The Sovereign Bank is running a best checking account special which gives consumers $100 for opening an account. The details of the promo are on their promo page but here are some of the important ones:

Consumers who want to take advantage of the offer must appl for a Checking Account either under Primier or Interest types. The account holder must also get a Sovereign Check Card and deposit at least $10 through February 27, 2009.

The account holder must also complete 6 purchases within 2 months after opening the account. The $100 bonus will be credited to the account 15 days after the 2-month opening period.

Read the small prints of the offer before you sign up. The fine print for this one tells you about the exclusion – the offer is only for new checking account holders. If you are a Sovereign Bank personal checking account holder for the last 6 months, you do not qualify for the program. Tax duties must be reported to the IRS.

With regard to the checking accounts that can be opened with Sovereign, the Interest Checking requires direct deposits to be made so the account holder will avoid the $5 monthly service charge. Free checks are provided for this account.

Premier Checking has stiffer requirements. This account needs a combined balance amounting to $15000 to strike out a monthly service collectible of #25.

According to the bank customer service representative, they do not do hard credit pulls for the reward checking.

Application can be completed by clicking a link on the promo page. It seems that the offer is good across all states. To know more about the details it will be best to check with the bank.

The Sovereign Bank has branches in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Connecticut.

The bank is covered by the FDIC through certificate # 29950.