【Updated 2025.2】The $300 signup bonus is back. If you can meet the DD requirement, it's basically free money. And the account itself earns 3% APY, so it doesn't hurt to keep money there. The DD requirement is a bit high: if your monthly DD over three months is $1,000-$5,000, you can only get a $50 bonus. If your monthly DD is more than $5,000, you can get the full $300 bonus. Note that if you have had DD with this bank within the past 18 months, it won't count.
We have already added this bonus to the bank account bonus leaderboard. If you're interested, you can take a look at other accounts:
Here is a summary of this account:
- Open account link
- Maximum bonus: $300
- Availability: Available nationwide
- Direct Deposit requirement: $5,000 per month for three months
- Credit check: SoFi pull does not affect your credit score
- ChexSystems: Will be checked; may be sensitive
- Credit card funding: Not supported
- Monthly fee: None
- Early account closure fee: None
- Family account restrictions: None
- Offer expiration: Not listed
About First Tech
First Tech Federal Credit Union is a federally chartered credit union headquartered in Hillsboro, Oregon, and regulated by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). First Tech has more than 650,000 members and more than $12,000,000,000 in assets, with 36 branches mainly located in high-tech business centers in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and four other states.
Their deposits are federally protected up to $250,000, so you don't need to worry about safety.
Deposits at all federally insured credit unions and many state-chartered credit unions are covered by the NCUSIF. This means your deposits are insured up to at least $250,000 per individual depositor. State-chartered credit unions are sometimes insured by private insurers. Private insurers provide non-federal share insurance coverage, but these are not backed by the U.S. government.
Opening the account and bonus
Opening a First Tech Federal checking account now comes with a $300 signup bonus, which you can earn after three consecutive months of Direct Deposit.
This DD requirement is a bit high. If your monthly DD over three months is $1,000-$5,000, you can only get a $50 bonus; if your monthly DD is more than $5,000, you can get the $300 bonus. Note that if you have had DD with this bank within the past 18 months, it won't count.
If you can switch your paycheck to this account, that's best. If not, you can try transfers from PayPal and investment accounts like Schwab. According to DOC comments, the following transfers may also count as DD:
APY
A nice feature of this account is that, if you meet certain requirements, you can earn 3% APY. However, only the first $15,000 qualifies. If you want to earn a high rate on more cash, you can open a savings account.
In addition, if you also have their credit card, once you meet the requirements you can get an extra 0.5% cash back each month and a $10 streaming reimbursement, which is a pretty solid perk.
Fees
- Monthly fee: This account has no monthly fee.
- Early account closure fee: There is no early closure fee, but after 6 months there may be a $5 inactive fee. Keep $500 in the account, or make any transaction to avoid it. If you really don't need it, just close the account.