Santander $225 Checking Bonus

Santander is offering a $225 bonus for opening up a checking account. This is a churnable bank offer so you can keep on doing it whenever you become eligible. See why this bank bonus is part of our top bank offers to take advantage of!

Who qualifies for the bonus?

Santander Bank has had $225 to $350 checking account bonus offers in the past, but those are only available to people that received the offer via snail mail.

This is a public offer open to everyone, but you must live in one of the following states:

• Connecticut (CT)
• Delaware (DE)
• Florida (FL)
• Massachusetts (MA)
• New Hampshire (NH)
• New Jersey (NJ)
• New York (NY)
• Pennsylvania (PA)
• Rhode Island (RI)

Along with residing in one of those states, you can’t be a current customer or had a Santander personal checking or savings account in the last 12 months.

Related:

• $600 Citizens Bank Checking and Savings Bonus
• $600 Chase Checking and Savings Account Bonus
• $400 Wells Fargo Checking Account Bonus

Where do I enroll?

Ninja Update 8/29/21: The $225 offer has expired – we’ll update this link as it should be back at some point. There’s a similar Chase Bank $225 offer available.

Looking for other bank bonuses? See the list of the best bank bonuses currently available on this page.

You can open the account online (and even fund it with a credit card up to $500 for free credit card points) or at a branch by printing out the coupon from the link.

What are the details?

You’ll get the $250 bonus once you do the following:

• Open an eligible new checking account with the promo code BONUS225J2M
• Receive direct deposits totaling at least $1,000 within the first 90 days 
• Keep your account open for at least 90 days

Availability: CT, DE, FL, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI
Expiration: 06/30/20
Household Limit: None (everyone in your family can get the bonus!)
Direct Deposit Required: Yes, one or more totaling $1,000 (see what counts as a direct deposit)
Soft/Hard Pull: Soft (you’re forced to agree to the overdraft protection when applying online, but if you select “some overdrafts” instead of “all overdrafts”, you’ll avoid the hard pull on your credit report) 
Early Account Termination Fee: $25 if closed within 90 days of account opening

You can either apply directly online or come into the nearest branch with the coupon printed out:

• Click: Direct Link
• Come: Branch Locator

Ninja Tip: On the funding page, the option to uncheck the $3 paper statement fee is grayed out. You have to remember to change it to the paperless option after getting online access to avoid the $3 paper statement fee.

Avoiding Fees

The checking accounts have a monthly fee between $10 and $35, but they can be waived if you do ONE of the following:

Santander Bank Basic Checking Account:

• The $3 monthly service fee is non-waivable

Santander Bank Simply Right Checking Account:

• The $10 monthly fee is waived when you make any financial transaction that posts during a monthly statement cycle, including deposits, withdrawals, transfers, or payments. Fees, rebates, or adjustments posted by Santander are excluded.

Santander Bank Premier Checking Account:

• The $35 monthly fee is waived by maintaining $75,000 in combined balances of deposits and investments held at Santander OR $6,000 in total monthly direct deposits

Terms and Conditions

• Offer is not available if any account owner is a current deposit customer of Santander or had a Santander deposit account in the last 12 months prior to account opening.
• Cannot be combined with other offers.
• In order to receive the bonus, the account must remain open and in the eligible product type at the time of bonus payout. In addition, the account must have a positive balance at the time of bonus payment.
• Bonus is considered interest and will be reported to IRS on Form 1099-INT.
• If multiple accounts are opened with the same signer, only one account will be eligible for the bonus.
• Direct deposits include deposits made by your employer or a federal or state government agency or retirement benefits administrator and generally payments made by corporations or other organizations. They do not include deposits to your account that are made by an individual using online banking or an Internet payment provider such as PayPal.

The Bottom Line

If you live in the Northeast region then this Santander offer is a must do, especially given that the direct deposit requirement is pretty small compared to other bank offers.

There’s also a $400 bonus from Santander, but the requirements are a tad higher.

For the initial credit card funding – it’s a great way to earn free points or miles, but don’t fund it with a Citi, Discover, or an American Express card, as those card issuers treat this as a cash advance and not a regular credit card charge. It’s a good idea to set your cash advance limit to $0 anyway to avoid any possible cash advance charges.

I’ve done this for 4 years now and between all my family members, we easily made at least $1,000 in free money every year!