Updated; bonus is back up to $300. Laurel Road is a digital brand of KeyBank (not a fintech) that reminds me of SoFi in that they are building a relationship that starts with student loan refinances when you are young, and then expands as you grow older and need new services. They have special products targeted at doctors and nurses including student loan refinances, personal loans, mortgages, bank accounts, and other products like a credit card that earns 2% cashback towards student loans.
The Laurel Road Loyalty Checking Account is available to the general public and has a few interesting features:
- $300 welcome bonus when you open a Laurel Road Loyalty Checking account and make one or more qualifying direct deposits via an Automated Clearing House (ACH) transaction into the Laurel Road Loyalty Checking account totaling at least $2,500 within the first 60 days after account opening.
- $20 cash reward for every month you make qualifying ACH direct deposits of $2,500+ each statement period during the first 12 months ($240 total), and $10 for every month after that – for as long as your account is open.
- No minimum to open. No minimum balance. No monthly fees.
Here is the fine print on the $20 monthly bonus:
Primary account holder is eligible to earn monthly rewards of $20/month from the second through thirteenth statement periods, which is considered your “first year.” From the fourteenth statement period onward, the eligible reward will be $10/month for as long as the Laurel Road Loyalty Checking account (“Account”) is open. To earn monthly rewards, you must make qualifying Automated Clearing House (ACH) direct deposits into the Account totaling at least $2,500 during the statement period. Qualifying ACH direct deposit transactions include most payroll, Social Security, pension and government benefits deposits. Rewards will be deposited into your Account in the statement period after they are earned. Only one Loyalty Checking account per primary account holder. Cannot be combined with other checking bonus, reward, or rate discount offers, excluding any promotional offer for opening the Account. The value of the monthly rewards will be reported to the IRS on Form 1099-INT. Accounts closed within first 180 days will be charged a $25 early closure fee. Accounts closed at the time of monthly rewards payment are not eligible. Offer is subject to change without notice.
I appreciate the simple bonus structure, and it works great if you can easily adjust your work direct deposit through your payroll provider. “Alternative” methods have also worked in the past, but they might be more picky as to what counts as direct deposit than in the past. Note that this checking account pays essentially zero interest, but you don’t have to keep your $2,500+ direct deposit there after it arrives in your checking account.
Qualifying Direct Deposits – A pre-arranged electronic direct deposit through the Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) Network from most employer payrolls, payroll provider (excluding third-party advance payroll service providers), benefits payer such as Social Security or Military Pay, or pension. Non-Qualifying Deposits – Including but not limited to: Point-of-sale (POS) and internet-initiated mobile entry (WEB) ACH transactions; incoming Person-to-Person (P2P) payments made via the ACH Network such as Zelle, PayPal, Cash App, or Venmo (including payroll-related transactions made via P2P providers); mobile check deposits; wire transfers; cash deposits; one-time direct deposits such as tax refunds and corporate reimbursements; internal transfers between Laurel Road or KeyBank accounts; external transfers from another financial institution; and insurance payments and other similar transactions.
In fact, you should actually first consider the Laurel Road High Yield Savings Account $200 Bonus first, as that offer says that the “Referred cannot be an existing or prior Laurel Road member in the last twelve (12) months.”. Therefore, I would do the High Yield Savings bonus first, and then this checking bonus offer second, as it does not includes such language (it only excludes prior *checking* account holders).
You are not eligible for the bonus if you were the primary owner on any Laurel Road checking account within the prior 24 months before opening the new checking account.