Update 8/23/26: You can earn 10% APY on the first $1,000 for 12 months after account opening. Works for new & existing members.
Apparently the referral bonus ended 7/31 as well even though it’s still live, so marking this as expired.
Update 8/12/25: Bonus is still available via referrals. Please do not share them in the comments below, but you can share them in this linked post.
Offer extended to 07/31/25
This was previously called SLFCU
Offer at a glance
- Maximum bonus amount: $225
- Availability: NM, CA, AZ, TX, CO. Must be American Consumer Council member, free to join.
- Direct deposit required: Yes, any ACH credit will work
- Additional requirements: See below
- Hard/soft pull: Soft pull
- ChexSystems: Yes
- Credit card funding: None
- Monthly fees: None
- Early account termination fee: Unknown
- Household limit: None
- Expiration date: None listed
The Offer
- Sunward is offering a $225 bonus when you open a new checking account and complete the following requirements:
- Open a Quick Cash or Money Manager Checking account and complete at least one qualifying debit transaction (point of sale, check, bill pay, ACH debit, ATM transaction) on the checking account within 90 days of account opening.
- Must make an aggregate of $500 or more in qualifying deposits for two consecutive months into a checking or savings account within the first 90 days of account opening.
The Fine Print
- Qualifying Deposits: cash, checks, ACH direct deposits (payroll, pension or government benefits), and P2P transfers.
- Non-Qualifying Deposits: dividends, merchant POS returns, ledger corrections, and internal transfers.
- All bank account bonuses are treated as income/interest and as such you have to pay taxes on them
Avoiding Fees
Monthly Fees
Money manager has no monthly fees to worry about.
Early Account Termination Fee
I wasn’t able to find any mention of any EATF in the fee schedule.
Our Verdict
Feel free to share your referrals in the comments below.
Hat tip to reader Karl
Useful posts regarding bank bonuses:
- A Beginners Guide To Bank Account Bonuses
- Bank Account Quick Reference Table (Spreadsheet) (very useful for sorting bonuses by different parameters)
- PSA: Don’t Call The Bank
- Introduction To ChexSystems
- Banks & Credit Unions That Are ChexSystems Inquiry Sensitive
- What Banks & Credit Unions Do/Don’t Pull ChexSystems?
- How To Use Our Direct Deposit Page For Bank Bonuses Page
- Common Bank Bonus Misconceptions + Why You Should Give Them A Go
- How Many Bank Accounts Can I Safely Open Within A Year For Bank Bonus Purposes?
- Affiliate Links & Bank Bonuses – We Won’t Be Using Them
- Complete List Of Ways To Close Bank Accounts At Each Bank
- Banks That Allow/Don’t Allow Out Of State Checking Applications
- Bank Bonus Posting Times
Same the $10 I had transferred over from the money market…had to order a debit card takes 20 days still waiting…
Got the offer as an existing account holder. Brought checking up to $1k in August. Had intended to hold it for 90 days, then think about extending with DDs. No interest on 8/31 statement. Gave them a few more days; no bonus so I pulled $999. 9/19/26: $7 for 10% Checking APY Promotion posted mid-cycle. DP: The extra interest posted 30 days after activating the offer .
My dividend was randomly paid out in the middle of the month.
I thought the same thing, but statement ended a couple days after the 1st and my 10 bucks was in there
Hmmmm… only received a penny dividend payout even though I had $1K in an existing Money Manager Checking account. Sum ting rong. 😒
If you’ve already got the account you might as well put $1k in it for 3 months at 10% APY. I’m not going to jump hoops for the additional 9 months though. If you’re already a member you might as well open a Power Money Market account too, and park $2500 there for 5.04% APY. There are no hoops for that. If you’re worried about Chex just freeze it for peace of mind. If you’re not a member I wouldn’t join for either.
Ok, I’ll bite. Why do you think it’s dead? Firelord Oh, I see why… Where is the $225 bonus that in the title? Yes, the referral/sign-up bonus is $100 dead. A nd confusingly, says Expired in the title. The 10% APY on $1K is available… If you want to earn $8 per month on your $1K balance, that is available. After the first 3 months, you have to jump through hoops to get it.
Is this dead completely?
Yes, only the DPs from last year, no recent ones. I’m just doing the first 90 days myself since there are no DD or debit transactions required.
Sadly, not much to gain either.
I’m not 💯 sure about this since the previous (referral) bonus explicitly stated P2P transfers qualified (hence DoC writing any ACH credit will work) whereas this new dividend boost promotion doesn’t mention it. I’ll still try it regardless since there isn’t much to lose.
According to the post, which I assume was determined by data points, yes. There are plenty of DPs from last year when there was the $225 offer, but I don’t think there are any recent ones. Direct deposit required: Yes, any ACH credit will work
Any data points about standard ACH interbank transfers qualify as a “Direct Deposit.” The wording in the fine print is vague.
F this credit union. They locked my account.. and now asking for bank statements, ID, and social security by plain email.
I transferred funds. Then a day later realize my account was locked without any notification text or email.
$1000 max. LOL
Same here. I closed accounts for P1 & P3 (didn’t receive previous $225 bonus). P2 account still open, received email on 8/19. 10% APY for 90 days with enrollment only, no DD required. So that gives $25 in 3 months for $1000. But to keep promotion rate for 12 months, it needs DD & 10 debit transactions per month. Looks like Chase transfer should work as DD and paypal load for debit transactions. Will give it a try for P2.
There is a new 10% APY offer on up to $1000 for 12 months for new and existing customers. Began yesterday 8/19/2026. Details here: https://gosunward.org/checking/
If you meet or exceed the $600 1099-MISC threshold, yes. The checking bonus and referrals are included.
Is the 1099 reporting the $225 bonus and $75 referrals? Thanks!
Received a 1099 for my referrals and my bonus yesterday, 4/2 😐 . Accurate, but man were they late. I’m glad I wait to file until the last minute.
Okay, for anyone coming in here asking about 1099 forms. I received a 1099-INT but the $225 was NOT on there. I had a decent size amount of money in a power money market for a period of time and accrued around $11 of interest and that’s all that was on the 1099-INT that I received. So if all you received from Sunward was the $225 bonus and/or referral bonus(es) you probably will NOT receive any 1099 forms. And also, you’re still required to report any and all income on your taxes irregardless if you receive a 1099 form or not. That being said, I don’t care what you do as I’m just an average dude on the internet and I’m not the IRS, nor am I the government.
I received a 1099-INT but the $225 was NOT on there. I had a decent size amount of money in a power money market for a period of time and accrued around $11 of interest and that’s all I received a 1099-INT for. So if all you received from Sunward was the $225 bonus and/or referral bonus(es) you probably will NOT receive any 1099 forms.
Okay, so the $225 bonus was NOT listed on my 1099-INT form. All that was listed was the $11-ish in interest I received from their Power Money Market account because I had a decent size amount of money in there for a period of time. If all you got from Sunward was the $225 bonus and/or a referral bonus(es) that’s probably why you never received anything.
Well, I just double checked and P1/P2/P3… and we got nothing. WafflesAreDelicious https://online.banking-slfcu.org/eDocs “You do not have any documents of this type.”
Mine were in both online banking and a paper copy sent via mail. And yeah, the online banking software they use, it disables your login after your accounts are closed. All banks/credit unions that use this same software have it happen too.
Weird, mine were in online banking and I also received a copy in the mail by the end of January.
You can probably estimate your income based off year-to-date interest listed on your final statement (or your December stmt if you closed after the first of the year)
P1/P2 still have accounts. As of today, they haven’t published or mailed an INT or MISC.
Sadly I closed my account and the login was killed (even for tax docs) – is sunward sending 1099int or 1099misc for bonuses?