DOC Compass — Offers, decoded

Deal has now expired, you can view new deals by clicking here.

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $200
Availability: AL, FL, GA, SC & TN only
Direct deposit required: Yes, $1,000+
Additional requirements: 15 debit card transactions
Hard/soft pull: Soft
Credit card funding: Unknown
Monthly fees: $10, waive able
Early account termination fee: $25, 90 days
Expiration date: September 30th, 2016

The Offer

Synovus trades under a bunch of different names in different locations. To find the closest branch to you click this link then scroll down and enter your ZIP code. ‘.

Receive a sign up bonus of $200 when you open any checking account with Synovus and complete the following requirements:
- Complete their form or apply in branch
- Open any new checking account with at least $100
- Set up a recurring direct deposit of $1,000 or more
- Make 15 Visa Check card transactions (signature or PIN – ATM transactions do not qualify towards the 15 transactions)

checking-red-stripe-personal

The Fine Print

This offer is available only to new personal checking account customers.
Only one offer is available per address.
You must open and fund a new checking account by September 30, 2016 with a minimum of $100 (not including the bonus). Within 60 days of opening and funding your account, you must complete 15 check card purchase transactions (signature or PIN transactions only – ATM transactions do not count towards the 15 transactions), with all 15 purchase transactions posting successfully to your account; establish and post to your account qualifying direct deposits totalling at least $1,000. Note that a qualifying direct deposit is an electronic deposit of your salary, pension, Social Security or other regular monthly income by your employer or another agency. Transfers from one account to another and deposits made at a branch or ATM are not considered direct deposits.
If earned, incentive payouts will be posted on October 17, November 15 or December 21, 2016 and will be in the form of a credit to the new checking account reflected on your statement as “checking incentive.”
You are responsible for any tax due on any amount received which is considered interest and will be reported on IRS Form 1099-INT.
Offer is non-transferrable (reader saw this on a Google ad, so I doubt it’s actually targeted), may not be combined with other offers, and does not apply if you are already an owner of a personal checking account (primary or secondary) with a division of Synovus Bank. Checking accounts must be in good standing at the time of incentive payout.

Avoiding Fees

The easiest way to keep this account fee (unless you’re a student or part of the military) is to open an access or gold checking account. Both accounts come with a $10 monthly fee that is waived if you do either of the following:

Have an average daily balance of $1,000 or more
Have direct deposits of $500 or more each month

I wasn’t able to find any mention of a early account termination fee in their fee schedule, but one might be charged. Update: According to this comment it’s $25 if closed within 90 days.

Our Verdict

They have offered $200 in the past but the account had to be kept open for much longer. This is a pretty good bonus, downside is that it requires both a direct deposit and debit card transactions. If you decide to sign up, let us know about bank account funding. You can view a full list of the best bank account bonuses by clicking here.

Big thanks to reader, Patrick S who let us know. Please consider sharing bank bonuses with this site so we can make it even better.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses: