Update 11/17/21: Deal is down to $100
Update 7/24/21: Deal is back at the $150 level. Hat tip to ShawntheShawn
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: Up to $150
- Availability: Select areas in WI & MN
- Direct deposit required: Yes, $500+
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft
- ChexSystems: Unknown
- Credit card funding: Up to $2,000, Visa or Mastercard only
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: $20, 6 months
- Household limit: None listed
- Expiration date:
August 11th, 2018December 31st, 2018August 16th, 2020
Contents
The Offer
- Receive a sign up bonus of $150 when you open a new checking account with TruStone Financial and complete the following requirements within 30 days:
- $100 for total recurring direct deposits of at least $500
- $50 for enrolling in Online Banking and eStatements
The Fine Print
- Offer valid between 11/1/2018 and 12/31/2018.
- Cash back amounts are based on the following completed actions: 1) $50 for opening a new checking account with a debit card and making five purchase transactions within 30 days. 2) $50 for enrolling in Online Banking and eStatements. Both actions must be completed within 30 days of account opening for cash back to be received. 3) $50 for establishing a recurring direct deposit totaling at least $250 in direct deposit within first 30 days.
- Only one account per membership is eligible and member must not already have a checking account.
- Allow up to 60 days from account opening for deposits to be made. Recipient is responsible for any taxes incurred on cash back.
- $5 membership is required. Must be 16 years of age or older.
- Those under 18 years old must have a parent or guardian on the account to be eligible for cash back. This offer cannot be combined and may be discontinued at any time. Federally Insured by NCUA.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Value checking account (0% APY) has no monthly fee
Early Account Termination Fee
A $20 fee is charged if the account is closed within 6 months of opening according to their fee schedule.
Our Verdict
In previous years the bonus has been $100 with no direct deposit requirement. Because the direct deposit is only required for the last $50, the bonus is actually better than before (or the same if you have no intention of going for that bit of the bonus. This isn’t quite true as you need a direct deposit for $100 of the bonus).It looks like it’s a soft pull to open, although there is that one DP of a hard pull so something to keep in mind. I’ll add this to the best bank bonus page but with a warning regarding that.
Big thanks to reader, Samuel Adams who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.
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
Post history:
- Update 8/17/20: Deal is now only for $100, extra $50 is not being offered.
- Update 6/13/20: Deal is back and valid until August 16th, 2020. Hat tip to reader Brad E
- Update 6/29/19: Deal is back and valid until August 17th, 2019
- Update 11/11/2018: Deal is back and valid until December 31st, 2018. Hat tip to reader JT
Now this bonus is $350 until the end of the year.
Got that here: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/wi-mn-only-trustone-financial-350-checking-bonus/
Saw an ad on TV for a checking account bonus up to $350. Found the link to it below. Looks like the bonus amount is tiered depending on DD amounts.
https://trustonefinancial.org/Landing-Pages/TSF-Current-Promo/Checking-350?scpage=1&scupdated=1&scorder=-click_count
Just an FYI, it does not appear churnable: “Offer valid 5/30/22-8/31/22. Only one account per membership is eligible and member must not have a current or prior checking account with TruStone.”
Also, just be aware, this bank will probably grill you over the phone before they’ll open your account (even if you live in MN). I had a very similar experience to Joe’s, who posted this a while back: “They called me the day after my application and grilled me pretty thoroughly. Why are you opening this account? You don’t live close to the bank, how are you going to use the account? Then went through every single Bank Account and Credit Card on my file for the past 2 years manually. Asked me to point out if any of them are wrong. Then asked me for an explanation for each account.”
It sounds like you have to open the account in person at a bank for the referral to work. Any DPs on this?
(See here: “Referred member must open and use a new Primary Share and a Value, Premium or TruRate Checking account with a Visa debit card in a physical branch location.” https://trustonefinancial.org/Referrals)
VERY UNFORTUNATE, DECLINED DUE TO CHEX WELL WELL UNTIL NEXT TIME 😀
I applied yesterday and got a call today from the bank. No questions other than verifying my identity but I am also local. They did however tell me that the credit card funding limit is 5k. I had put down 12k since their online app didn’t have a hard coded limit. Was able to adjust it to 5k. Will report back once that hits my credit card.I used the Boa Alaska card.
I am 5/12 and 6/24 for bank accounts. 3/12 and 4/24 for credit cards.
2k charge hit my BoA Alaska as a purchase. For some reason they were not able to complete the remainder 3k charge. I had split the funding up as 2k in savings and 3k in checking so they were charging them separately. Unclear if it was because of Trustone or BoA. I did not get a fraud alert from BoA.
Same thing happened to me. Split $2.5k between checking and savings but only one of them went through (used Chase United Explorer). The rep on the phone said it’s the CC company preventing fraud (but I didn’t receive any notification from Chase either).
Opened an account for P2 but for some reason Chase’s Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card did not go through (rep didn’t know why) even though Chase’s United Explorer card had worked for me.
CHEX sensitive. Also, hard pull (Experian). Received a letter in the mail. OOS though.
How many in the last 12/24 months?
7/28 -Opened Account online
7/29 -Received email that I was approved and setup online banking and estatements.
7/31- $50 promotional bonus received.
No hard pull. I have 14 new accounts opened last 12 months.
I will use employer payroll to fulfill the DD requirement for the $100 bonus.
Interesting, I rec’d the $100 immediately after DD but still waiting on the $50.
I was denied for Chex. How long should one wait before applying again?
Applied last week and got a message saying they were reviewing my request and will contact me within 1-2 business days to finalize the details of my application. Never was contacted after a week so decided to call them today. CSR told me that I was denied since I was OOS. I said I opted to make the $10 donation to get around this but he said since I was OOS that I wasn’t eligible. Will call back again within the next couple days to inquire about the donation again. The $150 bonus in addition to the 2k credit card funding (which would help me meet minimum spend for the CSP) is too good to give up on this easily. Hopefully they don’t grill me about so many recent inquires like they have to others.
Was anyone that was OOS approved for the account without having to talk to any representatives?
How churnable is this? I closed December 2020……….
Last year you stated “Worst bank account opening experience ever.” LOL
I see no terms about past account holders being ineligible. As long as they don’t see you as an existing customer when you fill out the application, you should be fine IMO. I’d do real DD though, just in case they try to play that card though.
Facts, gonna switch up me email like a did last time and give it a shot got nothing to lose here.
Terms say “Only one checking account per membership is eligible and member must not have a current or prior checking account with TruStone.”
Seems like that was a recent change… but yes, now it says that. My mistake.
MikeTheCreator
Still gonna give it a churn, 2k cc funding with this bank is pretty good for meeting cc spend + i have churned it twice already maybe 3rd times a charm…
This biggest bummer is they went with Trustone’s bonus and not Firefly. Firefly had a better bonus, $250 I think, plus CC funding. Plus I hate Trustone and Firefly was pretty good.