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Famous PNC Bank now is offering $75 bonus for opening a new checking account with direct deposit. The financial situation of PNC Bank is pretty good. We did not hear anything about possible collapse of PNC Bank. National City Bank was acquired by PNC Bank. We can always receive the promotion offers from PNC Bank although the bonus amount is typical $75. For a limited time from now on, PNC Bank is offering $75 bonus for new customers.

Details about this promotion can be found at the promotion page at PNC Bank.

To get the $75 bonus, you have to open a new checking account at PNC Bank. Eligible accounts are: Free Checking Account, Performance Checking Account, Performance Select Checking Account and PNC Virtual Wallet. After open the account, you have to set up direct deposit of at least $500 to you new account before 06/30/2009. The $75 bonus will be credited to your new account within 7 days.

The time is limit: 04/26/2009-05/09/2009.

Fine print:

The payout of $75 will be credited to the eligible account within 7 days of the first Direct Deposit, which must occur before 6/30/2009. The payout will be identified as “Direct Deposit Reward” on your monthly statement. A qualifying Direct Deposit is defined as a Direct Deposit of a paycheck, pension, Social Security or other regular monthly income electronically deposited into a Free, Performance, Performance Select Checking account or the Spend account for Virtual Wallet. The minimum amount of any single Direct Deposit must be at least $500. The Direct Deposits must be made by an employer or an outside agency. Transfers from one account to another or deposits made at a branch or ATM do not qualify as Direct Deposits. Offer available to new PNC Bank checking account customers only. Offer may be extended, modified or discontinued at any time and may vary by market.

A reader who also is a USAA (United Services Automobile Association) member sent me an email about the offer from USAA. This is a great offer from a Fortune 500 financial services company. The mission of USAA is to offer banking, investing, and insurance to people and families that serve, or served, in the United States military. USAA offers a lot of products including insurance, credit cards, banking accounts, auto loans, mortgages, mutual funds, and brokerage accounts. USAA was awarded 2002 JD Power Chairman’s Award for its highly rated customer services.

Following is the email from USAA about this promotion:

USAA emerged from a tumultuous 2008 strong and growing — well positioned to meet whatever challenges lie ahead. Our 2008 Report to Members details our exceptional results:

USAA remains profitable and returned more than $857 million to our members, a portion of which were bank rebates and rewards.1

We have taken no bailout money.

94% of our members tell us USAA meets or exceeds their family’s needs for financial advice and solutions.

Can you say the same about your bank? If not, then you’re leaving one of the most valuable benefits of USAA membership on the table.

MAKE USAA YOUR BANK
USAA Federal Savings Bank exists to serve our members. We are not indebted to Wall Street or to shareholders. Our conservative USAA management practices extend to our bank, which is strongly capitalized, highly rated and FDIC insured. We offer a full range of competitive products and world-class mobile and electronic banking capabilities.

Since you don’t bank with us today, we are extending a $100 bonus (payable December 2009) for opening a checking account with us. And, because we know it’s a hassle to change banks, our capable member service representatives are standing by to help you. Just call us at (800) 531-8132.

Once you’ve experienced online banking with a company that is truly worthy of your trust, you’ll never go back to a brick-and-mortar branch again.

Thank you for your membership.

Sincerely,

Josue (Joe) Robles Jr.
Maj. General, USA (Ret.)
President and CEO

To take advantage of this offer, click here to open a USAA Free Checking account with direct deposit. Or, call (800) 531-8132 and mention CEO 100.
(Offer expires May 31, 2009)

It seems very easy to get the $100 bonus: 1. Open an account with direct deposit and mention the code CEO 100 through the phone; 2. Wait for the $100 bonus credited to your account at USAA. The Free Checking Account features: free billpay, free debit card with rewards point, no monthly fees, ATM refunds and free checks.

But you have to be a member of USAA before you can open the account. Who is eligible to be a member of USAA?

• Active-duty officers and enlisted personnel.
• Children whose eligible parents have or had a USAA auto or property insurance product.¹
• National Guard and Selected Reserve officers and enlisted personnel.
• Officer candidates in commissioning programs (Academy, ROTC, OCS/OTS).
• Former military personnel:
  • Retired officers and enlisted personnel.
  • Former officers and enlisted personnel who separated from the military on or after Jan. 1, 1996.
• Former USAA members who had USAA auto or property insurance.

I reported that Home Street Bank was offering $215 bonus in January 2009. Right now the $215 bonus comes back again! If you missed the promotion in the January, this is a good chance for you! The link to the previous promotion is here. Of course, you have to complete several required banking activities to receive the $215 bonus.

The promotion page about this $215 bonus is here. This offer is only available in HomeStreet Bank branches. Open a new personal checking account at a HomeStreet Bank branch and complete the following activities for the full $215:

Sign up for Direct Deposit—earn $75-Make direct deposit with a minimum of $500 a month for 2 consecutive months and you will get $75.

Pay your bills online—earn $30-Enroll in FREE Online Banking and Bill Payer, pay a minimum of 3 bills each month for 2 consecutive months and you’ll get $30.

Use your Visa Check Card—earn $75-Use your Visa check card to make 10 purchases or payments each month for 2 consecutive months and you will get $75.

$25 for Check and Check Card-Give HomeStreet Bank your checks and/or check card from your current account at another financial institution and you can get $25!

Sign up for e-statements—earn $10-Enroll in FREE Online Banking and sign up to receive FREE e-statements—get an easy $10.

Home Street Bank is one of the largest banks in the Northwest and Hawaii. You can find a branch here. Promotion ends on June 30, 2009. This is a great opportunity for residents at OR, HI and WA.

It has been a long time since I posted the latest Banking Promotion from US Banks. The economic situation is still not very good. Sovereign Bank is offering $100 sign up bonus for opening a new checking account and make required banking activities. This is a great promotion for us since there is no direct deposit required to earn the easy $100 bonus. If you want to open a new account and want to make some easy money, this is a great chance.

The $100 bonus is pretty easy to get. The promotion page is located at www.sovereignbank.com/100. Following is the detailed promotion requirements:

• Open a Sovereign Premier or Interest Checking account along with a Check Card by May 22nd
• Use your CheckCard to make 6 purchases totaling at least $250 in 60 days
• Get $100 bonus deposited into your account 15 days after the 60-day opening period

Please note that this offer is only available to new customers only.

The Interest Checking Account requires monthly direct deposit to avoid monthly fees ($5). The Premier Checking Account requires $15000 balance every month to avoid monthly fees ($25)! I certainly would like to suggest you open an Interest Checking Account to get the $100 bonus. Try your luck!

Recently, there are a lot of emails from MyCardBlog.com readers regarding the easy steps to pay Bank of America (BOA) credit cards online. I must indicate that to pay Bank of America’s credit cards online is not so easy if you are not familiar with BOA’s rules and do not have checking account with them. If you have a regular checking account at Bank of America, then there is no such problem because you when you click the “pay now” button, it will re-direct you to the checking account bill pay section. Then everything is very simple.

If you do not have a regular checking account at Bank of America, you need to find other ways to pay your credit card bills online. It seems even Yahoo! answers do not have the right answers on how to pay Bank of America credit cards online. I believe it will be very easy for you if you read this post.

To pay your Bank of America credit card online from other financial institution, you have to visit www.myeasypayment.com to submit a payment online. You will need following information for each payment (This website does not store your payment and personal information!).

• Credit card number
• Last name as it appears on the credit card
• Last 4 digits of your Social Security number
• City and ZIP code where your statement is mailed to
• ABA/Routing Number of non–Bank of America financial institution
• Account number of non–Bank of America financial institution

Of course, this myeasypayment.com is also the only website that you can pay your Bank of Ameirca loans online.

If you have a Bank of Ameirca checking or savings account, you can go to your online account and click “Make Transfer” tab and follow the directions to transfer money to your credit card.

It is a little boring to remember everything for each payment at www.myeasypayment.com. Will Bank of America do something to make online payment much easier like other credit card issuers in the near future?

American Express cards are my favorite credit cards. I use my Starwood Preferred Guest Card from American Express frequently to accumulate Starpoints. American Express usually provide great promotions for credit card members now and then. Now American Express is offering free credit report for its card members.

The link to the offer is www.americanexpress.com/creditreport. You have to login your online account to see whether you are qualified for this offer. The credit report is provided by Experian which is one of the three major credit reporting agencies. There will be a credit score associated with the credit report. That is named as PLUS score which is in the range of 330~830.

I’m really impressed by this American Express credit report offer. Usually credit card issuers offer free 30-day period trial for using credit report service. But this time you might be qualified to get free credit report service with a free credit score.

Meanwhile, American Express is also offering credit education for its card members at www.americanexpress.com/managemycard. At this website, you learn facts about your credit cards, your credit report, your credit protection and your support from American Express. There are a lot of valuable information like: What’s In Your Report? How Credit Report Mistakes Are Made? How to improve your FICO score.

You can also find some great tips:

• Helpful tips to manage your credit profile
• Key factors lenders use to make credit decisions
• How late payments, requests for new credit, and length of your credit history can affect your credit score
• Tips for safeguarding yourself against fraud and what you can do if you suspect it

American Express is offering double points opportunity for its cardmembers. This offer lasts exactly one year from March15, 2008 to March 15, 2009. We have not heard the promotion from American Express for a while. I think this is a great chance for American Express cardmembers to earn bonus Membership Rewards Points.

The promotion can be found at American Express website. According to the website, American Express charge card members can double their own membership rewards points on gas and groceries until March 15th, 2010. There is a cap of $1000 per month for each cardmember.

Details: Use your American Express^® Charge Card for everyday needs, and you can get more of the things you want. Enroll now so you can start earning double Membership Rewards points on virtually every dollar you spend on gas and groceries (up to $1,000 each month) until March 15th, 2010. If you are registered to manage your account online, you may enter your User ID and Password below to sign in and enroll in this promotion. Or, you may enroll by calling the phone number listed below and entering the promotional code.

Eligible Cards: the American Express Card, the American Express Rewards Green Card, the American Express Preferred Rewards Green Card, the American Express Gold Card, the American Express Rewards Gold Card, the American Express Preferred Rewards Gold Card, the American Express Rewards Plus Gold Card, the Platinum Card^®, the Centurion^® Card.

Promotion code: 139150001 or you can call 800-794-1308 to enroll.