First Trade Union Bank Launches Mobile Payment, Updates Checking Bonus

First Trade Union Bank has launched a mobile payment and loyalty app called FT Pay. To help highlight this new product, the bank has added FT Pay to its FT Checking promotion. The promotion continues to offer a cash bonus of up to $100, but the requirements now include using FT Pay. A link to the promotion details is listed in the bank's FT Checking page. Here are the new requirements to receive the full $100:

• Open a new FT Checking Account before 12/31/2013 with a minimum opening deposit of $100
• Earn up to $25 when you use FT Pay with any debit or credit card. Bank will match up to $25 in savings as new account bonus.
• Earn up to $25 when you send a percentage or all of your FT Pay credits to your savings account. Bank will match your first $25.
• Earn up to $50 with Direct Deposit. Set up a recurring direct deposit to your FT Checking of $100 or more, and you’ll receive a bonus of $10 per month for up to 5 months

There are a few direct deposit requirements that are needed to be met to qualify for the full bonus. These include:

• Direct Deposit must be credited in the following months in order to qualify: June - December 2013, January 2014 - May 2014. Bonus payouts will end June 2014.
• A qualifying recurring 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 (phone, tablet, scanner) do not qualify.

Another important requirement mentioned is that the FT Checking account balance must be greater than $100 at the time the bonuses are credited to the account. Full promotion details are available at the bottom of the bank’s FT Pay introduction page.

FT Checking Overview

The nice thing about this promotion is that the checking account is something that you may want to keep for the long-term. FT Pay is the latest new feature. The checking account already has several online and mobile banking features including mobile check deposit, free external transfers and free online bill pay. The FT Checking account has no minimum balance requirement and no maintenance fees. Also, it offers ATM surcharge rebates. The first order of basic checks is free.

The account pays interest, but it's still very low for internet checking accounts. The current rate is 0.05% for balances over $1,000 (as of 6/28/2013).

If you want a higher interest rate, you can open the bank's online savings account, FT High-Yield Savings (formerly called 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 6/28/2013). However, this rate has held since last May 2012. 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

These FT Checking and Savings accounts can be opened online with the bank's online application, and they're available to people in any state. Account funding can be done with an ACH transfer from your existing checking or savings account.

In my last review of this promotion, a reader left the following comment about his experience opening this account:

I applied the last time they did a promotion and if I remember correctly, there was no hard credit pull but they pull ChexSystems and denied me because they said I had too many recently opened accounts (although other banks thought otherwise).

Bank Overview

The main office of First Trade Union Bank branches are located in Boston, MA and in New Hyde Park, NY.

The bank has an overall health score at DepositAccounts.com of 4 stars (out of 5) with a Texas Ratio of 16.82% (average) based on March 2013 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.