MyCardBlog

I’d like to thank John for reminding me of the promotion from Key Bank. As far as I can recall, Key Bank is famous for the previous banking promotion which offered a free iPod for opening a new account with them. This time, Key Bank is offering $100 Key Possibilities gift card for opening a new Key Express Free Checking Account with direct deposit or automated payments. In order to get the $100 gift card, you have to open a Key Express Free Checking Account between 03/29/2008 and 04/25/2008. You can open an account at Key Bank local branch, www.key.com or by phone at 877-888-3658. To qualify for this bonus, you have to make a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more by 6/27/08. If you close your account within 180 days of account opening, you will be charged a $25 account early closure fee.

Fine Print:

Must open a qualifying checking account at a KeyBank branch, Key.com or through 1-877-888-3658 between 3/29/08 and 4/25/08 and make a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more by 6/27/08. Free checking only applies to a Key Express Free Checking account. Qualifying accounts include Key Express Free Checking (this is the basic banking account in NY) and Key Advantage®. You will receive your $100 Key Possibilities MasterCard® card within 90 days of meeting requirements. The gift card can be used at locations that accept Debit MasterCard cards. Direct deposit transactions are limited to: payroll, social security, pension and government benefits. Automated payments exclude Key Bill Pay, debit card automated payments, PayPal® transactions and account to account balance transfers. Offer available to individuals without an existing checking account at KeyBank as of 03/28/08. Offer not available to individuals who have opened a KeyBank checking account in the last 12 months. Employees of KeyBank, its affiliates and subsidiaries are not eligible for this offer. Limit one $100 Key Possibilities Card per qualifying account. Limit one $100 Key Possibilities Card per individual. Offer valid while supplies last. The $100 value of the Key Possibilities gift card received for opening a checking account with direct deposit and/or automated payments will be reported on Form 1099-INT. If you close your account within 180 days of account opening, you will be charged a $25 account early closure fee.

Features of Key Express Free Checking Account:

• No monthly maintenance service charge
• No minimum balance requirement
• No per-check fees or limits
• No monthly or annual KeyBank Debit Card fee
• No fee for using your KeyBank Debit Card on purchases when using a PIN or signing for a purchase
• Free, unlimited use of Key’s nationwide network of ATMs
• Free 24-hour access to your accounts with Online Banking
• Free Key Bill Pay to pay your bills quickly and easily online

NO hard pulls were reported for opening this account at Key Bank. They need your personal information to identify you. Details of this promotion can be found here. Key Bank is the 16th largest bank in United States based on total deposit and is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2007, key Bank was ranked 319 on Fortune 500.

FNBO Direct has just stated a promotion for its BillPay Account. FNBO Direct is famous for its high interest rate and easy money transfer. I believe many readers have the FNBO Direct savings account. This $25 bonus is a very easy money to get as long as you open a BillPay Account and make an online billpay in 90 days. This promotion will expire on 04/30/2008.

Details of the promotion:

* Limited Time Bonus Offer: If you are a current FNBO Direct Online Savings Account customer, you can earn a $25.00 bonus for opening a new FNBO Direct BillPay Account. We will credit the bonus to your BillPay Account within 30 days after it is opened. In order to earn the bonus, your BillPay Account must remain open for 90 days and you must make at least one BillPay payment during that period (we reserve the right to deduct the amount of an unearned bonus from any account you have with us). This offer is only applicable to BillPay accounts opened on or after 03/25/08 and is limited to one bonus per household. This promotion is set to end on 04/30/08, however, we may change or discontinue this offer at any time. The FNBO Direct BillPay Account pays an annual percentage yield of 2.50%. The APY is accurate as of 03/25/08 and is subject to change. Fees may reduce earnings.

You can find the promotion page here.

Features of the BillPay Account:

• No minimum balance required to open
• There is no monthly fee
• Paper checks cannot be used
• BillPay payments from your BillPay Account may not be less than $5 or more than $10,000
• Your ATM Card can be used at any PLUS networks ATM without a foreign ATM charge.

As far as I know, FNBO launched this account in November, 2007. It’s designed to be like ING Direct’s Electric Orange account in that there are no paper checks. The BillPay account has a current yield of 2.50% APY.

Note: NO hard pull has been reported for opening an accout at FNBO. You can always check my “Hard Pull and Soft Pull” to see whether the banks will pull your credit report when you want to open an account there.

The famous TCF “Cash is King” Event has come back! You can get $100 cash bonus if you open a free checking account with direct deposit and make 5 debit card transactions within 30 days of account opening. This promotion expires on April 30, 2008.

To receive the offer, you have to:

1. Open a TCF free checking account;

2. Set up your direct deposit to TCF checking accout before May 31, 2008;

3. Make 5 debit card purchases within 30 days of account opening;

The Totally Free Checking Account has no monthly service charges and no minimum balance requirements. Plus you will get free online bill payments!

According to the fine print, the offer is only available in Colorado, Michigan and Minnesota.

©2008 TCF National Bank. Member FDIC. *New accounts must be opened between March 1 – April 30, 2008. To qualify for the $100 Cash Offer, a direct deposit of $25 or more from a third party source must post to the new account by May 31, 2008, and account owner must make five purchases using their new TCF Check Card within 30 days of account opening. Offer is available to individuals and small businesses without a TCF Checking account in the past 90 days. TCF reserves the right to cancel or modify this promotion at any time. Customer is responsible for all applicable taxes. $100 Cash Offer will be automatically deposited directly into the customer’s new checking account within 6-8 weeks of account opening, assuming all conditions are met. Offer not available in IL, IN, WI, or AZ. Visit your neighborhood branch for local promotions in your area

The details can be found here.

Here is another $100 bonus from Nationl City:
According to a National City employee, National City Bank is also offering $100 cash bonus for a new Work Perks checking account with direct deposit. This offer is valid from 3/3/2008 through 3/21/2008. An ACH direct deposit of your paycheck for at least $250 must be received in 60 days with account opening. Offer is limited to new customers without a personal checking account at National City. At last, you have to open the Work Perks checking in branch.

Right now, we can find the official promotion page for the previously mentioned (this post) banking promotion from CitiBank.

If you are a new customer to Citi, you have to do the following steps to get the 40,000 ThankYou points.

1. Open a regular checking account with $1,000 deposit and then make one direct deposit or 2 bill payments for 3 consecutive months.

2. Open a Citi Ultimate Savings Account an deposit $25,000 in this account.

3. Enroll in ThankYou Network and wait for the 40,000 ThankYou Points appear in your account.

You can apply for the new account online or by phone at 866-458-9212 and mention the promotion code: CSZL.

If you are already a Citi Bank customer, you can still qualify for this promotion.

If you currently have the Ultimate Savings Account, you should open a checking account and finish the necessary activities as mentioned above. And fund this Ultimate Savings Account $25,000.

If you currently have a checking account, you should open a new Ultimate Savings Account and finish the necessary activities as mentioned above.

Read this post and then you can figure out how easily you can earn a free ticket to Asia or Europe by combining this promotion and getting extra bonus points by applying for new credit cards. Details of the promotion can be found here.

Suggested post: A Proposal—Earn ThankYou Points for A Free Trip to Europe or Asia.

PNC bank has a check card promotion in which you can earn 5% rebate on check card purchases made through July 31, 2008. You can find the promotion page is at pnc.com/offers. It seems the only requirement is that you should open a personal checking account with a PNC Bank Visa Check Card by March 31st. You’ll earn a 5% rebate on your qualifying Check Card purchases through July 31, 2008. But the rebate is capped at $100. Following is the terms and conditions:

5% rebate will be credited on a monthly basis to your checking account and will appear on your statement as Check Card Rebate. Rebate is paid at the account level, regardless of cardholder making the purchase. 5% rebate is only paid for Qualifying Purchases posting to the account through 7/31/2008 and is capped at $100 in total rebates. A Qualifying Purchase is any signature based purchase, Internet purchase, phone or mail-order purchase, bill payment, or small dollar purchase for which you are not required to sign, made with an enrolled PNC Bank Visa Check Card, which is processed or submitted through the Visa U.S.A. Inc. payment system. A Qualifying Purchase does not include a purchase made using a Personal Identification Number (PIN) or purchase you initiate through identification technology that substitutes for a PIN. Offer not available for Foundation Checking.

This promotion is available to any state. And the most existing news it that there’s no hard pull during the application process. This is like the 5% Citi CashReturns Card which will give you 5% cash back on everything for the first 3 months (only 1% now).

This is not new but Chase is still giving away $200 bonus when you open a Chase Business Checking account. The process is very simple. Take the business related documents with you and open a Chase Business Checking account at any Chase branch. The only requirement is that you must deposit a minimum of $500 or more within 30 days of account opening with funds not currently on deposit with Chase (new money).

However, you have to be aware that like other business accounts, all the Chase Business Checking accounts have fees unless you have a high balance. More details on their Business Checking products can be found at Chase.Com.

I believe most of us may be not aware of the deal just reported at MSN Money. According to the article customers who establish certain money market and checking accounts and perform qualifying banking activities will receive enough ThankYou(R) Points to redeem for up to two round-trip airline tickets, valued at up to $400 each, to anywhere in the continental U.S., with no blackout dates.

Citing its latest consumer research which found that travel is one of the most compelling rewards for people, the banking leader today announces that customers who establish certain money market and checking accounts and perform qualifying banking activities will receive enough ThankYou(R) Points to redeem for up to two round-trip airline tickets, valued at up to $400 each, to anywhere in the continental U.S., with no blackout dates.

What should you do?

From February 25 through March 31, 2008, new and existing Citibank customers can receive ThankYou Points for up to two round-trip airline tickets, from a choice of major airlines, to anywhere in the continental U.S., valued at up to $400 each, with no blackout dates or Saturday night stay required, when they:

1) Deposit $25,000 in a new or existing money market account.
2) Open a new qualifying Citibank checking account with a minimum deposit of $1,000, enroll it in ThankYou Network and make one direct deposit to or two electronic bill payments from the checking account each month for three consecutive months.

I haven’t seen any promotion code or other specific requirement right now. If you want to open a new checking and money market account, please call Citi to make sure that you can get the bonus. Detailed report can be found here.

I believe a lot of friends have jumped in the promotion from RevolutionMoneyExchange.Com. Now they are offering another service to us—the Revolution Card! RevolutionCard is from the same company that brought you the PayPal competitor RevolutionMoneyExchange.Com

Corporation with Buy.Com, Revolution card is offering $50 off $51 when you apply for this card and use it at Buy.Com. Revolution Card is a new way to make purchases online and aimed to compete with PayPal/Google Check Out. It’s a PIN based credit card which is said to offer great security and ease of use than other payment methods. Or more precisely, it’s a kind of debit/credit hybrid card. A good point is they offer you low interest rates.

What makes RevolutionCard different?

+ Greater security because it’s a PIN-based credit card.
+ Non-embossed card helps protect your identity.
+ No annual fee. No gimmicks.
+ Low APRs with no teaser rates.

You can see the list of merchants that accept RevolutionCard now.

The promotion expires on March 21, 2008. Click here to get more details. I can also expect they will promote rewards programs in the near future to compete with major credit card issuers. Otherwise, I only have one reason to use this card—get $50 from Buy.Com.