[CA only] Water And Power Community Credit Union (WPCU) $200 Checking Bonus + Refer Friends For $25

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $200 (plus $100 for auto financing)
• Availability: Membership is available to anybody who live, work, worship, or are enrolled in a college or trade school in qualifying ZIP codes within the Los Angeles, Northridge, Sun Valley, and Westchester areas. Also available to select employer groups, more information here.
• Direct deposit required: $1,000+
• Additional requirements: None, but if you finance or refinance an auto vehicle you’ll receive a bonus $100
• Hard/soft pull: Unknown
• Credit card funding: Unknown, unlikely since you need to open in branch.
• Monthly fees: None
• Early account termination fee: Must maintain a balance of at least $25 for the first 90 days from the date of deposit
• Expiration date: No listed end date

The Offer

Direct link to offer

• Receive a sign up bonus of $200 when you start a new Water And Power Community Credit Union (WPCU) membership, open a checking account and complete the following requirements:
  • Set up a direct deposit of at least $1,000
• You can also receive a further $100 for financing a new or used car

The Fine Print

• To establish membership, $25 or more must be deposited to open a new WPCCU savings account
• The $200 bonus cash is eligible when a new member opens a personal checking account with Direct Deposit
• Checking offer is not available to existing WPCCU checking account members, those with fiduciary accounts, or those whose accounts have been closed within90 days or closed with a negative balance
• Qualifying direct deposits are: a paycheck, pension or government benefits (such as social security) from an employer or the government
• Member may receive only one new checking account opening related bonus during the promotional period and only one bonus per account
• All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

There is usually a one time membership fee of $5 that is being waived for this offer. You need to keep $25 in the account for 90 days after funding to avoid an early account termination fee (presumably the bonus is revoked). They also offer a power checking account that does not have a monthly fee attached to it as long as you maintain a balance of at least $25.

Referral Program

They also offer a referral program and this stacks with this bonus. You get the following:

• $25 bonus cash when I refer a family members or a friend for new membership
• $50 bonus cash for when I refer a family member or a friend for an auto loan
• $100 bonus cash for when I refer a family member or a friend for a home loan

Feel free to share your e-mail address in the comments if you’d like to refer people, just keep in mind that they won’t receive any additional bonus for being referred by you – so make sure you also leave some useful information about this bonus so that they’ll use your information.

Our Verdict

I didn’t see any option to sign up online, so it looks like you’ll need to go into a branch (branch locator here) to complete this offer, this means it’s unlikely you’ll be able to fund it with a credit card.  Because of the joining requirements, you’ll likely live near a branch if you’re eligible for this offer.

Unfortunately we don’t know whether it’s a hard or soft pull to open, but you could ask this when you go in branch to open an account. Because of this we can’t add it to our list of the best bank bonuses, but we have added it to our list of all checking bonuses currently available.

Hat tip to Maximizing Money