PerkStreet Checking Account $50 Bonus
Nov 16, 2009 
Sun
This is a new free online checking account offer with $50 new account bonus.
PerkStreet Financial is offering a PerkStreet Online Checking Account that allows account owners to earn cash back with their Visa Debit Card. Every time you use the debit card in non-PIN transactions, you can earn 1% cash back. Right now PerkStreet Financial is promoting the new checking account by giving each new customer who opens an account with $25 deposit a $50 bonus.
Online Checking Account
In order to receive the $50 bonus, you will have to make a deposit of at least $25 when opening the account. However, the checking account itself doesn’t have a minimum balance requirement. In addition, the free checking account also offers a free book of checks and free online banking and bill pay. The account does charge a monthly account maintenance fee of $4.50 if you don’t use your debit card even once in the month. If you use debit card more often than cash or credit card, this shouldn’t be a big problem. The monthly inactivity fee can be avoided if you do any of the following: making a transaction with your debit card, writing a check that clears the account, using online bill pay, initiating a withdrawal or making a deposit to the account.
You can also use the debit card to withdraw cash within STARsf network without paying a fee. If you use out-of-network ATMs, there will be a $2 fee for each cash withdrawal.
The Perks
With the PerkStreet Financial Visa® Debit Card, you can earn 1% cash back for every dollar spent in non-PIN transactions. The cash back you earned can be redeemed for gift cards, free music or coffee. How’s how the cash back program works:
1% Cash Back
- Every $100 in non-PIN purchases earns you a dollar in perks.
- Every dollar perk you redeem gets you $1 on a PerkStreet Financial Visa Gift Card or a gift card from Target, Best Buy, Amazon.com, GAP or Ticketmaster.
Music
- Every $100 in non-PIN purchases earns you a song.
- Every song you redeem gets you $1 in credit at iTunes, Rhapsody or Amazon.com Gift Cards for MP3s or millions of other items at Amazon.com.
Coffee
- Every $200 in non-PIN purchase earns you a cup of coffee.
- Every cup you redeem gets you $2 in credit on a reloadable gift card from Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Peet’s Coffee and Tea and Bruegger’s Bagels.
About PerkStreet Financial
The PerkStreet Financial Debit Card is issued by The Bancorp Bank. According to the FDIC, The Bankcorp Bank is established on July 28, 2000 and has been a member of FDIC since July 28, 2000 (FDIC Cert: 35444). The bank is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware and operates only one branch.
The bonus offer expires on December 31, 2009 February 28, 2010. To receive the bonus, in addition to the $25 deposit, you will also keep the account active for three straight months. The bonus will be deposited into your account within 15 business days of the end of the third month.
PerkStreet is currently offering $100 Free Cash by just going to Perkstreet direct via yahoo or google. Offer expired Dec. 31, 2009; it requires account to be open and active for at least 4 months (3 straight months of active account, and you get free bonus within 15 business days of the end of the third month). Problem: any deposit you make earns no interest! Instead of using your credit card (which may be 1, 1.5, 2, 3, or even 5% cashback) AND you dont have to pay right away (credit cards give you ~25 grace days for purchases), you now have the amount auto debited from your account. You only get 1% cashback no matter where you go. Must use card like credit card (no-pin) to get “the perks”. Steep fees for overdrafting. The $4.50 per month if you have no activity. Granted there’s no PerkStreet fee when use a STARsf network ATM; but I’ seen that the owners of those ATMs charge a fee (not Perkstreet; but the bank owner of the ATM)? THE GOOD: on your birthday, non-pin purchases earn 25% more perks!
Watch out for these people.
You more then likely will not get the bonus.
There system is junk. Bonus does not get applied to every account because of software glitches.
“Thanks for your email; I apologize for the trouble. Please provide your full name or account number and I will reset your information. I think that there was a processing error in our New Accounts department as several other customers were affected as well.
Best Regards,
Steve
Customer Correspondence
The Bancorp Bank
409 Silverside Rd
Suite 105
Wilmington, DE 19809
302-385-5000″
Dave: Thanks for sharing your experience. I didn’t apply for the card, so I don’t know the trouble, but it does seem that the system is not very reliable. Maybe it’s the problem of a new comer?
Full disclosure here: I work for PerkStreet Financial and wanted to respond to Dave’s post above. The correct bonus was applied to his account but there is a slight lag between when an account is first opened and when the offer details appear in our customer service system. This caused some confusion, but we have reached out to Dave and resolved his issues.