MyCardBlog

I got an email from Chase titled “Get Free debit rewards with your Chase checking account”. Form this email, I can tell that simply enrolling your Chase debit card at Visa Extras (WaMu debit cards are also eligible) and you can  get 5,500 bonus points which can be redeemed as a $10 gift card. SO if you are free for about 5 min, you can enroll you debit card at Visa Extras and get an easy $10 gift card .

The link to enroll your Chase Visa Debit Card is here. (You must have to enroll before September 30, 2009 by above link to get 5,500 bonus points.) That link will bring you to visaextras.com to get enrolled. Once you finish the enrollment process, all you have to do is wait until the bonus points appear in your account. You might be also interested in using your debit card to get more points (which I do not suggest—simply because your need 5,500 points for a $10 gift card at visaextras compared to 6,000 points for $50 gift card at Citi thankyou network.).You need to know what kinds of “qualifying purchases” are eligible to earn points.

• Purchases for which you are required to sign
• Internet purchases (except for gambling)
• Phone or mail order purchases
• Bill payments
• Contactless blink_® purchases (purchases made by holding your card or other device up to a secure reader instead of swiping your card)
• Small dollar purchases for which you are not required to sign, made with your enrolled debit card, unless any of such purchases are authorized with a Personal Identification Number (”PIN”) or are non-qualifying purchases.

To earn points, if prompted for “Debit or Credit,” always select “Credit” and sign for the purchase.
Your $10 gift card will be awarded by posting 5,500 bonus rewards points to your Chase Extras account following the expiration of this promotion.

It has been a while that I got no promotion information from major US Banks. The latest news was the Bank of America’s $75 bonus. Now I have a great news that $100 checking account bonus is available to new customers to BB&T Bank.

The promotion page can be found at BB&T bank’s homepage. According to the promotion page, the requirements to get the $100 bonus is pretty easy:

1. Open a BB&T free checking account at BB&T Bank website
2. Set up direct deposit or make 3 online bill payments
3. Get your $100 bonus

The BB&T free checking account features:

• No minimum balance or monthly maintenance fee
• Free BB&T Check Card with Visa extras
• Free online banking with bill payments

The promotion code is AFAAP

Fine print:

This special limited time offer is available to new clients that open a new personal checking account between 08/28/09 and 10/31/09 through BBT.com. A new client is a person who is not currently a signer and who was not a signer within the last 6 months on any BB&T personal checking account. In order to receive the $100 incentive, new clients must do at least one of the following: 1) Use our online bill payment service to initiate 3 online bill payments from your new checking account within 60 days of account opening, OR 2) Enroll in and receive a direct deposit to the new personal checking account within 60 days of account opening. The $100 account opening incentive will be deposited directly to your account within 4 weeks of meeting the above requirements, and will be reported to the IRS as required by law.

BB&T Bank has branches at following states:

• Alabama
• Florida
• Georgia
• Indiana
• Kentucky
• Maryland
• North Carolina
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Virginia
• Washington, D.C.
• West Virginia

If you are not a resident at above states, you are not eligible to get a bonus.

It seems PayPal offers a unique way to let parents and students manage their money. PayPal now launches new student account which can be setup by parents and offer purchasing power for students. This student account works just like other normal PayPal account but with a new feature. Other accounts can be added on to it. It not linked to outside checking accounts. Instead, all transactions flow through the parent’s account.

I search online and found a video about this new account. Below is an interview from MarketWatch’s Jonathan Burton with PayPal vice president Don Fotsch.

Detailed information about the student account can be found at https://www.paypal.com/studentaccount.

According to PayPal this new account is good for both parents and students:

• Spending is limited to what’s available in the account
• Provides visibility to all transactions
• Promotes healthy dialogue about money

• Shop online with PayPal and in stores with the Student Card
• Learn to manage money
• Enjoy freedom and independence in a safer and more secure way

It is very diffcult to get a banking deal recently. Most banks and credit card issuers are changing their marketing strategies in the past few months. More and more banks stopped offering sign up bonuses which is frequently advertised in the market. For any reason you want to open a new checking account and want some sweet bonuses, Bank of America is a good choice now.

Bank of America is offering $75 bonus for opening a new checking account. Although you have other account options, I would suggest the MyAccess Checking Account which does not charge mothly fees. Here is the promotion page. It seems this offer is for those who just moved to a new place. But, since the bank will not verify that, this offer is open to essentially anyone!

How to get the $75 bonus?

• This offer is available only to new customers who open a qualifying personal checking account with a minimum balance of $500
• The new checking account must be open for at least 30 days
• You must make a minimum of one transaction with the newly assigned check card

Fine print: To take advantage of this offer, you must use the Offer Code provided to open your qualifying new Bank of America personal checking account by 08/30/2009. Bank of America may terminate the offer before this date. This offer is available only to new customers who open a new qualifying personal checking account. The new customer will receive the incentive upon verification of qualification in the incentive programs. We will deposit the $75 incentive directly into your new checking account within 90 days of its opening; if unable to do so, a check will be issued.

You have to read the fine print to see whether you are qualified for this promotion. The promotion code is AOU260609 which automatically appears if you apply for a new account online through the link at the promotion page. If you want to open a new account at local branches, you have to provide the code to the bankers.

Good luck!

I was shocked when I heard from my friends that Capital One is offering $200 sign up bonus for new customers. But it is true and I would like to share this news with you guys. I hope you or maybe your friends could take the chance to get $200 bonus from Capital One. As far as I know, this is the best sign up offer right now in this country.

The offer page can be found at the capital one website: http://www.capitalone.com/bank/checking/200.php. The Capital One rewards checking account is a great account for customers. It features:

• Get free checking: no monthly service fee and no minimum balance requirement.
• Get automatic rewards for everyday banking (debit card use, ATM withdrawal, online bill pay).
• Get cash, travel, merchandise rewards. You choose.

To qualify for the $200 bonus, you have to:

• $50 minimum opening deposit required.
• You have to receive a mailer from Capital One about this promotion otherwise you can not get the bonus.
• Establish a direct deposit to your account.
• Present the mailer you received when you open a Capital One Bank branch personal checking account and mention promo code RC2.

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.