If you are in the market for a checking account, you probably won’t be able to find any good deal as banks, large and small, have cut back their offerings of checking accounts to customers, especially on free checking accounts. After the new overdraft law last year restricted banks from collecting overdraft fees, which happened to be one of their major income sources, banks are looking for other ways to make up the lost revenue, one of them is eliminating free checking and replacing it with one that either has monthly maintenance fee or requires a high account balance to avoid such fee. And accounts with incentives are even more difficult to find.
Anyway, if you are looking, here’s an offer you can use. Bank of The West, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, is giving new checking account customers a $100 bonus when opening one of their checking accounts. There are three types of checking accounts you can choose from:
- Free Checking: No monthly service charge, no account minimum balance requirement, and free bill pay;
- Choice Interest Checking: Free bill pay, $10 monthly fee waived with monthly average balance of $2,500 or more;
- Choice ATM Checking: Free bill pay, unlimited free ATM cash withdrawals at any ATM for one year, $10 monthly fee waived with monthly average balance of $2,500 or more.
These High-Yield Savings Accounts let you earn more with your money:
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If you only want the basic checking account without fancy features, then the Free Checking Account may be a good choice since it has no monthly fee or account minimum requirement. Though you can choose any of the above account, in order to receive the bonus, you need to open the account with an initial deposit of $100 plus a recurring direct deposit of at least $250. More details of this offer:
Offer not available for existing Bank of the West checking customers with an open account as of 1/31/11. Offer valid for new personal checking accounts opened from 2/14/11–3/25/11 with a minimum checking account opening deposit of $100 or more with funds new to Bank of the West. New personal checking account customers must either establish a monthly direct deposit of $250+ each deposit with the first deposit posting to the account within 60 calendar days of account opening or, make 10 payments of at least $25 per payment to a third party business using Bank of the West Online Banking within 60 calendar days of account opening. Two or more direct deposits that add up to $250 do not qualify. The 10 bill payments must be successfully completed and payment posted to your account within the promotional period to qualify Offer subject to change or termination without prior notice at the Bank’s discretion. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer and does not apply to second or multiple checking accounts. Limit of one $100 bonus per address per 13-month period. Customers who received a bonus from Bank of the West between 1/1/10 to 1/31/11 are not eligible. Account must be in good standing to be eligible to receive the bonus. Accounts with a zero balance, overdrawn or closed at the time the bonus is awarded are not eligible.
Bank of The West was established on January 1, 1874 and has been a member of the FDIC since January 1, 1934. Its ABA routing number is 121100782.
