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Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $200
- Availability: PA only
- Deposit required: $10,000 for six months
- APY: 1.5%
- Hard/soft pull: Unknown
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Unknown
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Bonus forfeit, six months
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date: February 29th, 2020
Contents
The Offer
- ESSA Bank & Trust is offering a $200 bonus when you open a new premium savings account and complete the following requirements:
- Deposit $10,000 or more in new money within 15 business days
- Maintain a minimum balance of $10,000 for six months
The Fine Print
- Maximum of one bonus offer per individual (determined by account owner’s tax identification number).
- Offer not available to customers whose accounts have been closed within the last 12 months due to a negative balance.
- Offer also not available to customers who have closed an existing account within the last 90 days.
- Bonus will be paid after 90 days and credited within the next statement cycle
- . If account is closed within six months after opening, bonus amount will be deducted at closing.
- The value of the bonus will be reported on IRS Form 1099 INT. Consult your tax advisor.
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
This account has no monthly fees to worry about
Early Account Termination Fee
Bonus is forfeit if the account is closed within six months of account opening
Our Verdict
This account also earns 1.5% APY. During the six month period you’d earn the $200 bonus and then another $75 from the interest for a total of $275, that works out to be an annualized return of 5.5%. Definitely worth doing for those with some spare funds chasing a high rate if it’s a soft pull. We will add this to our list of the best savings account bonuses.
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
Another DP: To close this account you need to mail a signed letter with the account number requesting the closure. Alternatively (what I did) you can email as a scanned attachment. However, do it after September 1st, otherwise you forfeit the bonus. I sent mine yesterday, but they were nice to call me and tell me to delay it.
Like others, bonus posted on 6/30/20. Not sure about withdrawing the $10k early though for fear of claw back. Rate has dropped to almost 0. Getting $6.xx per month on the $10k investment.
Also received the bonus on 6/30.
I guess this means the account can be taken below $10k balance.
DP: Account opened on 2/14. Funding transfer posted on 2/18. $200 bonus posted on 6/30.
I have opened the account transfer money month back. Does anyone get bonus? I asked them via mail but seems they have no idea about it based on response.
The rate just dropped to .75%. Ouch, and the funds stuck for six months…
Not the end of the world but disappointing.
Applied online, got the account approved, opened, online access setup, etc. I can’t find where I’m supposed to enter the two trial amounts that they’ve sent to my external account as part of the linking process; don’t see anywhere to do that once I’m logged in. Has anyone else been able to find where to enter those? I’ve e-mailed the bank, but they’ll be closed until Tuesday.
They sent me an email that has a link for entering trial deposits. Strange opening process.
A customer service representative told me that they pull Chex reports but don’t pull credit reports from any of the 3 reporting agencies. Also, you may need to upload your driver’s license when you apply.
Applied online, application went to pending. No option for credit card funding. There does appear to be a $1 monthly maintenance fee if account is below $100. When funding account, I was able to enter in $10,000 (via ACH). So hopefully that goes through, and I can just forget about it until 6 months.
Hard/soft?
Seems to be a soft pull since I didn’t get any notifications from Experian/credit karma.
Thanks, can you let me know if anything changes in the next week?