Shebudgets
If you’re still paying to have a checking account, you’re doing something wrong. We don’t like to call people out for their mistakes, but we have to do it in this instance. You should not be wasting money paying a bank to store your money. You should be storing your money free of charge and allowing your money to remain safe and secure, and without worry that you’re being charged too much. Guess what? Banks are notoriously desperate for new customers right now, and that means that they’re looking to lure you away from your current bank. And while your current bank might offer a number of free checking accounts, chances are good they’re not advertising those to you if you’re paying for an account already. They don’t want to lose money on an account you’re paying for by advertising their other accounts that cost you nothing, so our job is to make sure you are aware of the fact that you can bank with a variety of banks without paying a fee to have a checking account. And allow us to tell you with certainty that some of these banks are also giving away money to those who open a free checking account with them. Now how are you going to say no to that?
TIAA Direct
It’s a checking account that allows you to accrue some interest, but it’s not much. Fortunately, the other things that this account offers make up for the fact that you don’t get a lot of interest. For example, you will find that you only need $25 to open the account, and there are not other requirements to get a free account other than that.
Bank5 Connect High Interest Checking
There are some good features here. You can get the account free of charge, you can earn interest on your balance and you can even be reimbursed for your foreign ATM fees. The catch is that you only get these ATM fees back in your account each month if you maintain a balance of at least $5000.
FNBO Direct
If you have $1, you can open a checking account here and pay nothing to keep the account open. The only time you will pay a fee is if you overdraft your account. But we’re going to go so far as to say that’s pretty fair; you shouldn’t spend money you don’t have.
KeyBank
You will not get actual checks with this checking account, but do you really need them with debit cards and the ability to pay just about anything online anymore? What you will enjoy about this account is that there are no fees for overdrafts or insufficient funds, and you will not have to pay anything for anything with this bank account. It’s a good free checking account.
Capital One
The Capital One 360 account is a good one to open. There are no fees associated with this account unless you make the decision to stop payment on a check. Do this and you will pay a $25 fee, but that’s lower than some of the fees other banks charge for the same process. Go ahead and open up this account and meet some minimum deposit requirements and you’ll also get some cash bonuses.
Ally Interest Checking
No fees and you get to talk to a live person anytime you’d like? That sounds a bit too good to be true to us, but it is not. This account is free of charge and you get to enjoy that benefit simply by opening up an account of your own. If you run into some account issues and you have an overdraft occur or something is returned, the fee is actually quite low. It’s only $9 each time this happens, but that should not be something that you allow to happen on a regular basis.
Simple Checking
This account is free. It’s called simple because that is what it is. It’s an account that allows you to open up an account without any minimum balance, you earn interest, you don’t pay any other fees. There are more than 55,000 ATMs available at which you can get your cash without paying a fee, and that makes this account even simpler than it already is for those who open one of their own. What’s even simpler is that all you have to do is email the bank your email address so they can send you instructions as to how to open your account. It’s not difficult, it’s not time-consuming and it’s not something you have to worry about.
GoBank
The catch here is twofold; of all the banks on this list, this is the only one that does not offer interest on your account balance each month. Additionally, the account is only free if you have more than $500 direct deposited into the account each month. If you don’t, there is a fee. However, if you are employed and have income, this will be a good account for you to have. With the free services offered, what you aren’t getting really doesn’t seem to matter all that much at all.
EverBank Yield Pledge Checking
This account is one that offers free checking, but you do have to open an account with a minimum balance of $1500. Not everyone can do this so it’s a free account that’s for those who can afford to meet the minimum deposit requirements.
Bank of Internet USA
You’ll need a minimum first deposit of $100 to open this account, but it’s free after that. You don’t have to keep that in there, but you do have to use the debit card that comes with the account at least 10 times a month to maintain this account and the free option. You’ll earn interest on your account balance every month and you will not have to pay any fees. The best part is that there are unlimited reimbursements for using foreign ATMs for cash, which is always nice when you have to pay those fees.
Photo Illustration by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images
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