[Expired] [WA, OR, ID & In Branch] Columbia Bank $200 Checking Bonus

Bonus is no longer showing up, click here for the best current checking bonuses

Update 3/4/2020: This has been extended until April 30th, 2020.

Update 1/2/2020: Deal has been extended until February 29th, 2020

Note: This Columbia Bank is not to be confused with this one that operates in NJ.

Offer at a glance

  • Maximum bonus amount: $200
  • Availability: In branch only, all branches are in: Washington, Oregon and Idaho. [Branch locator]
  • Direct deposit required: Yes, $500+ within 90 days
  • Additional requirements: None
  • Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
  • ChexSystems: Unknown
  • Credit card funding: Unknown
  • Monthly fees: $5, avoidable
  • Early account termination fee: Account must be open at time of bonus posting
  • Household limit: None listed
  • Expiration date: September 30th, 2018 October 31st, 2018 November 30th, 2018 December 31st, 2018 January 31st, 2019 February 28th, 2019 March 31st, 2019 April 30th, 2019 June 30th, 2019 August 31st, 2019 January 1st, 2020 February 29th, 2020

The Offer

Direct link to offer

  • Columbia Bank is offering a $200 bonus when you complete the following requirements:
    • Bring in code (you get this by entering e-mail on site)
    • Open a Neighborhood Account, Relationship Account or Foundation Account
    • Receive a qualifying direct deposit of $500 or more within 90 days of account opening

The Fine Print

  • Limited time offer. Must open account by August 31, 2018 to receive offer.
  • To receive the $200 incentive:
    • 1) Open a Neighborhood Account, Relationship Account or Foundation Account, subject to approval,
    • 2) Receive at least one qualifying direct deposit of $500 or more made to the account within 90 days of account opening. Qualifying direct deposits are electronic deposits of your paycheck, pension, or government benefits (such as Social Security) from your employer or the government into your checking account.
  • Offer is not available to those whose personal checking accounts have been closed within 90 days or closed with a negative balance.
  • Limit one new offer per qualifying account, per individual.
  • After you have completed all the above requirements, we will deposit the incentive in your new account in the three months following the 90 day direct deposit review period.
  • The incentive is considered interest and will be reported to the IRS in accordance with applicable law.
  • Accounts overdrawn or closed at the time of incentive fulfillment are not eligible for this offer.
  • The person qualifying for this offer must be the primary signer on the account and must be 18 years or older.
  • You must present this offer code at the time of account opening to qualify for the incentive.
  • We reserve the right to restrict or change this offer at any time.
  • Number of days used to determine incentive eligibility will be calendar days. Member FDIC.
  • All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Monthly Fees

The neighborhood account is the easiest account to keep fee free. The $5 fee is waived with any of the following:

  • minimum daily balance of $2,500
  • 10 debit card transactions
  • One direct deposit
  • age 62 and older
  • Military ID or Student ID on record

Early Account Termination Fee

Account needs to be kept open until the bonus posts.

Our Verdict

Biggest bonus they previously offered was $100. This is $200 but the requirements are the exact same. If you live near a branch I do think this is worth doing as it’s on the bigger side when it comes to bank bonuses and it isn’t too difficult to keep fee free. Because of that I will be adding it to our best bank bonus page.

Big thanks to reader, Jacob W who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
    William Charles
  • On January 2, 2020, 18:43

View Comments (111)

  • Please review ALL the text for this. It IS expired currently, but it will probably come back & the info needs to be cleaned up. If you want to leave the historical offers in place, please "strikeout" the dated/contradictory text, deprecate it, & clean everything up so that it is readable; it has a become a jumble of confusing info.

    Also, please stay current! This offer was extended to 5/31, then to 6/30, then pulled early, yet you did not update to show any of those. We rely on you to have the most current info.

    For future bonus seekers: This bank doesn't train it's employees well or communicate offers/promos to them. Also, really slow in-branch service. Brought in a neighbor to open an account for the bonus. They let us wait for a very long time while they chit-chatted with one or two customers & took another one while we were still waiting. My neighbor was furious & only stayed b/c I reminded her of the bonus & said I was staying to get it. The account manager apologized later, but kind of made excuses.

    When we did this bonus in 2018, the branch didn't even know about it or know how it worked. Luckily I had the WHOLE printout of all the fine print from their website AND the emailed bonus offer I got by requesting it from their website.

    The person opening the account still tried to argue that it required *recurring* DDs, but the fine print said "*a* DD...". I did *one* & it triggered the bonus.

    They offer nothing that any other bank doesn't offer, have stupid employees, & few locations, but they were close by me, so I left the account open for more than the usual six months. Get e-statements or they will charge you $3 for the paper. (I had a problem signing up for the e-statements on their website at the time, had to go & ask for a refund. Once credited (on-the-spot), I closed the account. Heh.)

    • There are literally hundreds of these types of bonuses on the site. We try to update posts whenever we make changes but it's simply not feasible to update every line of fine print each update. We always encourage readers to check the fine print and take screenshots when applying anyway, as terms can change with no notice.

  • DP
    1/28 Account Opened (in-branch) with promo code
    2/10 PayPal $527 "Pre-authorized ACH Cr"
    2/25 Postmates $597 "Pre-authorized ACH Cr"
    5/17 Interest Paid $200 "new account promo"
    6/4 Account closed using letter to branch

    I'm going to assume that PayPal triggered the DD requirement, I only did the Postmates DD because the timing worked out for me and I wanted to have a bit of an insurance policy in case it didn't. Customer service said I could send a letter to branch with signature to close.

  • Offer seems to be extended until 6/30: "Must open account by June 30, 2020 to receive offer"

  • Heads up: Columbia Bank apparently has a strange and inefficient policy requiring that all account closures be done in-branch. I tried asking the phone agent if there was any way to make an exception due to the difficulty of getting to the bank these days but he said they just don't have the authority...

    • I contacted them and they said I can either go into a branch or send a letter to them with instructions to close my account and my signature. I sent in the letter a few days ago, and they called me to confirm and then closed my account.

  • Columbia bank bonus appears to have been removed. There is no link to any offer. The direct link above just goes to the Columbia Bank homepage. Not same Steven as recent comment #950527

  • Account opened 1/13/2020 in branch
    Real payroll DD $500 received late Jan, 2020
    Bonus posted 4/15/2020

  • Bonus has been extended to March 31st per the bonus landing page for both the personal and business checking offers

  • Where exactly can I get the emailed promo code from? Can't seem to find anything on their website about the promo or any email list.

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