If You Pay Any Fees, Get a New Bank
The first year or so I had a Chase checking account, I was paying $ 25 a month because I was not maintaining their preferred average daily balance. All it took to fix the problem was a 5 minute phone call, during which I asked if I could switch to a checking account with the proposed lower monthly balance threshold.
“You will lose interest if you do this,” a kind woman told me over the phone.
“But I pay $ 25 a month to keep my money, and you give me back about a penny every month,” I replied. Surely she was required to say so, and she quickly changed my check to a smaller interest-free product. Since then, the account has been serviced free of charge. It was a costly mistake on my part and I felt very stupid.
What I’m trying to say is that life is too short to pay bank fees – minimum balance, ATM fees, NSF fees, overdraft fees and all that. There are so many ways to avoid paying them that if they charge you money, you should take your money and leave. You have so many options.
Internet banks
I stayed with Chase because I love the convenience of this New York location and my roommate also had Chase at the time, so I could easily pay her rent with Chase Pay. As you probably understood, I am very lazy. Sometimes I still charge two fees for using the shady wine cellar ATMs, which I could have avoided if I had found a bank-branded ATM. All of this is easy to avoid.
If you’re already fed up with brick houses to really switch, online banks like Ally and Bank of the Internet (yes, that’s the real thing) offer free checking accounts at a fraction of a percentage, and they also use the Allpoint ATM network or offer refunds. expenses through ATMs (usually up to a certain number of times a month).
In online banking, you lack the ability to walk into a branch and talk to someone in person. Maybe this is another positive thing for you, or maybe it scares you. If the latter, you have another option that is just as good.
Credit unions
Credit unions are great. Everyone must join a credit union. These organizations are non-profit organizations owned by their members and all have their own membership rules based on geography, religion, etc. But there are many credit unions that you can join from anywhere, usually for the price of a one-time donation.
Kiplinger has a handy list of credit unions that anyone can join . But one that I particularly liked in my past research is the Lake Michigan Credit Union , which offers a checking account with 3% per annum and up to $ 15 in ATM reimbursement each month. If you do not live in Michigan, all it takes to open an account is a $ 5 donation to the ALS Foundation .
But there are many good options. You can find a credit union using this search tool .
Whichever you choose, be aware of possible overdraft fees
The final piece of the puzzle is the overdraft fee. The average commission is currently hovering around $ 35, and some banks charge multiple overdraft fees every day if you make multiple transactions.
Each bank and credit union has their own overdraft rules. The Internet Bank, for example, does not charge an overdraft fee, they simply reject the transaction. Simpl e and Chime are two other non-traditional banks that don’t charge them either. Online banks and credit unions, on average, charge $ 9 less for overdrafts than national and regional banks, according to NerdWallet .
One way to avoid overdraft fees if your bank charges them is to not participate in overdraft protection programs. If you do not enable a subscription, your debit card or ATM transaction will be rejected if your checking account does not have funds to cover it – you will not be able to purchase what you bought, but you also will not suffer from a commission of $ 25 to $ 35. If you enable coverage, you will be able to make purchases, but pay an additional $ 35 for them.
Some institutions also offer free transfers from a linked savings account, while others offer an overdraft line of credit with an annual interest rate (you pay fairly low interest on the amount you overdraft). And if your bank offers text messages warning you about your balance, this is a good way to keep up to date with your account balance so that you don’t end up in a similar situation at all.
It’s all about your research. You don’t have to pay the bank for the privilege of keeping your money. We all deserve more.