started now which will enable us to do this again in a year from now. I know DOC will be all over it when it does.