(EXPIRED) $600 HSBC checking bonus extended (requires monthly direct deposit)

We don’t post as extensively about checking account bonuses as Doctor of Credit does, but seeing their post about the extension of the latest HSBC checking promotion through June 30, 2021 made me realize that this is worth reporting for those who may have missed the easier version that was available via referral late last year into early this year. This new bonus requires six to eight months of direct deposit, but given the large bonus for a checking account this may still be worthwhile.

The Deal

• HSBC bank is offering a new account bonus of up to $600 when you open a new HSBC Premier account and meet direct deposit requirements as follows:
  • Get a bonus of 3% of your monthly direct deposit amount up to $100 per month for 6 months
• Direct link to this offer

Key Terms

• This offer is available only online for applications completed using the Apply now button on the offer webpage.
• You must be at least 18 years of age, have a Social Security Number, currently have a U.S. residential address and have had U.S. residency for the past two years to apply for a deposit account online.
• To qualify for 3% Cash Bonus (rounded up to the nearest dollar) on Qualifying Direct Deposits up to $600 ($100 max per month), during the first 6 calendar months after account opening you must:
  • (1) open your new HSBC Premier checking account from April 1, 2021 through and including June 30, 2021
  • (2) set-up recurring Qualifying Direct Deposits from a third party to an HSBC Premier checking account at least once per calendar month for 6 consecutive calendar months following account opening month.
  • The 6 calendar months from account opening begins with the first full calendar month after your Premier checking account is opened.
  • You will automatically receive the 3% Cash Bonus in your new HSBC Premier checking account approximately eight weeks after completing that month’s qualifying activities.
  • Qualifying Direct Deposits are electronic deposits of regular periodic payments (such as salary, pension, Government Benefits or other monthly income) made into your HSBC Premier checking account from third parties at least once per calendar month.
  • Customers who held an HSBC consumer deposit or investment account from March 31, 2018 through and including March 31, 2021 are not eligible for this offer.
  • Eligible customers who take advantage of this offer cannot receive any other New Consumer Deposit Offers provided by HSBC Bank USA, N.A. New Consumer Deposit Offers are defined as incentives in a form of merchandise and/or cash bonus that are offered to customers who open an eligible checking account and satisfy qualifying activities.
  • To be eligible for the offer, your HSBC Premier checking account must be open without being changed to a product with lower requirements, and in good standing at the time of fulfillment

Keeping the account fee-free

To qualify for an HSBC Premier relationship, you need to open an HSBC Premier checking account and maintain:

• Balances of $75,000 in combined U.S. consumer and qualifying commercial U.S. Dollar deposit and investment* accounts; OR
• Monthly recurring direct deposits totaling at least $5,000 from a third party to an HSBC Premier checking account(s); OR
• HSBC U.S. residential mortgage loan with an original loan amount of at least $500,000, not an aggregate of multiple mortgages. Home Equity products are not included.
  Consumers who maintain Jade status.
• A monthly maintenance fee of $50 will be incurred if one of these requirements is not maintained.

Quick Thoughts

The key for this deal is that you’ll need to make monthly direct deposits of at least $5,000 per month to make the account fee-free. They advertise the bonus as being 3% of your direct deposit, but that’s capped at $100 per month for 6 months. You’d reach that $100 with $3,333.33 in direct deposits, but you’ll need $5K in direct deposits each month to keep the account fee-free and maintain the Premier relationship (or else keep $75K in the account and still make $3.33K per month in direct deposits to max out the bonus, which doesn’t make much sense in my opinion).

The good news is that we’ve had many positive reports of non-traditional direct deposits meeting the requirements despite the terms indicating that it has to be something like payroll or social security. Doctor of Credit maintains an excellent resource for what works to meet direct deposit requirements, so I recommend checking that out as both my personal data points as well as those you’ll find in the comments of our previous post match reports from DoC.

That referral offer we reported in late 2020 and early 2021 was a bit better in my opinion because it only required meeting the direct deposit requirement for a month or two before most people got the full $600 bonus, but that offer ended on 1/31 and the current referral offer is for a lower bonus of only $400 for a Premier account. That said, the referral offer required opening the account via phone whereas this version of the account can be opened entirely online.

At the top of this post, I noted that you’ll need six to eight monthly direct deposits to trigger the full offer. That’s because the terms indicate that the bonus period begins at the beginning of the first month following account opening and then you’ll receive the bonus approximately 8 weeks following when you meet the criteria. In other words, if you open an account in April, your first monthly bonus would be awarded based on your May direct deposits and the $100 for May won’t be awarded until (potentially) July. So if you open your account in April and begin your direct deposits in May and the bonus payment lags deposits by two months, you’ll likely need to continue with $5K monthly direct deposits until you receive the final $100 payment which will likely be in December. The terms state that you can not have closed or downgraded your account before receiving the bonus.

That’s a long period of direct deposits which is why I thought the referral offer was so compelling. However, six hundred dollars for a checking account is an excellent bonus, so it may be worth the hassle for folks who missed the earlier offer. After you have received the full bonus, you should be free to close or downgrade, though I’ve personally kept the HSBC Premier account. I’ve been taking advantage of another offer I received after exhausting my new account bonus. I’ve liked that I can make instant real-time transfers with some of my external bank accounts, they have free wire transfers, and unlimited ATM fee reimbursements within the US for Premier customers. It’s not the only checking account I maintain, but I’ve found it worth keeping for now even without their previous referral promotion.

I originally opened my account with a similar online promotion around this time last year, though that time around the bonus was up to $700. I haven’t seen the offer exceed $600 since that one ended, so I don’t know whether or not it is likely to return when this one ends in June.

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