A $100,000 bank bonus, and the Citi 5% card returns! Plus some free movies.

A  $100,000 BANK SIGN-UP BONUS: It’s about time somebody dangled a six-figure account opening bonus before the public! Courtesy of Maximizing Money, here’s an intriguing offer from Houston Federal Credit Union:

Earn a 1% bonus when you invest with HFCU Investment & Retirement Services!

The 1% bonus is cash paid directly to you 31 days after any HFCU Investment & Retirement Services account is funded. HFCU will even waive any penalty if you redeem your certificate account before its planned maturity in order to take advantage of this offer. In today’s low interest environment, savers need all the yield they can get. If they aren’t finding it in traditional savings, checking, IRA, or certificate accounts, it may be time to look elsewhere.

This is a limited time offer, and will be discontinued without notice when $10,000,000 has moved from HFCU accounts to HFCU Investment and Retirement Services, so act now!

So–and this is purely theoretical–if you had $10,000,000 burning a hole in your pocket and you moved it to HFCU, you could theoretically be $100,000 richer after 31 days. But note the very clear “discontinued without notice” warning: if you’re the second such decamillionaire to go for the bonus, you’ll get a big bowl of nothing for your efforts.

Great job by HFCU’s marketing department for coming up with an offer which can generate some publicity, create some interest in their products, and–this is important, Citibank–limit their marketing expenses.

I’m looking at you too, Chase Credit Card department. This scrappy credit union wasn’t so dumb as to promise “unlimited” rewards that they couldn’t deliver on. They made very clear that when the promo money runs out, that’s it. Honest, ethical, straightforward, effective–what a novel concept for financial services marketing!

DID SOMEBODY SAY STUPID BANK MARKETING?: (via Frequent Miler) Even as they’re cracking down on people attempting to earn unlimited ThankYou Points, The Miles Professor points out that Citi is still offering the legendary unlimited 5% on gas, groceries and drugstores in its branches.  And if you’re paying attention to the picture, you’ll see that Citi is still saying very clearly, “NO POINTS CAP”:

AIRBNB IS ILLEGAL IN NEW YORK CITY: Airbnb came up not too long ago when I talked about renting your stuff out for fun and profit. A judge in New York has found a man guilty of violating a 2011 forbidding people from treating their apartments like hotels via airbnb and has fined him $2,400. As The Gate points out:

…but the question is this: if using the Airbnb is against the law in New York — unless the stay is 29 days or greater — in what other municipalities could Airbnb and similar lodging services be considered illegal? Is there a possibility that the stay could be interrupted as well as the owner being penalized with a fine? What if the condominium or housing association bylaws which may govern the rules of the community in which the home is located prevent the use of Airbnb?

A good point. It would be nice if Airbnb could help out prospective hoteliers, but if I were them, I’d be afraid of what I might find out.

WATCH THE HOBBIT FOR FREE: Redbox is offering free streaming of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Slickdeals has more details.

WATCH SOME OTHER MOVIE FOR FREE: Through August 2, Fandango is offering a buy one, get one free deal on Fridays for Visa Signature cardholders.