DOC Compass — Offers, decoded

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $300
Availability: New Jersey (residents of these counties can open online: Ocean County, Monmouth County, Middlesex County and Mercer County)
Direct deposit required: Yes, unknown what will count for direct deposit purposes
Additional requirements: 30 debit card transactions
Hard/soft pull: soft
Credit card funding: yes [at least $2500]
Monthly fees: Waive-able
Early account termination fee: Account must remain open for a year
Expiration date: Unknown

The Offer

Direct Link

Option #1

Open Simply Great checking or Classic Checking along with a free debit card and receive $50 immediately
Set up a direct deposit within 75-days and receive another $50
Swipe your debit card for signature or online transactions 30 times in the first 75 days the account is open and you will get another $200

Option #2

Open a Totally Free Checking account or an A+ Student Checking account along with a free debit card and receive $50 immediately
Set up a direct deposit within 75-days and receive another $50
Swipe your debit card for signature or online transactions 30 times in the first 75 days the account is open and you will get a bonus of 20,000 Uchoose Rewards points which is worth around $160 in gift cards, such as Amazon, Target or Walmart gift cards (must register for the Uchoose Rewards program)

Whichever offer you choose, be sure to use promo code OFWINTER16.

Avoiding Fees

Simply Great Checking account comes with a $6.95 monthly maintenance fee. Fee is waived with a daily minimum balance of $5000.
Classic Checking comes with a $4.95 monthly maintenance fee. Fee is waived with a daily minimum balance of $1000.
Totally Free Checking and Student Checking accounts don’t come with monthly fees.

Note that there is a stated $5 monthly inactivity fee.

Geographic Availability

This offer only works online for residents of Ocean County, Monmouth County, Middlesex County and Mercer County. In the past, other NJ residents were able to apply in a branch and get the offer.

The Fine Print

Offer available as of 3/1/16 for a limited time and subject to change at any time
All cash bonus’ are taxable
$50 minimum to open account
Account must remain open and active for 1 year or bonus will be forfeited
Limit of one cash bonus per household

Our Verdict

Very good bonus here for those in the area. Even if you aren’t in the above-mentioned counties, it could be worth driving into the closest branch and taking part in this offer. Before driving in, it’s worth verifying that they’ll let you open an account in-branch with the bonus; it has worked in the past.

Here’s how to go about this offer:

Open the Classic checking account and fund it with $2,500 (or whatever the max is) with a credit card; park $1,000 in the account for a year to keep it fee-free (leave a little more so that you have funds there for the debit card requirement)
1. Alternatively, open the Totally Free Checking account to get the 20,000 points offer instead of the $200; 20k points is worth around $160 in gift cards, so you’ll lose a little there but you won’t have to tie up the $1k for a year to keep it fee-free
Set up a direct deposit; the wording sounds like a single direct deposit will work for this; hopefully, an ACH transfer will work
Buy 30 $.50 Amazon gift cards (slowly), or use other options to meet the debit card requirement
After a year, can close the account or you can downgrade it to a fee-free version so that you don’t need to leave any money in it to keep it fee-free

As always, you can see all available bank bonuses here, and our top picks here.

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses: