Update 2/25/23: The rate is now 4.625% on up to $25K and 3.625% on higher balances.
Update 12/14/22: Now 4%
Update 11/1/22: Up to 3.75% now on balances up to $25,000 and 3% above that
Update 9/10/22: This page now shows 3% APY on balances up to $25,000 and 2.5% on balances over $25,000.
Update 6/30/22: Over $25k earns 1% now
Update 1/2/22: $50 bonus no longer available as checkless checking is no longer a valid account and new account name is ‘Advantage Checking’.
Update 11/6/21: $50 bonus is back. Hat tip to Dan
Update 9/16/20: $50 bonus is no longer available. New account is now called Advantage Checking account.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $50 (plus, 2.25% APY on up to $25,000; 1% beyond that)
- Availability: Nationwide
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $500 minimum
- Additional requirements: 7 electronic withdrawals per month
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- Credit card funding: None
- Chexsystems: Yes
- Monthly fees: None (with $500 minimum)
- Early account termination fee: None mentioned
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date: None mentioned
- Insured: FDIC
The Offer
- Presidential Bank Checkless Checking offers a $50 bonus and 2.25% APY on balances up to $25,000 when the following requirements are met:
- An electronic monthly deposit of $500.00 or more from payroll, pension, social security, or annuity is required.
- Seven (7) electronic withdrawals per month are required (electronic withdrawals include: atm, pos, ach and billpayments).
- Requirements must be met the first 90 days in order to get the $50 bonus.
Amounts greater than $25,000 earn 1.25% .65% .40. Accounts that do not meet the deposit or withdrawal requirements will earn a lower rate as disclosed on the rate schedule. Deposit and withdrawal requirements are waived for the first month the account is in this product. The posting date will be used to determine transaction qualification.
The Fine Print
- New checking account customers only.
- May not have had an active Presidential Bank checking account within the last 12 months to be eligible for the bonus.
- Must meet account requirements for the 90 days immediately after the account opening to receive the $50 bonus.
- Bonus will be deposited directly into the new Checkless Checking account between 90-120 days after account opening.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
No monthly fee if you maintain $500 minimum balance. If your balance falls below the minimum, there is a $5 monthly service charge.
Our Verdict
When initiating the signup process, the system seems to allow applications from any state; let us know if you find out otherwise. There is language there about a credit check, and we don’t yet know if this is a hard pull or soft.
We don’t usually post $50 deals, but in this case there’s also the 2.25% APY on up to $25,000 angle which can make the account somewhat worthwhile on an ongoing basis. If you figure that a regular high-yield account currently offers 1.25%, then you’ll end up with an extra 1%, or $250 per year. There are requirements to get this, though, so it’s not ‘easy money’. Some might find it worthwhile, especially with the initial $50 sweetener. I don’t think most people will find it worthwhile to open this just for the $50 bonus.
If this turns out to work nationwide and people find it worthwhile, we’ll add it to the best checking & savings bonus page.
Hat tip to reader Gadget
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
30 month update. Today I noticed they pulled Chex when I added a savings account a few months ago. I added the savings account around 16 months after the checking account. Kind of strange and annoying. My other complaint with them is on your mobile deposits they print a cover sheet with your social security number as your user name (when they claim to be all about security).
I had to call once and they were ok, not friendly and not mean. Don’t add Zelle to the account unless you are sure. I want to remove access but they said their system requires all external accounts to be deleted in order to do that. Again strange and annoying.
The haven’t dropped the rate as of 10/18, which is surprising given money market accounts have now dropped. As soon as they drop the rate (4.615%) I will probably stop using the account just because they are strange and annoying. Things work well but it is the little things like removing Zelle that don’t that should. Or the limit of five on external accounts. Very slow to transfer out but they are fast to post incoming. They claim they were the first online bank, so probably explains a bit. Old practices.
Overall only seven transactions of any kind make this one of the best of these types of accounts in my opinion. I’ve made a good amount the last 30 months for just using bill pay each month.
I’m surprised anyone kept using this account for the last year or so. There are banks that had zero transaction requirements with 5%+ APY. Even with rates dropping this month, CFG Money Market is still at 5% APY and Lending Club Bank LevelUp Savings is at 5.15% APY, with the only requirements being min bal of $1K at CFG, and a monthly $250 deposit at LCB. Neither had a Chex inquiry for me (but CFG may have changed recently). LCB doesn’t have bill pay without adding a checking account, so maybe it is not an exact comparison to Presidential checking.
Because I was using Presidential as my main bill pay checking account, I felt obligated to keep it going for longer than I should have. Around August 2023, I reduced my balance to $100 at Presidential and converted my checking account to the Regular Checking account (no transaction requirements to avoid monthly fee, just $100 min bal). If 4.62% APY becomes competitive again, I will switch it back to the Advantage checking. When I changed to the Regular Checking, I did so over secure message without issue.
The only reason I kept it open was to avoid the inevitable Chex inquiry if I tried to open a new account later. It’s worth the $5 a year in lost interest earnings on $100 to keep the account in waiting.
How is their customer service if you ever need to call in? Online banking interface?
I don’t recall anything great, but nothing bad, when having to call. The best bank is the one you never have to call! I seem to recall having to snail mail a signature card. Had my account for years. I downgraded to the “Regular Checking” once the APY was no longer competitive. (fee free with $100 balance)
Matt J
Online banking is the same interface some of the credit unions use. Definitely seen it before. Tower FCU, Jovia, Pima, Arizona Financial, Midland States Bank, Great River, Service CU, Harborstone, I believe all have the same interface. Does have Zelle, if you care. External Transfers and Bill Pay are through Fiserv… slow-ish. Low caps – $15K per day, $25K per month. I don’t recall if I ever tried to increase them. A hub account, Presidential, it is not.
One of the few positives, iirc, is there are only 7 transactions required to meet the requirements for the Advantage Checking.
Presidential Advantage Checking still at 4.62% APY up to 25k. It’s 4.37% on balances between 25k-250k.
Presidential pulls EWS.
Presidential Bank Checkless Checking no longer offered. Renamed? Advantage Checking. 4.62% APY up to $25k.
Correct. It’s been gone for years. And, no $50 bonus.
CFG up to 5.07%
I was really considering this, but it sounds like a real PITA and potential clusterf*** with the mail-in cards, ID, etc. I just had major issues with Truist and had I not been able to get into a physical branch, I would likely have been in court to get access to my funds. That experience has left me a bit gun shy with banks that seem trapped in 1995.
This is what CS wrote me in message:
The direct deposit has to be from one of the Unique Direct Deposits from either Payroll, Pension, SS or an Annuity.
Anyone else was shorted on interest in April?
What other banks can you use for DD that works for this bank? I had plenty of withdrawals so that is not the issue
I use service cu for dd and got my interest also.
This is first month I didn’t get interest on my account stating I had no required DD even I had transfers from other banks but no real payroll DD. Anyone else has this issue starting in April?
I only had fake DD’s… but a couple. Schwab brokerage & WF checking were over $500 and my interest was paid out.
Are you sure you did your required seven (7) electronic withdrawals per month: ATM, POS, ACH, and Bill Payments?
Because they haven’t moved closer to 5%, most of my money is elsewhere, but I still like to use this account for bills.