[NY & CA only] Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC-USA) $185 Business & $160 Personal Checking Bonus

Offer at a glance

• Maximum bonus amount: $160
• Availability: Have to open branch, branches in NY and CA and listed on bonus page
• Direct deposit required: Optional
• Additional requirements: See below
• Hard/soft pull: Soft
• Credit card funding: None 
• Monthly fees: Unknown, waivable
• Early account termination fee: 12 months, bonuses forfeit
• Expiration date: December 31st, 2016

The Offer

Direct link to offer

• Open your first ICBC-USA checking account (business or personal) by December 31st, 2016 and receive a bonus of up to $135 for personal accounts & $160 for business accounts. Bonus broken down as follows:
  • Open a new personal checking account with a minimum opening deposit of at least $500 & debit card & receive a $25 bonus
  • Open a new business checking account with a minimum opening deposit of at least $1,500 & debit card & receive a $50 bonus
  • Open a combined balance package and receive a $50 bonus
  • Use Bill Pay and receive a $25 bonus
  • Receive a direct deposit (no minimum specified) and receive a $25 bonus
  • Activate Online banking and Paperless statements and receive a $10 bonus
• You can also receive $25 for each person you refer.

Bonus should be a maximum of $160 for personal accounts and $185 for business accounts if my math is correct.

The Fine Print

• All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them

$25 Referral Bonus

• $25 cash bonus is only available to the referrer (existing customer) and referee (new customer). I assume this means both parties get the bonus
• Cash bonus will be paid to the referrer and referee within 30 days after the account is opened

Feel free to share your referrals in the comments, but try and provide some additional information such as if it’s a hard/soft pull and if you can fund with a credit card and if both parties get $25 or not – this helps other readers and means they will be more likely to use your referral details.

Avoiding Fees

If the account is closed within 12 months, all cash bonuses received will be forfeited. I’m not sure if any other early account termination fee is charged or not. It looks like the monthly fee is waived with a direct deposit, not sure how much it is per month without a direct deposit.

Our Verdict

I find this bonus to be unnecessarily confusing, if anybody has any experiences with this bank please let us know in the comments (and share your referral information) it could be quite a good bonus – but I really hate having to have the account open for 12 months before closing. I doubt we’ll be adding it to our list of the best checking promotions.

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

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