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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!

For those who still do not have a checking account at Key Bank, there is good news! Key Bank is offering free Garmin nuvi GPS for opening a new checking account with required banking activities. There are couples of checking account products to choose from and two different GPS units to choose from as well.

The promotion page for this offer is here. Although there are different checking accounts to choose from at Key Bank, the requirements for each checking account is same.

Get a Garmin® nüvi® GPS when you open a qualifying checking account at KeyBank by April 24, 2009 and make one debit card transaction plus a combination of two direct deposits and/or automated payments each of $100 or more by June 26, 2009.

There are two different Garmin units for different checking accounts:

Garmin nuvi 205W GPS for Key Express Free Checking and Key Advantage Money Market Checking Account.

Garmin nuvi 265WT GPS for Key Privilege Checking Account and Key Privilege Select Checking Account.

One debit card transaction and two direct deposits are equal to a Garmin nuvi GPS! I would take the chance to get the GPS from Key Bank.

Fine print:

Qualifying debit card transactions include signature, PayPass®, and PIN-based purchases. ATM and over-the-counter withdrawals and deposits are excluded. 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. Limit one Garmin® GPS per qualifying account. Limit one Garmin® GPS per individual. Offer valid while supplies last. The value of the Garmin GPS will be reported on Form 1099-INT. You will receive your Garmin® GPS within 90 days of meeting requirements. Offer available to individuals without an existing checking account at KeyBank as of 3/27/09.

Note: This offer is only available to the residents of the states where Key Bank located.

Capital One is offering $50 sign up bonus for new customers who open a new banking account at Capital One with required deposit. The financial situation of Capital One is pretty good. It did not invest much money in the subprime mortgage market. Put your money at Capital One is really safe. If you are still looking for banking offers, I suggest you take this chance. It is easy to get as long as you make enough initial deposit.

The promotion page is here. This offer is nationally available. You can open a new account online at www.capitalonedirect.com. Following is the detail of this promotion:

• Open a new account before 04/15/2009
• Make at least $10,000 deposit by 05/8/2009
• At least $10,000 must be on deposit on 05/8/2009
• You are a new customer to Capital One Direct Banking
• Offer code: OFFER50

The yield of savings account at Capital One is not bad.

I have not updated my blog for a long time simply because I am pretty busy and there is no good news right now. The economy situation is still not good. PNC Bank and National City Bank, however, are still offering great banking bonus for new customers. Right now, they are offering $75 bonus for opening a new checking account with required direct deposit.

Here is the link to PNC Bank promotion page. This time the promotion seems like very easy as long as you use your visa check card issued by PNC. Following is the detail:

Open a select new PNC personal checking account with a PNC Bank visa check card between March 2 and March 28, 2009. PNC will pay you $1 for each qualifying purchase made using your PNC Bank visa check card and for every complete online bill payment made through May31, 2009.

Eligible personal accounts for this offer are Free Checking, Performance Checking, Performance Select Checking and the Spend Account of Virtual Wallet.

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, which is processed or submitted through the Visa U.S.A. Inc. payment system. PIN-based purchases are not qualifying purchases.

The Free Checking Account qualifies this offer and features:

• Free transactions at any PNC Bank ATM
• Non-PNC ATM fees reimbursed with a $2,000 average monthly balance
• No minimum balance requirement and no monthly service charge
• Earn rewards with your enrolled PNC Bank Visa Check Card when you make a qualifying purchase
• Free Online Banking³ and Bill Pay

National City Bank now is part of PNC Bank. The $75 visa check card promotion page is here.

• Open a new checking account with a minimum of $50 initial deposit by 3/31/09
• Set up direct deposit of at least $250 into your account within first 60 days
• Make at least 10 check card purchases within first 60 days

This offer is limited to residents of FL, IL, IN, KY, MI, MO, OH, PA and WI.

M&T Bank is offering checking account bonus for all the checking products at M&T Bank. You can get up to $100 bonus for opening selected checking account with qualified direct deposit. This is a great deal for new M&T bank customers. M&T Bank offers a lot of checking account products. You should look carefully to choose the best one for you.

Details about this promotion:

There is a promotion banner at the website of M&T Bank. You have to enter your zip code to get the information about the current checking promotions. M&T Bank has locations at DE, MD, NY, PA, VA, WV and DC. You have to be a resident at the above states to qualify for this promotion. You can apply online, call M&T Bank at 866-878-0329 or stop into your nearest branch.

Accounts offer $100 Cash Bonus:

M&T Power Checking, M&T Select Checking, M&T Classic Checking w/interest and M&T Direct Checking

Accounts offer $25 Cash Bonus:

M&T Totally Free Checking and M&T @College Checking

Since we can get $100 bonus for doing required banking activities, I will briefly mention how to get $100 bonus.

M&T Direct Checking is a good choice to me. There is no monthly service fee with direct deposit OR when you maintain at least $1,500 in combined average daily M&T Direct Checking and M&T Personal Savings balances. Otherwise you will be charged a $5.95 monthly fee.

This account features:

• Free M&T Web Banking and M&T Web Bill Pay^**
• M&T Check Card with free Visa® Extras Rewards
• Free account access at over 1,600 M&T Bank ATMs^*
• Unlimited check writing
• Plus − Direct Deposit, Overdraft Protection, Electronic Statements, Easy Save

For this $100 bonus, all you have to do is maintaining direct deposit to the account within 90 days of account opening. Bonus will be credited to the account after the first such deposit is made and will be reported as income for tax purposes. It is pretty easy to accomplish this requirement!

The name M&T is an abbreviation of Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company. And it is ranked 496th on the Fortune 500.

Bank of America just announced the launch of a new online shopping site-Add It Up, which is said to allows enrolled customers to earn up to 20% cash back on their purchases at more than 270 online retailers, including top names such as Walmart.com, BestBuy.com and Barnes & Noble.com. This seems to be a new cash back website for Bank of America’s online banking customers.

It looks like a new cash back website for me. Many credit card issuers also offer similar reward website. For example, Chase has the Chase Rewards Plus, Discover Card has the ShopDiscover, and Citi has the Citi Cash Bonus Center. But from this move, we can see that Bank of America is dedicated to serve its customers. “With Add It Up, Bank of America is giving customers a new way to stretch their money by getting cash back on purchases from hundreds of retailers they do business with regularly, and letting them do it online at their convenience.” as indicated by David Owen, Checking and Debit executive for Bank of America.

The merchants listed at Add It Up look really great. Add It Up has included essentially all major US online merchants and covered all categories. You can get up to 20% cash back from more than 270 participating online retailers (such as iTunes, Macys.com, BestBuy.com, Barnes & Noble.com, Walmart.com, Homedepot.com, Sephora.com, Staples.com, Gap.com, PETCO.com, Overstock.com, REI.com and LandsEnd.com). Plus you can combine Add It Up cash back with existing deals and discounts from retailers and other Bank of America programs such as Keep The Change and BankAmericard Rewards. It indeed is a great cash back deal for Bank of America customers!

Bank of America customers with a current Bank of America credit or check card who are enrolled in online banking can register for free through the Add It Up site at http://www.bankofamerica.com/additup.