Banks that Will Count Paypal or a Bank Transfer as a Direct Deposit

Chasing bank bonuses often requires jumping through hoops, and one of those biggest hoops is a direct deposit requirement.  They put it in there specifically do discourage bonus hunting, because if your paycheck is going to their bank, you're more likely to use their services and stick with them (that, and they get to earn interest by loaning out your money).

The little known way around that is by "pushing" money in from another institution (Paypal and ING are two of the more popular), which the bank's computers see as a direct deposit.  Since not all banks count those, though, the members of the FatWallet.com message boards have been steadily compiling a list of which banks do and which banks don't.

ACH, in case you didn't know, stands for Automatic Clearing House, which is the system banks use to transfer money.  When you set up a transfer from one bank to get money from another bank, that's considered a "pull" and does not count as direct deposit.  When you send the money from one institution to go into another, though, that's considered a "push".  Many banks do pulls for free (after all, the money is going into their coffers), but often charge for pushes.  You should read the fine print before you do a push from a bank to make sure you don't pay a fee.  

If you find any others, please leave a comment and let me know.

Click "Read More" to see the full list.

Banks that people have had success pushing into:

1. Bank of America (ING, Paypal, ACH push)
2. Bank of the West (ING, Paypal)
3. Bank One (ING, Paypal, ACH push)
4. Bank of New York (ACH push)
5. Capital One (ING)
6. Charter One (ING, ACH push)
7. Chase (ING, Paypal, Etrade, ACH push) 
8. Citibank (ING, Paypal, ACH push)
9. Citizens Bank (ING)
10. Columbia Bank (Paypal)
11. Commerce Bank (ING, Paypal) - refers to one in the northeast
12. Compass Bank (ING)
13. E-Trade Bank (ING, ACH push)
14. HSBC (ING, Paypal, ACH push)
15. Huntington National Bank (ING, PayPal, ACH push)
16. KeyBank (Paypal, ACH push)
17. LaSalle (ACH push, Etrade)
18. M&I Bank (Paypal)
19. M&T Bank (ACH push)
20. PNC Bank (Paypal, ACH push, ING)
21. Principal Bank (ING)
22. Salem Five (ACH push)
23. Sovereign (ACH push, ING)
24. SunTrust (ING, Paypal)
25. TD Banknorth (ACH push)
26. UFBDirect (ACH push)
27. USAA (ING)
28. US Bank (Paypal, ACH push)
29. Valley National Bank (ING)
30. Wachovia (ING, ACH push)
31. Washington Mutual (ING, ED, Paypal)

Banks that don't count ING/Paypal/ACH push transfers as direct deposits:

1. Charter One 
2. Chase  
3. MeadowsCU 
4. Metropolitan National Bank 
5. PNC Bank 
6. Presidential Bank
7. Salem Five
8. Sovereign 
9. Wachovia 
10. Wells Fargo