VerbalK said:sunblue said:Do I understand correctly, that if one can only make the required monthly dd from a savings or checking account, one cannot take advantage of this offer? I can meet all the other stipulations but would need to be able to do the dd from one my savings or checking accounts.
Thanks for the clarification.

So you can meet all the stipulations except the only stipulation?

The claim they want a complete payroll DD of at least 500 per cycle. After calling them several times (and still never receiving my online access code), I'm guessing this isn't a "ninja" run bank, so I'm guessing you may be able to finagle something.

I was emailing one of their reps back and forth and this is what he sent me.

"Each direct deposit has to be a minimum of $500 also each direct deposit must be your total salary possible. Your full (100%) paycheck must come in as a direct deposit. We can also request verification of your salary if we feel the need to".

Let me tell you all about my own experience with Met. I opened my account at a New York branch in October.

For one thing - they gave me a form to sign that says the following:

By signing below you acknowledge that receipt of the $200 bonus on your new checking account requires full direct deposit of recurring payroll, government benefits or retirement account disbursements, subject to bank verification upon request. (I underlined it because they underlined it).

My first DD (luckily) hit on the 60th day and my $200 bonus posted immediately after. I recently called them and asked if I could close my account at the end of this month (I opened on October 1, and wanted find out so I could change my DD) and they said - not until I have had 6 months of DD.

When I opened my account the terms stated that there was no minimum balance to remain fee free - so each month I write a check out after my DD. They gave me 6 starter checks - so that works out perfect - since they do not do ACH. I could use bill pay but didn't want to bother with setting it up.

They have been extremely pleasant in the branch and on the phone. Overall I have been very happy with them. Also the branch I want to was very attractive (ultra-modern).

DreamSun said:madshana said:My first DD (luckily) hit on the 60th day and my $200 bonus posted immediately after.

Do they require first dd to occur within 60 days to qualify for the bonus? I did not see it in the terms.

Check - because they did back in October and I can't see how they can not have some kind of deadline. Take note that they wanted 6 full months of DD even though I hoped to get away with only 4.

So is it a hard pull or chexsystem?? anyone confirm??

So can I do 250+ 2x a month for the 500+ I get paid bi weekly, does it have to be one 500+ DD Thanx

nismomax98 said:So can I do 250+ 2x a month for the 500+ I get paid bi weekly, does it have to be one 500+ DD Thanx

I have the same question. Does anyone know the answer? Thanks.

taxmantoo said:Bagofchips said:
Second, the 6 months seems unenforceable since they reward you nearly right away. So, as I've done w/ other banks, you just get the thing opened, dd once or twice, get the bonus, billpay your entire balance to yourself or initiate an ach debit from somebody else (Citibank makes this pretty easy), turn off the dd and then ignore the empty account. They can't get blood from a stone.

Anybody have a different opinion?

What if they debit your account for the $200, and turn you over to Chexsystems if you don't pay the $200 plus overdraft fees?

I think they'd have to manually intervene to post a debit to attempt recovering the $200. They're too small to have the systems in place to automate this kind of process.

That said, since there's no fee & no min balance, couldn't you just draw down the account and not close it? That way your still open 6 mos... they might close you for dormancy but usually that takes mos and mos to play out.

I got the bonus credited. I did a partial (not full pay check) DD - around $700+ from my employer on the 15th and the bonus was added on the last day of the month. So, a full paycheck DD is NOT necessary!

Why not simply play along and keep the account for full 6 months, per their rules.

On a lighter note, we should setup "Bank of Fatwallet" which will post direct deposit for all purposes of obtaining bonus and provide "verification" that the source of deposit is earned income

Let's do $513.82!

I'm going to add a data point about this promo that seems to be pretty strict.

I first tried to do a DD for 560 as an allotment from my federal government payroll system. The 560 looks like any other DD, except is says "ALLOTMENT" at the end. This did not appear to trigger the bonus. The next cycle, I switched my primary DD bank to BOA (and created a new allotment for my old account). The deposit was about 650, and that did trigger the bonus. No other bank that required a DD differentiated between and allotment and the primary bank from the dfas system, so metro seems to be pretty tough.