Sovereign Bank $150 Checking Promotion

Here’s a bank promotion available in the following states: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington DC. Sovereign Bank is offering a $150 promotion for opening a new free checking account with them. This promotion will end on March 13th, 2010.

To qualify you must open a Premier Checking, Interest Checking, or Partnership Checking Account with at least a $100 deposit. You then have to open any savings or money market account at Sovereign with at least a $100 initial deposit. You must enroll in online banking and setup direct deposit within the first 60 days of opening the account. You also need to request a debit card and make 5 debit card purchases within 60 days.

Current Sovereign checking account holders do no qualify for this promotion. Accounts are credited the bonus within 75 days of opening the account.

Direct deposit is needed on the Interest Checking Account to avoid a $10 monthly fee. A balance of $25,000 is needed in the Premier Checking account in order to avoid a $25 monthly fee. On the savings side their money market savings account looks like the best bet with no minimum balance requirement and no monthly fees. You also get a bonus rate of 1.50% APY if you fund your Premier money market savings account with $10,000 to $499,999. This applies to new customers only.

There is no hard credit pull when you open a Sovereign Bank account but they use ChexSystems. There’s a $25 fee if you close your account in the first 90 days of opening it, but no fee if you close your account after 90 days. Sovereign Bank is a FDIC insured bank. To visit the promotion page click here.