[NY] Five Star Bank – $100/$300 Checking Bonus

Update 2/19/21: Deal is now $100 and $300 instead of $150 and $250. Looks like you can open online as well. Hat tip to reader Rachel.

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $150/$250
Availability: Select counties, all in NY. Now in branch only [Branch locations]
Direct deposit required: Yes, no minimum specified
Additional requirements: None
Hard/soft pull: Soft
ChexSystems: Unknown
Credit card funding: None, at least in branch. Possibly up to $4,000 online
Monthly fees: $5-$22, avoidable
Early account termination fee: 180 days, bonus forfeit plus $35 fee
Household limit: None listed
Expiration date: ~~April 30th, 2018 June 30th, 2018 for $250 bonus or December 31st, 2018 for $150 bonus~~ ~~December 31st, 2018 December 31st, 2019 May 31st, 2019~~ ~~November 15th, 2019~~ ~~August 31, 2020~~ ~~November 30, 2020 December 31, 2020~~ May 31, 2021.

The Offer

Direct link to offer

Five Star Bank has two checking bonuses currently available. Both bonuses require you to establish a direct deposit into your account within 60 days from the last day of month the account was opened
- 300 bonus when you open a Premier Checking account
- $100 bonus when you open any consumer checking account

The Fine Print

To receive the $250.00 Premier Checking account (NOW account) bonus, you must open a Five Star Bank Premier Checking account in one of our branches by 4/30/2018.
To receive the $150.00 checking account bonus, you must open a Five Star Bank checking account online by 12/31/2018.
In addition, to receive either the $250.00 or $150.00 bonus, you must establish a direct deposit into your account within 60 days from the last day of month the account was opened.
Your direct deposit needs to be a recurring electronic deposit of your paycheck, pension or government benefit (such as Social Security) from your employer or the government.
The bonus will be deposited into this checking or NOW account within 90 days from the last day of the month the account was opened.
The bonus may be subject to income tax and IRS reporting.
If the account is closed within 179 days after opening, the bonus will be forfeit; the bonus will be debited from the account at account closing and the account will be subject to the Bank’s $35.00 early account closeout fee.
A $25.00 minimum deposit is required to open any Five Star Bank checking or NOW account.
Offers not available to existing Five Star Bank consumer checking or NOW account holders, or those who have closed a Five Star Bank consumer checking account within 12 months or have had an account closed with a negative balance.
Business and municipal customers are not eligible.
Bonus is limited to one account per customer regardless of the titling on the account. Offers subject to cancellation without notice and cannot be combined with any other offer.
All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

Avoiding Fees

Early Account Termination Fee

Account needs to be kept open for 179 days otherwise the bonus is forfeit a $35 early account closeout fee is charged. If you zero out the account after receiving the bonus they will close it after two weeks and you’ll keep the bonus though according to this comment.

E-Checking Account $5 Monthly Fee ($150 Bonus)

This is the easiest account to keep fee free for the $150 bonus. It has a $5 monthly fee, but that is waived as long as you enroll in eStatements.

Premier Checking $22 Monthly Fee ($250 Bonus)

This is the account required for the $250 bonus. It has a $22 monthly fee, this is waived when you do either of the following:

A combined total consumer deposit accounts and/or loan balances of $25,000 or more at the end of the activity period OR
Direct deposits totaling at least $5,000 into the account during the activity period

Our Verdict

I don’t think the $250 bonus is worth considering because it’s much more difficult to keep the account fee, plus you need to go into branch and that’s typically a longer and less convenient way of opening an account. $150 bonus does look worth doing, only requires a recurring direct deposit and keeping the account fee free is extremely easy only requiring eStatements. Previously we’ve seen $250 bonuses that were in branch, but the easier to keep fee free accounts were eligible but they were at select new branches only. Personally I’d be jumping on this if I lived in one of the eligible counties, because of that I’ll add it to our best checking bonuses. As always please share your experiences in the comments below.

Big thanks to reader, elegua who let us know. Learn how to find bonuses and contribute to the site here.

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Post history:

Update 12/2/20: Extended until December 31, 2020
Update 8/9/20: Deal is back up to $150/$250 and can be opened online.
Update 11/16/19: Extended until December 31st, 2019.
Update 9/15/19: Deal is back but back down to $100/$200, better to wait for the $150/$250 deal to return. Hat tip to Dan LBR
Update 2/24/19: Deal is now back to $150/$250. Hat tip to reader EW
Update 1/5/2019: AAA account no longer available.
Update 10/23/18: AAA customers can get $150 again. Account can also be opened online.
Bonus has been reduced to $100/$200 from $150/$250. I’d wait for the higher bonus to come back.