MyCardBlog

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!

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.

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.

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.

It has been a long time for me to not mention banking bonus at mycardblog.com. We all know current economic situation is very bad. Only Chase is offering $100 or $125 checking account bonus all year round. Citi and Bank of America are not offering bonus for opening checking/savings account recently. But there are many regional banks that offer sign up bonuses for opening a new checking/savings account.

Dollar Bank is offering $100 bonus for opening a new checking account with required banking activities. The first $50 bonus will be on your free Dollar Bank debit mastercard. The first $50 on your debit card purchases will be credited back from Dollar Bank. Anther $50 bonus required you to make direct deposit to the new checking account.

Following is how:

1. Open a new FreeMoney checking account with minimum $50 deposit and use your debit card issued from Dollar Bank. The first $50 is free for you. Applies to debit card purchases with a signature only.

2. Make cumulative direct deposits of $250 by 3/31/09 and you will receive the bonus by 04/15/09.

You can open the account online or even request a printable email to your mailbox and bring it to a local branch. Dollar Bank is a federal savings bank headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Sterling Savings Bank is running a banking promotion from which you can get $101 bonus for completing required banking activities. This is a first report of banking promotion from Sterling Savings Bank here at MyCardBlog.com. It seems this $101 is easy to get for people living in West Coast where most Sterling Savings Bank branches located.

The promotion is listed on its website at www.sterlingsavingsbank.com. The promotion page can be found through this link. This promotion requires you to open a new checking account and complete 3 of 4 banking activities. The 4 banking activities are: bill pay, direct deposit, check card and online statement. If you don’t want to bother your payroll office, you can simply use bill pay, check card and online statement to qualify for the promotion.

Fine print:

To be eligible for the $101 incentive, you must enroll in three of the four following products within 90 days of account opening: Bill Pay, Online Statements, Check Card and/or Direct Deposit and meet specific usage requirements in conjunction with opening a new personal checking account.

Following is how to get the bonus:

You must meet 3 of the following 4 requirements: be enrolled in Free Bill Pay, enrolled in Online Statements, have a minimum of one (1) incoming Direct Deposit or ACH credit on your checking account within 90 days of account opening or use your Check Card a minimum of three (3) times within the first 90 days of account opening. Check Card transactions can be ATM, point-of-sale (POS) with PIN or signature based transactions. According to the usage requirements, ING direct or paypal transfer should be counted as the direct deposit.

You account will be reviewed after 3 months. The $101 will be credited to your checking account within four calendar months of account opening upon meeting usage requirements.

This $101 seems pretty easy to get. But Sterling Savings Bank only has branches at AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, OR, NV, UT and WA.

Sterling Savings Bank has the BucksBack Platinum Edition Visa Card which offers $50 sign up bonus after first use of this credit card. With this credit card, you can get 1% cash back on all qualifying purchases without annual fee. Another feature is you can actually design the card design by uploading your own photos. It’s a cool credit card to own!

Recently, there are a lot of banking promotions. But this 8 GB Ipod Touch promotion from Bryn Mawr Trust Company is the best one that I have seen so far this year. We all know that a 8 GB Ipod Touch is equal to $200 which is a pretty sweet deal under current financial situation. This promotion is comparable to the $225 Citi Promotion. The only limitation of this promotion is the bonus is only available to PA residents at selected locations.

The promotion was advertised on Philadelphia Inquirer (reported in slickdeals.net). It was ont mentioned on its website www.bmtc.com. Here is the detail of this promotion:

• Open a new checking account with minimum $250 initial deposit
• Direct deposits from payroll or government
• Offer expires on Feb 28, 2009
• Two direct deposits must be received by BMTC by May 15, 2009
• Account must remain open for 1 year or else you’ll be charged $250 by BMTC

This promotion is available at all BMTC locations. You have to pick up the new iPod Touch at local branches by yourself.

If you are lucky enough to live near one of their branches, I strongly suggest you take this chance to get a free iPod Touch by transferring you payroll to BMTC. Or you can split you payroll to two or more different banks to earn more bonuses.