New $100 Checking Account Bonus at First Trade Union Bank

Update 4/10/13: The promotion has changed. Please refer to this post for a new review of this promotion.

First Trade Union Bank has updated its promotion for its Virtual Checking Account. There is still a $100 cash bonus, but the requirements have changed a little. The new expiration date is 3/18/2013. A link to the promotion details is listed in the bank's Virtual Checking page. Here are the new requirements to receive the full $100:

• Open a new First Trade Virtual Checking account before 3/18/13
• $50 if you enroll in direct deposit and have at least one direct deposit of $50 or more credited to your Virtual Checking account by 4/30/13
• $50 if you enroll in FTUB Bill Pay service and pay at least one bill of $50 or more through FTUB Bill Pay by 4/30/13

The bank provides several details regarding what counts as a direct deposit:

A qualifying direct deposit is defined as the direct deposit of a paycheck, salary, pension, or government benefits electronically deposited by an employer or an outside agency. Bank-to-bank transfers between accounts held by the same individual, transfers between accounts both held at First Trade Union Bank, and deposits made via a banking location, ATM or remote capture process do not qualify. In the event that we determine in our sole discretion that the activity on your account does not qualify, we will not be obligated to credit your account with the payout.

Another important requirement mentioned is that your Virtual Checking account balance must be greater than $100 at the time the bonuses are credited to the account.

The nice thing about this promotion is that the checking account is something that you may want to keep for the long-term. The Virtual Checking account has no minimum balance requirement, no maintenance fees and online bill pay is free. Also, it offers ATM surcharge rebates (up to $20 per statement cycle). The first order of basic checks is free.

The account pays interest, but it's still low for internet checking accounts. The current rate is 0.20% for balances over $1,000 (as of 1/3/2013).

If you want a higher interest rate, you can open the bank's online savings account, High and Mighty Savings. This was much more competitive in 2011 when the top yield was 1.05%. The top yield is now only 0.70% APY for balances of $2,500 and over (as of 1/3/2013). However, this rate has held since last May. Like the checking, it has no monthly service fees.

The bank has offered some competitive CD rates in the past, but I don't see any competitive ones today. Most of the CD rates are under 1.00%.

Online Application - Available Nationwide

All of these accounts can be opened online with the bank's online application, and they're available to people in any state. The application is provided by andera.com which is common for online banks. Account funding can be done with an ACH transfer from your existing checking or savings account.

Bank Overview

The main office of First Trade Union Bank is located in Boston, MA.

The bank has an overall health score at DepositAccounts.com of 4 stars (out of 5) with a Texas Ratio of 13.67% (above average) based on September 2012 data. Please refer to our financial overview of First Trade Union Bank for more details. The bank has been a FDIC member since 1987 (FDIC Certificate # 32551).

Other Bank Bonuses

We have a bank promotions page with a table of all of the active bank and credit union promotions. You can filter the table based on the type of promotion and based on your state. I have more details about how to use this page in this blog post.

You can view my latest bank bonus blog posts in this bank bonus page. I and DepositAccounts.com readers often post on bonuses in the checking account deals forum.