[Expired] [PA only] PSECU $150 Checking Bonus

Deal has ended, view more bank account bonuses by clicking here.

Update 4/22/21: There is now a bigger $250 bonus, more details here.

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: $150
  • Availability: PA only
  • Direct deposit required: Yes, $300+ per month
  • Additional requirements: See below
  • Hard/soft pull: Hard pull (report of soft pull)
  • ChexSystems: Unknown
  • Credit card funding: Unknown
  • Monthly fees: None
  • Early account termination fee: None
  • Household limit: None
  • Expiration date: May 31st, 2020 December 31st, 2020 December 31st, 2021

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • PSECU is offering a checking bonus of $150 when you open a new checking account and complete the following requirements:
    • Use promo code FS150
    • Receive a debit card and online banking
    • Establish one or more qualifying payroll direct deposit(s) that together total $300 per calendar month, recurring monthly, within 90 days of establishing membership

The Fine Print

  • Participant must be U.S. Resident.
  • Promotion open to persons 18 years of age or older at the time the account is opened. One promo code per new member. Additional promo code will be invalid.
  • The recipient of the $150 bonus is solely responsible for payment of applicable taxes on that amount. If you have any questions, please seek the advice of a qualified tax professional.
  • Qualifying payroll direct deposits are defined as paychecks, Social Security payments, and pension payments.
  • PSECU reserves the right to recall the $150 direct deposit bonus if the payroll direct deposit(s) is/are not active for six consecutive months or if the member account is closed within the first year of establishing membership.
  • If PSECU is unable to confirm any qualifying monthly direct deposit is a recurring payroll deposit, or if the member is not in good standing as defined by PSECU’s Bylaws Article II, Section 1, PSECU reserves the right to withhold the payment of the $150 direct deposit bonus.
  • Payment of the bonus will be deposited into the Regular share within 45 days after the requirements are satisfied.
  • This offer is only open to new members who meet PSECU eligibility requirements.
  • All decisions of PSECU regarding this promotion are final. PSECU may terminate or change the terms and conditions of this promotion without notice.
    Employees, agents, and officials of PSECU and immediate family members of any of these are not eligible for this promotion.
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

They offer a free checking account with no monthly fees to worry about.

Early Account Termination Fee

I didn’t see any mention of an early account termination fee in the fee schedule.

Our Verdict

Not really worth considering due to the hard pull. I’d recommend doing one of the bigger bonuses available in your area instead.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
    William Charles
  • On April 5, 2020, 15:00

View Comments (82)

  • When applying on PSECU website filling out information, I enter my Driver's License information and when I click continue, it gives me an error saying address type is required. All sections are filled in, I don't see a section for address type.

    There is also no back button... I have retried the application 3x with same error each time... Will try again later on different computer.

    Anyone else have this issue? Disabled ad blocker and all.

    • This is an autofill error. Do not select addresses or saved form information when typing. And I think it also helps to use a browser that you don't regularly use.

    • It's working now... maybe there was a bug or something since the updated offer just started on 3/1. Entering "250OFFER" gets you to the next screen now, as does "250Offer". I might do this one, hard pull notwithstanding. @will

    • I'm thinking it's targeted and that you are supposed to use the code from a mailer in place of the prepopulated code.... but, they did not make that clear.

      The promo code for the $150 offer (FS150) gets you to the next screen, but will it get you a $150, or a $250 bonus.... hmmm

      • Now that the default pre-filled code works, I no longer think it's "targeted". Bad timing for me... And the DD requirement got smaller? Crazy. @guest_1153818

        • Haha...if it's bad timing for you, then it's extremely bad timing for me.
          I haven't completed the requirements for the old $150 bonus yet. I wonder if there's a way to get PSECU to change my offer to this new one or to match this offer?
          Any ideas?

          • It can't hurt to ask... but be prepared for them to say they can't edit an approved application.

            I would try to contact the new accounts dept, not a regular CSR.

            Contact info I've seen on the e-mails from PSECU:

            "If you have questions regarding your application, please contact us at 800.562.6555. We're here to help Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ET)."

            "If you have questions, please contact us at 800.237.7328, extension 3133. We're here to help Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ET)."

  • Signed up about 2 weeks ago and so far have found no way to find the checking acct number on their website for ACH transfers and their cust service insists that I can use the member number instead. I'm sure that is not correct but their reps are adamant that is the case. So I'm at a loss figuring out how to setup DD to the checking acct.
    Also, I don't have a schwab acct. Has anyone found DD from any other bank working for the promo?

    • - Credit unions are weird. In this particular one, you can use your member number (starts with an 8) as the checking account number and it works just fine. If you requested checks, they will have the checking account number on them. I did notice it is a different number, starts with a 7, but I have not tried it.. why bother when the number they give you works?

      - Since Schwab works, most of us are going to go with that. I would try another brokerage, Cap One, or Marcus... big money banks... and go from there. The bonus posts that night the "DD" posts IIRC, so you can know right away. Report back with what you try and if it worked. No point in us guessing what accts that you have.

      • Guess I could try with the 8 number although I wonder how it would work for an ACH pull? I am being careful coz Ally is nuts and will cut off one day transfers if an ACH transfer goes wrong.
        I have TDA though so I could try pushing from there.

        • Some credit unions block ACH out of savings (or won't even provide an account number for the savings share) but never heard of an issue with checking. They provide you with the acct number to use, so I doubt it would fail. Schwab was able to pull the trial deposits, so why do you think larger transactions won't work?.

          • Well if I had savings, checking, money mkt etc accts, how would an external puller know where to pull funds from if all they have is a member number?

          • Like I said, some CU's don't allow ACH from the savings. Credit unions are not a bank. They have their own (stupid) rules. I believe by default, your checking acct is the money handler when using the member number, but you are welcome to ask them.

          • That's my point in asking here for ppl's experiences. Didn't get a straight answer when I asked them. Beats me why PSECU wants to do things in non-standard 'stupid' ways.
            Come to think of it, the only CU I know of that doesn't allow ACH from savings is navy. What are some of the others you've come across?

          • Well, there are not a lot of experiences here because it's a HP $150 taxable bonus that requires a 12-month commitment and a (small) membership fee.

            I believe Service Credit Union, Air Academy FCU, and Unify CU all either discourage or block ACH to/from the savings share account. I am sure there are others. I have a small local CU that has that policy too... they want external transfers to go thru the checking.

            NFCU, yes, blocks outgoing ACH from their savings, but allows incoming, if I recall.

            Bottom-line, credit unions masquerade as a bank, offer banking services, but are not a bank, and sometimes have strange rules/policies. But the info they gave you is accurate.

  • About a week ago I did get the $150 bonus as soon as Schwab brokerage deposit posted.

    "DD" posted as DEPOSIT SCHWAB BROKERAGE TYPE: MONEYLINK.
    Bonus posted as "DEPOSIT PROMO DD 150" to Savings Share.

    It is time for P2 to go for it. Should be no fee to join, as P2 selected "household member" as her eligibility.

    I tried three different times with two different browsers (Chrome & new Edge) to open an account for P2... but kept getting an error after submitting the D/L info. Something about "Applicant 'Name' Address type not selected". There was no block to select the type of dwelling, or if it was a PO Box, etc.

    Contacted chat support. Turns out Auto-fill, selecting the saved info from you browser, causes this. Manually typed the entire application and then submitted, no problem.

    Still a HP TU - instantly notified by Chase Credit Journey, but Credit Karma did not alarm. Guess they have slowed the refresh rate on CK, even when logging in and said it was updating P2's info during page opening, it did not find the HP TU. @guest_1118491 @will @guest_1119109

    • A-holes... P2 got a Discover Card alert this morning via e-mail:

      We found a new credit inquiry on your Experian® credit report.

      Note that the “Name” is entity providing the information to Experian and the address listed may be a corporate address.
      Source EXPERIAN
      Alert Date 02/16/2021
      Inquiry Date 02/16/2021
      Name P S E C U
      Phone (717) 234-8484
      Business Type FC
      Street Address 1500 ELMERTON AVE
      City HARRISBURG
      State PA
      Zip 17110-9214

      So, they hard pull Experian and Transunion. (I had Experian locked/frozen when I applied.) @guest_1119109

    • Ewww $150 HP. On the bright side, TU is my cleanest atm.

      From recent HPs in January for CC apps, it’s been taking up 24 hours for alerts to show up. I have many different monitoring services, some are instant while others are 24 hours. Guess it costs more for instant refresh and alerts.

          • And inquiries are a problem for CC's? Not for me; it's all the anti-churning rules that get me denied.

          • I’ve never been denied, the worst has been counter offered. I bet you a milkbone I could’ve gotten the Pathfinder if I had one less inquiry, because I wasn’t denied outright.

          • Ok, but based on my experience, if you lock/freeze EX, these guys pull TU.

            The only issuer that I can think of that pulls TU... is Barclays. (some issuers will do two reports though... and include TU)

            Anyway, nothing in it for me, no matter what you do. I'm just annoyed I literally just signed up P2 for $150. Got her $150 last night... Schwab still works.

          • I was just using an example. The only time I ever took a HP for a bank was erhmmmmm...... because of you lol. But it did pay off, after some nail biting. Now I have a local bank for when I go to retire in that state.

  • Has anyone opened checking in 2021 using promo code FS150 and still earned $150 bonus? Is the promo code still valid for 2021?

  • Received bonus same day (today 1/25) with $300 Schwab Brokerage DD. Will do this monthly for 6 months, and keep the account open for one year to avoid clawback of the bonus. Bonus goes into the savings even though your DD goes into your checking account. Hard pull received. Will have P2 and P3 do the same. All applied and approved OOS from California with PRPS membership option.

      • Accounts were opened in December 2020, but the promo code is still valid according to the landing page. Expiration date now looks to be December 2021.

  • Was anyone able to get approved from this bank with a relatively low (650-700) credit score?

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