U.S. Bank is offering up to a $400 bonus when you open a checking account online and complete qualifying activities. This matches the biggest bonus U.S. Bank has offered for their personal checking accounts!
For more current bank offers, see our bank bonuses page. The most popular offers are from Chase Bank, SoFi, KeyBank, BMO and Axos Bank.
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U.S. Bank $400 Checking Overview
U.S. Bank is promoting the highest checking account sign-up bonus they have ever offered! You’ll get up to a $400 bonus for opening a checking account and completing the following requirements:
- Open the U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking account using the link below.
- Enroll in online banking or the U.S. Bank mobile app within 90 days of account opening.
- Make two or more direct deposit(s) totaling $3,000 to $4,999.99 to earn $200 or $5,000 or more to earn $400 within 90 days of account opening.
Update 1/30/25: This offer has expired, but there’s a higher $450 version for this checking account.
This checking account requires a minimum amount of $25 to open. The $400 bonus will be credited to your new checking account within 60 days following the end of the calendar month during which you completed all the offer requirements.
Who Qualifies For The Bonus?
You qualify for the offer if you live within U.S. Bank’s geographic footprint or have an existing account with them from products such as credit cards. U.S. Bank has over 2,000 branches and in 26 states, along with 4,700 ATMs nationwide, so the chances are good if you live in the United States.
Along with the geographic footprint requirement, you can’t be:
- A current U.S. Bank personal checking account customer OR
- Had a U.S. Bank personal checking account in the last 12 months OR
- Received a U.S. Bank personal checking account bonus in the last 12 months
Related:
What Are The Details?
Availability: Offer may not be available if you live outside of the U.S. Bank footprint or are not an existing client of U.S. Bank or State Farm
Expiration: 4/17/2025
Household Limit: 1 bonus per household
Direct Deposit Required: $3,000 or more (see what counts as a direct deposit)
Soft/Hard Pull: Soft
Early Account Termination Fee: None
You’ll receive the $400 bonus when you complete the following 3 requirements:
Requirement #1) Complete Account Application
- Open the U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking account with promo code 24WEB03 (code automatically applied using any links found on this page).
Requirement #2) Enroll in Online Banking or U.S. Bank Mobile App
- Enroll in either online banking or download and register with the U.S. Bank mobile app – either one satisfies this requirement (no need to do both unless you want to).
Requirement #3) Make Direct Deposits
- Make two or more direct deposit(s) within 90 days of account opening totaling:
- $3,000 to $4,999.99 to earn a $200 bonus OR
- $5,000 or more to earn a $400 bonus
Avoiding Fees
Eligible Checking Accounts
The U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking is the only consumer checking account product that’s eligible for this promotion. It comes with a monthly maintenance fee of $6.95, but it can be waived in a number of ways.
- Have combined monthly direct deposits totaling $1,000 or more OR
- Keep a minimum average account balance of $1,500 or more OR
- Presence of an eligible personal U.S. Bank credit card; or qualify for one of the four Smart Rewards® tiers (Primary, Plus, Premium or Pinnacle) OR
- Members of the military (requires self disclosure) and customers ages 24 and under and those 65 and over
Hat tip to reader Amy in the comments below who shared that the monthly fees are waived for active duty and veterans.
Offer Terms & Conditions
- A minimum deposit of $25 is required to open a U.S. Bank checking account.
- To earn your $400 bonus, open a new U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking before the promotion expiration date.
- The checking account bonus will be deposited into your new checking account within 60 days of completing the offer requirements.
- The account must be open and have a positive balance for the bonus to receive the bonus.
- Bonus will be reported as interest earned on IRS Form 1099-INT and recipient is responsible for any applicable taxes.
- Offer may not be combined with any other consumer checking account bonus offers.
The Bottom Line
Great deal and a lot less complicated than the recent bonuses that required both a checking account and a savings account to be opened at the same time (and additional bonus requirements for the savings account).
This $400 sign-up bonus matches the highest standalone consumer checking account offer that U.S. Bank has provided in recent memory. I’ve added this promotion to my list of best bank account opening bonuses.
Member FDIC
John I live outside the US Bank footprint but found if I opened a credit card (that earned a $200 bonus qualified me as a existing cu. I was then able to take advantage of this offer as well Great ROI on this set of ac
Very hard bank to deal with. In order to establish a relationship with US Bank (I live in NY – no branches here), I bought a $500 CD with an incredible 0.40% rate of return (I think I’ll retire on the interest tomorrow). A few days later I applied for this account bonus and was rejected. No explanation other than that I’d get a letter IN THE MAIL in 7-10 business days. It occurred to me that perhaps it was because my credit reports were all frozen, so I unfroze the big 3 for a day and reapplied. Same result. Denied. But yesterday I did get the explanation letter. Their reason? They couldn’t verify my identification information. So they happily took my $500 for a CD without verifying my ID but wouldn’t do the same for this account. I called the toll-free Customer Authentication Department number on their letter and was told I had to unfreeze my LexisNexis and Innovis credit reports. What? Who’s that? They gave me their phone numbers, but I had to provide the PIN and password used to freeze those accounts? I’ve never heard of those companies and never initiated freezes on my accounts at either company. What a farce! I decided to forget this bonus. Not worth my time.
I think the issue was your credit report from the big three were frozen (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax), and that may have triggered your credit report being frozen at LexusNexis and Innovis too. Your frustration is 100% understandable, this was really a bank trying to identify a new customer and couldn’t because of your frozen status at the credit bureaus.
Yeah but I had unfroze my big 3 credit reports before I reapplied the second time. So if your premise is correct, my LexusNexis and Innovis reports should have been unfrozen, too. As it turns out, US Bank now has another bonus offering $500 for $10K of DDs that’s good through 6/27/24. So I may pour a healthy shot of bourbon and see if I can unfreeze the two (previously unknown to me) credit bureaus that US Bank requires.
This promo only works if there is a US Bank within 50 miles of your home address. I was rejected last year when I tried.
Hey!
Will the direct deposit work if I transfer the amount from Chase to the US bank? I have seen another article where it’s mentioned about push transfer and would like to know if it will work
Dan. I was able to overcome the restriction opening a credit card with them first.
Is it $4000+ direct deposit each time ($4000+$4000) or total of $4000+ within 60 days of account opening? Please let me know.
It’s $4,000+ overall within 60 days.
How long do I have to have the easy checkings for until I can cancel it ?
There’s no early termination fee so as soon as you get the bonus, you’re allowed to close the account.
It is not available in all zip codes.
Originally it asked to put a zip code in, it said that is not available in my area unless I’m a military or have an existing US Bank account, which I don’t. I have tried to apply again X2 It took my application with all the info and in the end my application was not approved!
LOL. Don’t waist your time to fill in info, if its not offered in your area!
What zip code did you put down? I haven’t read a report yet on it being unavailable in certain places until seeing your comment.
Should I open the checking account first then get the US Bank credit card? I have excellent credit scores. Also, if I open a checking account online, how do I deposit $25 for the initial requirement?
It doesn’t matter whether you open a U.S. Bank checking account or credit card first since a bank account doesn’t check your credit score. The credit inquiry is for the credit card only so it’s really your preference. Both accounts will be viewable under one login.
You can deposit the $25 electronically from another bank account that you own or you can fund it with a credit, debit or prepaid card.
Unless you’re aiming for their Altitude Reserve credit card.
From U.S. Bank website: “The U.S. Bank Altitude® Reserve Visa Infinite® Card is offered to U.S. Bank customers who have an eligible U.S. Bank account relationship open and active a minimum of 5 business days prior to submitting an application. An eligible U.S. Bank account relationship is defined as: Checking or Savings account, Certificate of Deposit, Mortgage, Home Equity Loan, Home Equity Line of Credit, Auto/Boat/RV Loan, Personal and Small Business Loans and Lines, Commercial Loan & Lease, Premier Lines, Private Banking account or U.S. Bank credit card. If you have questions regarding eligibility status, please speak with your banker.”
I went to US Bank via the direct link and now it says for $400 you have to have $5000 or more deposited and it said that the deposits have to come from an employer or the government. It can’t be a person-to-person transfer or anything like that. So I guess if $400 is worth the hassle of getting your employer to change your direct deposit account (which sometimes takes 2-3 pay cycles, then it could work. Or if you get paid weekly or freelance or something. For me it is not reasonable or worth my time to take up this offer).
Hi Marissa – almost all bank offers state that in their terms and conditions, but for practical purposes, person-to-person transfers work per this list.
Some banks (not U.S. Bank) do have a hard requirement that a direct deposit comes from payroll. For me, it takes less than 2 minutes to change my bank information. Maybe it’s not for everyone, but earning $100-$1,000 for opening a bank account and spending a couple of minutes to revise my payroll instructions is worth it IMHO 🙂
Exactly great point.
it says $300 not $400
The offer was temporarily lowered, but it’s back to $400 now.
FYI if you are military or vet, service fees on all accounts are waved. I had to bring my DD214 in to a branch near me.
Thanks Amy for letting me know – I’ll update the post! 🙂
Desktop web browser kept giving “Something went wrong” message, but I was able to avoid that by logging into my US Bank account in the mobile app since I have the Altitude Go card and click on “Open a new account” within the mobile app. Under Checking accounts you can select either the Easy Checking or Gold Checking package options and go through the application process successfully. Just remember to enter the promo code 2021Q1C since it isn’t automatically applied when going through this method of applying instead of the direct link above.
Although I used the US Bank mobile app, this may work as well if you login to your US Bank account on a web browser.