Citizens Bank is offering a $400 bonus for opening up a checking account! This is one of the easier bank bonuses you can take advantage of from a major bank. See below for details!
For more current bank offers, see our bank bonuses page. The most popular offers are from Chase Bank, SoFi, KeyBank, and Axos Bank.
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Citizens Bank $400 Checking Bonus Overview
Citizens Bank is offering a bonus of up to $400 when you open a new checking account with them.
There’s also a different Citizens Bank promotion where you can get up to $600 by opening both a checking account AND a savings account. That deal requires you to have $15,000 available to transfer though, so this $400 one is easier for most.
Who Qualifies For The Bonus?
You must live in one of the following states (although reports have been coming in that other states are now available with Citizens’ purchase of HSBC branches):
- Connecticut (CT)
- Delaware (DE)
- Florida (FL)
- Massachusetts (MA)
- Maryland (MD)
- Michigan (MI)
- New Hampshire (NH)
- New Jersey (NJ)
- New York (NY)
- Ohio (OH)
- Pennsylvania (PA)
- Rhode Island (RI)
- Washington, D.C. (DC)
- Vermont (VT)
Along with residing in one of those states, you can’t be a current customer or had a Citizens Bank personal checking or savings account in the last 6 months.
Related:
- $600 Chase Checking & Savings Account Bonus
- $400 Wells Fargo Checking Account Bonus
- $400 Santander Checking Account Bonus
Where Do I Enroll?
You can apply online directly through the link above.
What Are The Details?
Availability: CT, DC, DE, FL, MA, MD, MI, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VT
Expiration: 8/1/24
Household Limit: None (everyone in your family can get the bonus!)
Direct Deposit Required: Yes, $500 or more (see what counts as a direct deposit)
Early Account Termination Fee: None
$400 Bonus Breakdown
The $400 bonus is broken up as follows:
- $300 Bonus: Receive a bonus of $300 when you open a Citizens Bank checking account and make a direct deposit of $500 or more within 60 days of account opening
- $100 Bonus: Earn $2 for every debit card purchase you make, up to $100 within the first 60 days of account opening
The bonus will be posted within 30 days of meeting the requirements. On your bank statement, the bonus shows up as a credit memo coded as ‘Balbldr Bonus‘:
Avoiding Fees
The checking accounts have a monthly fee between $0 and $25 that can be waived if you meet the requirements:
Citizens Bank Student Checking:
- No monthly fee as long as you’re under 25 years old
Citizens Bank One Deposit Checking:
- $9.99 monthly fee waived if you make one deposit of ANY amount each during monthly statement period
Citizens Bank Platinum Checking:
- $25 monthly fee waived if you have combined monthly balances (in all deposit and investment accounts) of $25,000 or more
Citizens Bank Platinum Plus Checking:
- $25 monthly fee waived if you have combined monthly balances (in all deposit and investment accounts) of $25,000 or more AND
- Make a deposit of at least $5,000 in your primary checking account each statement period OR maintain an average daily checking balance of $10,000 or more
Terms & Conditions
- To earn a $300 bonus: Open your first new personal checking account and have at least one single direct deposit of $500 or more post to your new checking account within 60 days of account opening.
- To earn up to $100: Get paid $2 per qualified debit transaction (up to $100) that post and clear your new checking account within 60 days of account opening.
- Primary signer on the new checking account may not be or have been a signer on any Citizens Bank personal checking account within the previous six months.
- The new account must be open and in good standing on the payout date stated in the table below to qualify for this offer.
- Direct Deposit is recurring income electronically deposited into your Citizens Bank checking account and may include salary, pension, and other regular income.
- Qualified debit card transactions include signature and PIN-based debit transactions in person directly at a merchant location or in app or online merchant sites.
- Only one debit card per checking account eligible for bonus.
- Online Bill Payments, Zelle transactions and ATM transactions do not qualify.
- Customer must open their first new checking account via Citizens Bank’s online account opening system accessed by clicking on one of the links on this page.
- Customer should print this screen for their records.
- Customer will only be paid a one-time bonus for this program.
- Offers may be withdrawn without notice and cannot be combined with any other checking offer.
- Payout: Bonus will be deposited to the new checking account by the date stated in the table below and will be labeled as “Balance Builder Bonus”.
- Bonus will be reported to the IRS for income tax purposes.
The Bottom Line
This is Citizen Bank’s highest bonus offer for opening a single checking account.
If you do decide to take part in this promotion, the best checking account to open is the Student Checking provided that you’re under 25. Otherwise, the One Deposit Checking would be the easiest to avoid the monthly service fee.
I signed up all four family members to open individual Citizens Bank accounts because of this promo and received $2,400 in total bank bonuses.
This is one of the easiest bank bonuses to satisfy. I’ve done it three times in three years. Your $500 direct deposit need not be a “real” direct deposit like salary or social security. I’ve used a regular EFT from Fidelity with no problem. And for the 50 debit card transactions, I simply do 50 $1 Amazon gift card reloads over the course of a few weeks. I’m always buying stuff there anyway, so it’s not like the money is going to waste. And to avoid the $9.99 monthly fee, I send a $10 EFT from Fidelity once a month. (I’d send less, but that’s Fidelity’s minimum.) Voila! That’s all there is to it. About a week after the bonus is paid, I transfer all the money out, close the account, wait six months, and do it again.
I find Citizens to be both generous and easy with their bonuses. Between my wife and I we have realized over $3400 in bonuses in five years. They sometimes can make you wait an extra month or two for the bonus to be credited but you can re-apply within 6 months of closing the account.
Nice Larry, it looks like you’re doing P1 + P2 combo bonuses for the bank welcome offers. Is that just through Citizens or are you trying other accounts too?
Yes Checking and Savings most of the time unless the Savings balance requirement gets too high. Then just checking every 9 months or so. And yes we use other banks as well. The larger banks are a bit easier but there are some credit unions and local banks that can be used as well. I always look for bonuses greater than $200 with requirements that tie up cash for less than 4 months. Have done over $7000 in Bonuses since 2019.
I transferred from Chase to citizens bank to meet the sign up bonus for citizens bank but the transaction shows RTP while the initial fund marked as direct deposit. Is chase push transfer still count as direct deposit? Please advise .
it says that the “code cannot be validated” as an error
Try again – I updated the link. The promotion expired a few days ago, but just got extended.
I can’t find the link to open the account so I can receive the bonus. Please advise!
I accidently removed the offer link in the previous update. It’s now added back. Thanks for letting me know, Jerry.
hello is there any actual code you have.. i need to verify thru the bank my imformation and when i went now to bank they ask for the actual code for bonus or they could just open but with no bonus at all pls help
No promo code needed – you just need to use the offer link in this post.
ARE THERE ANY LIMITATIONS TO THE NUMBER OF ACCOUNTS PER HOUSEHOLD OR PER ADDRESS. I TRIED TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS FOR MY TWIN GIRLS AT ANOTHER BANK AND THEY SAID ONE ACCOUNT ER ADDRESS.
JINJA LEMMEN
For Citizens Bank, they do not have a household limitation. Each person can claim a bonus as long as they’re not listed as an owner or joint owner of another Citizens Bank consumer banking account.
I opened up a checking account with Citizens Bank because of the sign on bonus…$300…I had to do a direct deposit of $500 which I did..was supposed to receive the $300 12/31/21..I am just NOW 1/10/22 being told that I needed a promotional code..which there is no mention of one in the ad nor was it mentioned to me (promotional code)when I signed up at the Bank..I asked is that all I have to do(direct deposit of $500 within 60 days)she said YES..that’s it
Been on the phone with numerous people for hours since 1/3/22 to no avail
Today 1/10/22 I’m being told by some marketing lady that they have to pass it on to someone else to look into it…which again everyone I talk to keeps saying that they got to pass it on to someone else..I was really counting on that money for my truck is down and that’s my lively hood..I’ve been down 2 weeks and 1 of the 2 weeks is because the bonus was never deposited 12/31/21
How did you open an account? There is a promo code for the bonus, but if you opened it with the link I provided in this post, the promo code is already attached to the application.
I ran into this at Santander Bank. Same thing. First promo ciode was not right. Then they said my transfers from Fidelity did not count and it had to be payroll. Made a couple calls and asked for a written letter as to why they would not honor my bonus because I wanted to get it correct when I wrote it up ON SOCIAL MEDIA. Those were the magic words. I had my bonus two days later.
I signed up for the account September 10th, met all requirements on the 17th. How long does it take for the bonus? I was under the impression it would be 90 days and it’s been 90. The rep said January, 31st. Why so long?! Did anyone else have to wait this long?
I signed up for the account for the first time this year and want to close the account to repeat the cycle next year. I am having the hardest time cancelling without going in in person, although the Citizen’s bank website says it should be a simple phone call (https://www.citizensbank.com/ask-a-citizen/Q440291942/How-can-I-close-my-checking-account.aspx). Any tips, or am I doomed to have to walk into a physical bank location each year?
I never went to a Citizens branch to cancel. I have either called the customer service phone number or emailed them through the secure message once I logged on to my account. How are you trying to cancel?
Does the $500 DD need to stay in the new Citizen account for a specific length of time?
So for a “push” transaction to count as a DD for this bonus, it sounds like all I need to do is go to my Chase account and link the new Citizen account… And then simply request a funds transfer to go from my Chase into the Citizen??
Can someone clarify the debit card purchase criteria? So you must provide both the PIN and a signature?
What about when you go to a bar/restaurant and they run your card without a PIN, but you still provide a signature?
Does social security check count as direct deposit, or does it have to be salary?
Hi Julia – your Social Security check will count as a direct deposit for this bonus.
I’m wondering if anybody knows of an easy way of making the 50 debit transactions for the extra $100 bonus.
The small print says transactions need a signature and point pin to count but I wonder if anybody has tried Venmo, cash app, PayPal or other online shopping platforms.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
I just opened an account and plan on doing 50 $5 Cash App reloads. Going off data points from Doctor Of Credit, any transactions above $2 should work.
My boyfriend and I are new to this whole “bonus” thing. He just opened the Citizens bank checking and savings accounts and is eligible for the $300 checking bonus. His new job also does not offer direct deposit until 90 days working there otherwise, I wouldn’t be on here googling how to trigger a direct deposit of $500 or more into his new citizens checking account within the next 60 days. I called and the representative said it needed to be considered as “pay wages” or something to that extent. I read your list on what triggers the citizens direct deposits, however I am still sooo confused about what ACH or Ally Bank, or Capital One 360 or Venmo transfers mean? Does it mean I have to make a push transfer (I did understand push vs pull transfers) of $500 or more from an account that we already have set up through one of those listed under the citizens bank? Or can I send him $500 from my Venmo account to his Venmo account and then he transfers it into his citizens account? Will that qualify!? PLEASE HELP!!!! Thanks!!!
Hi Jackii,
Citizens Bank may say it needs to be “pay wages”, but we’ve found electronic transfers at other specific banks trigger the bonus.
So the banks or financial apps you’ve mentioned (Ally Bank, Capital One 360, Venmo) will trigger the bonus as long as the transfer is made when you’re logging onto the Venmo app and requesting the money to be sent to Citizens. This is considered a “push transfer” – you’re “pushing” money from another bank to Citizens.
A “pull transfer” is when you’re logged into Citizens and “pulling” money from another account.
You should always push and not pull. Hope that makes sense.
Hi. I opened a citizens bank account and wanted to get the $300 bonus. I thought the initial deposit counted as an ACH but I dont think it does. So I want to use venmo.
The thing is I’m not exactly how to use venmo to trigger the bonus in the account (I dont use venmo at all). I have a capital one 360 account. Can I link both banks onto venmo, transfer money from 360 into venmo, and then send it to citizens? Or does the money have to be transferred into citizens FROM capital one 360 directly (through venmo)?
Also can I just transfer money from my capital one 360 account to an “external account” and that will trigger? What about if I use bill pay to transfer the money?
Please help! Appreciate your help in advance.
Which bank did you use to send the initial deposit to your new Citizens account? Was it a “push” transfer and not a “pull” I’m asking because you may have already sent it correctly and it just takes time for the bonus to show up.
And yes, both Capital One 360 and Venmo work for triggering the bonus. You can log on to your Capital One account and initiate a transfer to an external account (Citizens) and it will work. Same thing with Venmo. You can log on to your Venmo account and send a transfer to Citizens.