Grow Financial Adds $200 Checking Bonus For New Members
Now through February 15, 2022, Florida-based Grow Financial Federal Credit Union (Grow Financial) is offering a $200 bonus to new members in Florida and South Carolina who open a new Grow CashBack Checking account or a new Grow Checkless Checking account. The $200 bonus is not available to current/existing Grow Financial members and there is a limit of one bonus per person.
As stated in the fine print on the bonus landing page, the requirements are:
1) Open a savings account [$1 min] and a checking account [no min]
2) Obtain a debit card
3) Make five (5) Grow Visa debit card purchases totaling $200 or more by 02/15/2022
Following the completion of the requirements, the $200 bonus will be deposit into the new checking account no later than April 1, 2022. In order to receive the bonus, the checking account must be open and in good standing.
Grow CashBack Checking
Grow Financial’s Grown CashBack Checking account earns 5¢ on each qualifying Grow Visa debit card transaction. Qualifying transactions include signature and PIN based POS purchases, as well as bill payment transactions and online purchases. All bonuses will be deposited into the account on the last day of the month.
Grow Checkless Checking
As the name suggests, the non-interest bearing Grow Checkless Checking account does not offer paper checks. There is a $5 monthly service charge that will be waived if the following two requirements are met:
- One monthly deposit via direct deposit, ATM deposit or mobile deposit, and
- A minimum of five Grow Visa debit card transactions (signature or PIN-based POS purchases) each month.
What benefit comes from this monthly service charge? The only apparent benefit is the lack of NSF fees. According to the small print, "No NSF (Non-Sufficient Funds) fees will be charged on this account. To avoid overdrawing your account, transactions will be declined and returned unpaid when you don’t have sufficient money in your account."
Availability
Headquartered in Tampa, Grow Financial Federal Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) is quite diverse, extending membership to individuals across the country.
Employment/Affiliation: Employees and members of more than 1,500 SEGs are eligible for membership. Two of the SEGs, the Florida and Carolina chapters of the American Consumer Council (ACC), offer an easy membership requirement for residents of Florida and South Carolina.
Military Relationship: All active and retired military members, regardless of residency, qualify for membership. In addition, civilian personnel at MacDill Air Force Base (Tampa) also qualify.
Family Relationship: Immediate family and household members of current Grow Financial members, or membership-eligible individuals, are eligible to join.
Joining Grow Financial and/or applying for the $200 checking bonus must be done online. Checking accounts opened at any of the 22 Florida Gulf Coast branches or the four South Carolina branches DO NOT qualify for the bonus.
A minimum $1 deposit in a Basic Savings Account establishes a new Grow Financial membership.
Grown Financial participates in the CU24/CU HERE and CO-OP ATM networks, but not the CO-OP Shared Branch network.
Credit Union Overview
Grow Financial Federal Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 2.44% (excellent) based on September 30, 2021 data. In the past year, Grow Financial has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $354.68 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 13.64%. Please refer to our financial overview of Grow Financial Federal Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 9976) for more details.
Grow Financial Federal Credit Union is currently the sixth largest credit union headquartered in Florida, with more than 221,000 members and assets in excess of $3.2 billion. The Credit Union was established in 1955, serving the military and civilian employees at Tampa’s MacDill Air Force Base. An expansion of the FOM began in the 1980s, with a variety of SEGs added. The expansion and diversification of the FOM became critical in the 1990s, when it seemed MacDill AFB could be on a Department of Defense hit list. The first South Carolina branch was opened in late 2014 in Columbia (home to Fort Jackson), with plans on eventually having more than a dozen South Carolina branches.
Bottom Line
With no direct deposit or large balance required, and only $200 in debit card transactions needed, the Grow Financial $200 bonus is one of the easiest bonuses I’ve seen in quite a while. Earning $200 in an online savings account (current top rate of 0.65% APY) would require about $31k on deposit for a year. Checking bonuses are more tempting when interest rates are low – they offer a significant return in short amount of time not available in either a liquid account or short-term CD.
The above information and rates are accurate as of 1/20/2022.
If you don’t qualify for the Grow Financial bonus, take a look at our list of the best savings and checking account bonus offers to find a bonus that’s right for you.