DOC Compass — Offers, decoded

Update 5/19/20: Deal link is no longer working (seems to have been pulled early), view more checking bonuses by clicking here.

Reposting as confirmed soft pull from many readers & also a little tip for those who created accounts yesterday from Reddit:

If you applied for a penfed account and submitted the DocuSign but timed out to the home page, your account was probably created. You can register your online account with SSN+DOB; after that process you should see whatever accounts you opened.

Offer at a glance

Maximum bonus amount: $200
Availability: Nationwide, available online
Direct deposit required: None
Additional requirements: $1,200 one-time deposit, 5 debit transactions (once)
Hard/soft pull: Soft pull (be sure to choose ‘no overdraft protection’ option)
Credit card funding: Can fund ~~$100~~ $500 with credit card for checking account and savings can be funded with $100
Monthly fees: $10, waivable
Early account termination fee: None mentioned
Household limit: None listed
Expiration date: June 14, 2020

The Offer

Direct Link to offer

Open a PenFed Access America Checking Account and receive a $200 bonus when you do the following:
- Deposit a minimum of $1200 within 90 days of account opening
- Make 5 debit card purchases within 90 days of account opening

The Fine Print

Offer valid from 5/4/2020 − 6/14/2020.
Must receive at least $1200 in deposits in your checking account within 90 days of account opening and make 5 debit card purchases in the first 90 days.
Only available to new personal checking members who do not have an existing checking account and qualify for an Access America Account.
Once the criteria is met, the bonus will be credited to the new personal checking account no later than 120 days from account opening.
Account must remain open, active and in good standing (no negative balance) at time bonus is distributed.
PenFed will issue an IRS form 1099 reporting the value of the bonus.
One bonus per member.
Minimum deposit of $25 required to open account.
Account is a variable rate account. APY (Annual Percentage Yield) of .50% applies to accounts with a daily balance of $20,000-$50,000 and a monthly direct deposit of $500 or more. APY of .20% applies to accounts with a daily balance less than $20,000 and a monthly directly deposit of $500 or more. APYs are valid as of last dividend declaration date of May 1, 2020 and are subject to change at any time. Fees may reduce earnings on account.

Avoiding Fees

PenFed Access America Checking has a monthly fee of $10. No fee is charged if do one of the following:

You have a daily balance of $500 or
You have Direct Deposit of at least $500 monthly

There is no mention in the fee schedule of an early termination fee, so you should be able to close this out immediately after the bonus posts if you’d like.

Our Verdict

PenFed is open to anyone to join; just requires a $5 ‘share’ deposit (which you get back if you close out your membership). This bonus seems to be a publicly available offer and should work for those who are entirely new to PenFed or for PenFed members who don’t have a checking account with PenFed.

I rate this as a good deal since it just requires a one time $1,200 deposit – no need to tie up funds – and 5 debit transactions; both easy requirements. Plus, $500 in card funding, and some readers are opening a savings account too which allows $100 more in funding (no need to open savings account if you don’t want to). You do need to tie up $500 to leave in the account for a few months until the bonus posts to keep the account fee free. We’ll add this to the best checking & savings bonus page.

Thanks to all those who sent this one in

Useful posts regarding bank bonuses: