Sun East Federal Credit Union is offering a sign up bonus when you open a checking account. You can earn $100, $200 or $300 but the bigger the bonus the bigger the direct deposit requirement. You also get a Sun East Debit Card with CURewards, which gives you 1 point for every $2 your spend.
Offer valid to members who open a NEW primary checking account during the promotional period (June 1 – July 31, 2015). Offer not valid to current Sun East primary or joint checking accountholders. Member must not have closed a Sun East checking account within the last 5 years. Your checking account must remain open in order for you to receive the cash incentive, which will be credited to the eligible account within 30 days of the completion of the promotion. Member is required to pay all resultant taxes from the promotion.
$100 Bonus Requirements
- Open Sun East Free Checking Account in branch or online.
- Establish a qualifying direct deposit* totaling $1,000 or more within the first 90 days of opening your account.
- Make at least one payment using SunPay, Online Bill Pay.
$200 Bonus Requirements
- Open Sun East Free Checking Account in branch or online.
- Establish a qualifying direct deposit* totaling $2,500 or more within the first 90 days of opening your account.
- Make at least two payments using SunPay, Online Bill Pay.
$300 Bonus Requirements
- Open Sun East Free Checking Account in branch or online.
- Establish a qualifying direct deposit* totaling $5,000 or more within the first 90 days of opening your account.
- Make at least three payments using SunPay, Online Bill Pay.
Offer Details
- Sign up Offer
- Account Type: Sun East Free Checking Account
- Availability: PA, DE, & NJ
- Expiration Date: 07/31/2015
- Inquiry Type: Soft pull
- Direct Deposit Requirement: Yes ($1,000, $2,500 or $5,000)
- Credit Card Funding: Yes (up to $550)
- Monthly Fee: No
- Additional Requirements: 1, 2 or 3 Online Bill Pay
- Closing Account Fee: None. Account must be open to receive bonus
The wording on the offer is a bit confusing regarding the direct deposit requirement. To be on the safe side, I’d suggest a $5,000 one deposit, instead of a few deposits totaling over $5,000.
You’ll need to make a $10 donation and the application is a bit time consuming. Checks come with a fee, so leave that option unchecked.
Keep in mind that some credit cards will charge you cash advance fees if you use them to fund the account opening. As Eric points out in the comments below, Discover is one of those cards. So make sure to set your cash advance limits to $0 before using any credit card for funding.
HT: HustlerMoneyBlog
Danny,
Do you know of anyone that has received the $300? It has been over 30 days since my “direct deposit” and I didn’t receive anything.
Sorry Eirc, I don’t have any info. Have you looked in other blogs and forums? I’ll take a look as well.
There’s another thread about it on Doctor of Credit but no one responded to me. Did you do the offer yourself? I’m guessing they are more strict than other companies.
I didn’t do it since I’m in NY, but I would have definitely gone for it if I was in one of the three states.
My suggestion would be to wait a bit longer, then send them a message asking for the bonus.
Thank you guys for all the data points. I’ll read more through them in the morning and add them to the post. I looked through forums and I didn’t see anyone report yet after they received the bonus.
I hope you get your CA fee back Jay.
Also, I belive as long as you apply before 31st you should be good. That’s how is with most banks. It’s not your fault if they take longer to approve you.
I would have agreed with you except I had a bad experience a couple of years ago. I applied for a Citizens Bank account online a few days before the deadline. After I met the requirements I asked why my bonus hadn’t posted. They informed me that my account wasn’t actually opened until a week after the deadline as they took their sweet time. There was no local branch so I had to mail my docs causing the delay. I would have applied to this sooner but I forgot about it until your comment reminded me. If I don’t get an email tomorrow I will call them as they are in until 8 PM.
I just noticed that your time stamp is still off by 4 hours. Is there any way to fix that?
I guess it’s the default WordPress time. I have to figure this out sooner or later.
I just submitted my application. It took at least 30 minutes and was a real pain. There’s some important info you might want to add for others. Even if you qualify for the credit union you need to give a $10 donation. You can fund the account by credit card for up to $550. Apparently Discover treats it as a cash advance as it was rejected (I have a $0 cash limit). Unless you really need checks DON’T select that as there is a fee. It doesn’t say how much it is though. My account is “pending review” so I hope they will open it by Friday or I will miss out on the bonus offer.
I applied this evening too. Used discover unfortunately. Hopefully they will credit that CA fee.
Mine is under review too as they couldn’t verify my questions. I answered them all correctly i know. Total funding I had to do was $45. $25 for savings and $20 for checking. Application is straightforward but takes time. I also had to upload copy of my DL.
Has anyone made a transfer yet? If so, did it show up as a direct deposit or ACH? Does anyone know if the $5K “direct deposit” has to be at one time?
The wording is a bit confusing, but to be safe I’d suggest to go with one 5K deposit.
How’d you find that account has to be open for 6 months minimum? I am trying to look for it.
I looked for it and I can’t find it either. I’m thinking I might have forgotten to change the text when I wrote the post.
Thank you for pointing that out. I edited the post.
Any update on what counts as qualified DD? We have 3 days left for this sign up bonus
Hey Jay I haven’t seen any data point yet on qualified DDs.
Am I correct that there is no real risk to signing up even if I never meet the requirements? You wrote that there’s no monthly fee so does that mean there’s no minimum balance requirement either?
I’d suggest to go for it. Most likely you’d get the bonus.
Thanks for the reminder. I probably wouldn’t have remembered to open an account otherwise.
Only once have I had a CSR say that I have opened too many banks recently. And even then she said that I can’t open the account online, I have to go in branch. I think is was Ridgewood Savings Bank.
I usually go for banks that have at least a $100-$150 bonus.
Is that Ridgewood, NJ? Did they have a bank bonus at some point?
They had a $125 bonus late last year. It was for NY residents only. I missed it since I decided to apply online on the last day, and couldn’t make it to the branch.
I guess it takes the name from Ridgewood, NY.
Does anyone know if anything besides a direct deposit from your job will trigger the bonus?
With most banks a transfer from another bank account will trigger the bonus. Capital 360 has worked for me every time to trigger bonuses, but obviously it’s not a guarantee.
Best bet is to make a transfer and then see how it codes on the Sun East account.
How do you check how a transfer codes? How would it appear if it’s considered a direct deposit? Is this standard for all banks?
It’s not a standard but if it does show up as direct deposit then it should be good. Even ACH will work usually.
But again there’s no guarantees and this is a small bank so I didn’t find any data points.
Did you mean to write if it “shows up” as direct deposit? There’s probably nothing to lose with this bank since there’s no monthly fees. I’ve opened a lot of bank accounts this year. Is it possible I will start getting declined if I open even more?
Please report any data points.