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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!

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.

National City Bank is now a part of PNC bank. I reported two huge banking bonuses from National City Bank back to 2008. One was offering $200 and another was offering $150. Now the situation of National City Bank has been stabilized and the bonus they are offering right now is only $75.

The promotional link to this $75 bonus can be found here. National City will give you $75 visa gift card for opening a new checking account and do required banking activities. Following is how to get the bonus:

Details about this promotion:

1. Apply online or call 1-866-844-0056 to open your checking account by 03/31/09.

2. Set up direct deposit of your entire paycheck (of at least $250) into your account within the first 60 days – click the tab below to see how our Switch Service can help.

3. Get a free National City Visa CheckCard^** and make at least 10 purchases within the first 60 days.

This promotion ends on March 31, 2009.

National City has a lot of checking account products like Elite Checking, Free Checking Plus, Interest Checking Plus, Interest Checking or free checking.

Actually, PNC Bank was also offering $75 bonus for opening a new checking account and make required direct deposit. But the offer was ended on 02/28/09. Link is here.

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.

Priority Club and EverBank is running a promotion from which you can get up to 10,000 bonus points for opening bank account at EverBank. The reason for mention this promotion here is I have other recommendations on how to quickly accumulate Priority Club points.

The promotion for earning bonus priority points is listed on EverBank’s website. EverBank has 4 stars on BankRate’s Safe & Sound ratings system. It is also FDIC insured. Following is how to get the bonus points:

Yield Pledge Money Market Account
Get 5,000 points, a 3-month Bonus Rate, and a high yield all year long.
Plus:
● Free Online Banking
● No maintenance fee on balances above $1,500

FreeNet Checking Account
Get 2,500 points, a 3-month Bonus Rate, and a high yield all year long.
Plus:
● Free Online Banking
● Free check writing
● ATM reimbursement up to $6 per month

Yield Pledge Certificate of Deposit
Get 2,500 points, a choice of terms, and a high yield at opening and rollover.
Plus:
● Convenient maturity reminders
● Automated rollovers

There is no limit on how many accounts you can have at EverBank. You can open all 3 accounts together and get the full 10,000 points!

Priority Club also works with Chase to issue Priority Club Rewards Visa Signature Card. This credit card both have personal and business version. Each credit card is offering 30,000 bonus points! If you spend more than 15,000 annually, you can get 10,000 more bonus points! The card design looks really cool to me.

Priority points can be used to redeem free hotel stays, car rentals, airline tickets etc. If you are interested in priority Club, you can apply for a membership for free.

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.