Disclaimer: Credit Union of Texas would like us to make it clear that we have no formal affiliation with them at all. Also a friendly reminder that our website does not use checking account affiliate links.
Update 2/1/20: Deal is back and valid until March 31st, 2020.Hat tip to reader payyououttuesday
Bonus is back for 2019. Hat tip to reader Bart M
Bonus is back for 2017. Thanks to reader Tyler.
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $250
- Availability: Have to open in branch and all branches are located in Texas. [Branch locator]
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $600+ per month for six months
- Additional requirements: None
- Hard/soft pull: Hard pull
- Credit card funding: Yes, unknown amount
- Monthly fees: $6-$10, not waivable.Â
- Early account termination fee: Six months, bonus forfeit
- Household limit: One
- Expiration date: December 31st,
20162017
Contents
The Offer
- Receive a bonus of matching bonus of up to $250 when you open a new secure or secure PLUS checking account with Credit Union of Texas & receive a direct deposit of $600 or more per month. The matching bonus is based on your initial deposit, so make sure you deposit at least $250 to get the full bonus.
The Fine Print
- Restrictions may apply.
- Matching deposit bonus offer is only valid on Secure Checking and Secure Checking PLUS.
- Offer not valid on 2nd checking accounts.
- Limit one checking account related award/premium per household.
- Coupon must be presented at account opening. This offer is valid on new checking accounts only and not in combination with other offers. To receive
the $250 checking deposit match bonus: 1) Open a new Secure or Secure PLUS Checking account, which is subject to approval; 2) Deposit a minimum of $25 at account opening. (This initial
deposit is what will be matched, up to $250 if all conditions are met.); AND 3) Have a direct deposit of at least $600 a month deposited to the account within 60 days of account opening. - Your direct deposit needs to be an electronic deposit of your paycheck, pension or government benefits (such as social security) from your employer or the government.
- Matching deposit
bonus amount will be determined by the initial deposit made when opening the new checking account and will not exceed $250. The account must not have a negative balance to receive
cash bonus. - Checking account with direct deposit must remain open for a minimum of six months or matching deposit bonus may be debited from account at closing.
- Matching deposit bonus is considered interest and is reportable on IRS for 1099-INT
Avoiding Fees
Membership Fee $10
There is a $10 membership fee to join. You have to be a member to sign up for this bonus.
Early Account Termination Fee
You need to keep your account open and in good standing and continue to receive direct deposits of $600 per month for six months otherwise they will claw back the bonus.
Secured $6 Monthly Fee
Only way to waive this fee is to be under 25 years of age
Secured Plus $10 Monthly Fee
Only way to waive this fee is to be a veteran.
Our Verdict
You’re going to end up paying at least $40 for this bonus ($10 to join and $30 in monthly fees), so really the bonus is for a bit less (especially if you take into account taxes). It’s impossible to know if it’s a good deal or not without knowing if it’s a hard or soft pull, so please share your knowledge in the comments. We haven’t added it to our list of the best bank promos because of this.
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
- Introduction To 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
Anyone done this offer recently? Is it still a hard pull?
Did you get any info on this? I see the offer is publicly up on their website, just says need to enter code “250” at activation.
https://www.cutx.org/250-checking-bonus
William Charles
New terms doesn’t require DD for 6 months.
nice! Have you signed up?
I did signup for this.
Here is the data point (DP).
Account opened ($250 initial deposit) : 23APR (Minimum $250 initial deposit is important)
First Real DD $600 : 2MAY
Second Real DD : 16MAY
Bonus (DEPOSIT PROMOMATCH) $250 : 25MAY
I believe, I don’t have to continue to do DD for 6 months. However, account needs to be open for at least 6 months.
There’s still a page for this offer at https://www.cutx.org/250-checking-bonus but I can’t seem to find a link to it from the main page, so based on comments below it might be “non-public” and not honored. I did find a linked page at https://www.cutx.org/benefits that discusses it and makes it sound as though it’s meant to be given to employees as part of an HR packet or something.
There IS a public offer for “round-ups” of debit transactions up to $120 – https://www.cutx.org/checking/compare
All in all this doesn’t seem too great. If you were able to do both the opening bonus and the rounding bonus it might be worth eating the monthly fees. I’ll report back if I decide to try it.
I went in, in person. I was told that it was a soft pull that would not effect my credit. I told him I didn’t want anything to effect my credit since I plan to buy a house this summer. I did think it was odd that he told me what the score was afterwards and now yalls comments about the hard pull are making me nervous. I picked up the bonus from another site so I was unaware of the $10 charge when I went in.
Just send a message to bank to see if it’s still a hard pull. Not sure if it’s worth it if it still is.
Offer is back:
https://www.cutx.org/-/media/documents/cutx-250-offer-exp-2020.pdf
I went in person to the credit union. I had printed out a copy of the offer, but the banker I met with said it was not a public offer and they would not honor it. He said they only offer the brochures that someone receives at an event where they are promoting. He even mentioned mentioned the word fraud—which I thought was strange since the offer is on their website. I mentioned that I had called before making the trip to the credit union because I wanted to make sure the offer was still current and the person I spoke with said yes and that it would be OK to print it out. His response was that they have new people and some don’t know what’s happening. He left and went to speak to his manager during the process. I would not recommend doing business with them.
Thanks! Will pass based on your experience
Hard inquiry
same here.
No waivable fee is crazy…plus hardpull? Even though there’s one 5 mins from work and i have a mortgage with them, it doesn’t seem worth it
According to the fine print on the offer screenshot above (and the same document can be found on their website with a bit of googling), they’ve raised their monthly fees from $5/$9 to $6/$10, so it will now cost you $46 instead of $40 to do this one if you’re neither a student under 25 nor a veteran.
Will do, thanks
https://www.cutx.org/locations
Also, as noted by the most recent comment here, and per the link above, this is ONLY available by visiting branch in Dallas area. Could you update the title to reflect “DFW, TX ONLY”?
Even as a fellow Texas resident, I would not be able to easily visit a Dallas branch to open this given how far away Dallas is and wouldn’t even attempt to do so given the most recent DP of being denied promo as indicated by flyingpig.
Done