If you don’t have a Bank of America checking account and have been waiting for a promotion or bonus to come along, wait no more. Bank of America has a $100 checking account bonus for new qualifying or business checking accounts. You can get $75 for opening a new account with a $250 deposit and make a purchase with your debit card. You get an additional $25 for making two bill payments within thirty days.

Sign up at this promotion page and use promotion code WIWGASINT for a personal checking account, SBECASH for a business checking account.

As always, check the fine print for any gotchas.

Sovereign Bank is offering a $100 bonus for new checking accounts if opened and deposited, with $10, by 2/27/09. In addition to the deposit, you have to make six purchases within 60 days of opening the account and your $100 cash will be deposited into your account 15 days after the 60 day opening period.

The two accounts that are eligible are the Interest Checking and the Premier Checking, though the Premier has some pretty steep requirements to avoid a fee. Interest Checking has a $5 monthly fee that is waived if you set up a direct deposit.

Terms & Conditions:

Open a new Sovereign Premier Checking, Business Owner Premier Checking, Interest Checking or Partnership Checking account by February 27, 2009 with a standard minimum opening deposit of $10 and request a Sovereign Visa® CheckCard (“CheckCard”). If you make 6 CheckCard purchases within 60 days after you open your account, you will receive a credit of $100 to your new checking account within 15 days after the expiration of this 60-day period. One $100 credit per customer. Your account must be open in order for you to receive your bonus. Annual percentage yield (APY) of 0.05% for Sovereign Premier Checking or Business Owner Premier Checking when balance is less than $5,000 and 0.20% APY when balance is $5,000 and above. APY of 0.05% for Sovereign Interest Checking. APY of 0.05% for Sovereign Partnership Checking when balance is less than $2,000 and 0.10% APY when balance is $2,000 and above. APYs valid for new accounts only, are effective as of 1/17/09 and are subject to change thereafter and after account opening. Fees may reduce earnings. The amount of the bonus credited to your account will be reported to the IRS as interest for the year in which the bonus is paid. Current personal checking customers or anyone who has had a personal checking account with Sovereign Bank or any of its divisions in the last 6 months are not eligible for this offer. Current employees of Sovereign Bank or any of its divisions are also not eligible for this offer. Cannot be combined with other personal checking offers.

Flagstar Bank is offering $100 new checking account bonus if you open a new checking account with them but it’s available only at their retail banking center (locator).
Terms & Conditions:

$100 deposit available for new checking account customers only (no existing Flagstar checking account). For a limited time, open a new personal checking account with an automatic, recurring direct deposit of income of at least $250 per month, excluding interest deposits, and we’ll deposit $100 into your account within 30 days after the first recurring direct deposit takes place. Minimum opening deposit is $50. Direct deposit must be established within first 60 days of account opening. All accounts must remain open and active for a minimum of six months. If checking account is closed within the first six months, Flagstar reserves the right to reclaim the $100 deposit. See your Flagstar representative for more details. Flagstar will issue a 1099 for the $100. Offer not good in conjunction with any other coupons or checking account offers. Some restrictions apply. Limit one $100 deposit per customer per account. Offer subject to change or cancellation at any time without notice.

Another week, another Citibank checking promotion for those who don’t already have a checking account with them and are current Citi cardmembers. The terms are the same:

• Just open a qualifying Citibank regular checking account and fund it with a minimum of $1,000 by 12/31/2008.
• Within the first month after your account is opened, make at least one direct deposit into your account or make at least two electronic bill payments from your account each month for three consecutive months and get $100 deposited into your new account.

Apply online or over the phone by calling 1-800-374-9500 – remember to use promotion code CY72 to get the offer.

Terms & Conditions:

This offer is only available to Citi® cardmembers who are the primary credit card account holders. Offer is not valid for existing Citibank checking customers. All accounts are subject to approval. Participation limited to United States (“U.S.”) citizens or resident aliens with a valid U.S. taxpayer identification number. Customer is responsible for taxes, if any. Persons under 18 years of age are not eligible. Offer may be modified or withdrawn at any time without notice, is not transferable and cannot be combined with any other offer. Checking account must be funded with $1,000 or more by 12/31/2008 and must be in a Citibank Account, Citibank Everything Counts® or Citigold® account relationship package. Fees may apply to the checking account. Within the first month after account opening, customer must complete at least one direct deposit to, or at least two electronic bill payments from, the checking account each month for three consecutive months to get $100. Electronic bill payments are those you make using Citibank® Online, Citi MobileSM or CitiPhone Banking®, excluding bill payments made to Citibank credit cards and transfer payments made to accounts with Citibank or its affiliates. $100 will be deposited to your Citibank checking account within 120 days from the end of the statement period in which you met the qualifying requirements. Your checking account must be in good standing at the time each bonus payment is deposited. Checking accounts are offered by Citibank, N.A., an affiliate of Citibank (South Dakota), N.A., the bank that issues your credit card.

M&T Bank is running a bunch of promotions on their checking accounts in conjunction with their “Checking Built for Baltimore” marketing promotion. No mention of whether there are geographic requirements.

M&T Select™ Checking
Available with or without interest
Get preferred rates on M&T Select CDs and loans, free standard check orders and more
Free with qualifying relationship balances
$100 Cash Bonus

M&T Direct Checking Free with direct deposit
Free M&T Web Bill Pay**
$100 Cash Bonus

M&T Totally Free Checking
No minimum balance requirement
No monthly service charge
$25 Cash Bonus

M&T Classic Checking w/ Interest
Free checking for age 50 and over
50% off most check orders
Free M&T Web Bill Pay**
$50 Cash Bonus

M&T @College CheckingSM
Exclusively for students
No minimum balance requirement
No monthly service charge
$25 Cash Bonus

Looks like there’s another Bank of America $100 promotion in the wind, this time it’s for opening a free State University of Iowa checking account. Everything is branded University of Iowa but there doesn’t seem to be any confirmation of student or alumni status to take advantage of this offer. All you need to do is open a MyAccess checking account, enter WGSUOISI808 as the promotion code, and you’re all set. No minimums, no direct deposit, no fuss. $100 credited within 90 days and you have to be a new customer with no checking accounts closed within the last three months.

Promotional Offer

Promotion Code: WGSUOISI808

Citibank is often offering promotions to open their checking accounts and this time it’s no different, it’s just a new promotional code (CY73). This promotion is for $100 and sometimes, very rarely, they offer up $200 so you might want to wait (or not, financial institutions aren’t exactly flush with cash these days).

All you need to is fund an account with at least $1000 by December 31st, 2008, set up a direct deposit, and make two online bill payments for three months straight. Then the $100 is yours.

Application link

Here’s the fine print:

This offer is only available to Citi® cardmembers who are the primary credit card account holders. Offer is not valid for existing Citibank checking customers. All accounts are subject to approval. Participation limited to United States (“U.S.”) citizens or resident aliens with a valid U.S. taxpayer identification number. Customer is responsible for taxes, if any. Persons under 18 years of age are not eligible. Offer may be modified or withdrawn at any time without notice, is not transferable and cannot be combined with any other offer. Checking account must be funded with $1,000 or more by 12/31/2008 and must be in a Citibank Account, Citibank Everything Counts® or Citigold® account relationship package. Fees may apply to the checking account. Within the first month after account opening, customer must complete at least one direct deposit to, or at least two electronic bill payments from, the checking account each month for three consecutive months to get $100. Electronic bill payments are those you make using Citibank® Online, Citi MobileSM or CitiPhone Banking®, excluding bill payments made to Citibank credit cards and transfer payments made to accounts with Citibank or its affiliates. $100 will be deposited to your Citibank checking account within 120 days from the end of the statement period in which you met the qualifying requirements. Your checking account must be in good standing at the time each bonus payment is deposited. Checking accounts are offered by Citibank, N.A., an affiliate of Citibank (South Dakota), N.A., the bank that issues your credit card.

Bank Deals recently posted a hot new checking promotion from Provident Bank, it’s a $100 checking account bonus when you open a checking account by November 21st, 2008 and meet some other conditions. You will also need a direct deposit and a MasterMoney debit card by 12/31 and the money is yours. Your best bet is to use their Totally Free Checking – minimum deposit to open is $25 and there is no balance requirements or maintenance fees.

Provident Bank also runs Providentdirect, an online bank account that offers 3.75% APY, so you could pair it up with that.

Bank Deals found another gem of an account bonus, this time it’s a hundred bones for a checking account.

Bank of the West has a checking account promotion in which you can earn up to $100. As is typical with these bonuses, there are a few hoops to jump through to earn the full $100:

• $25 for opening a new free checking account
• $25 for using your debit card 10 times
• $25 for signing up for direct deposit
• $25 for using online bill pay

Seems like a lot of work for the hundred bucks but if you have a branch near you, it might be worth it.

WTDirect is running a new promotion where you can get a bonus for opening an account and keeping a minimum of $10,000 there for sixty days. The interest rate WTDirect offers is a competitive 3.31% APY on balances over $10,000 so you aren’t surrendering much interest (compared to FNBO Direct’s 3.50% APY) compared to the highest amount.

The bonus promotion tiers are:

• Deposit $10,000: $100 bonus
• Deposit $15,000: $150 bonus
• Deposit $20,000: $200 bonus
• Deposit $25,000: $250 bonus

The promotion ends September 5th and you must keep your account, and minimum bonus amounts, in for at least 60 days. Be sure to use promotion code “WTF3SOB” when completing the online application!