Interest on a checking account is not something people generaly look for. For a checking account people want no fees of any kind and free checks. Most internet banks offer free ATM renbursment. They can offer this service because it is much cheaper for these banks to pay back fees when you use them, rather than having the overhead of installing their own ATM’s across the country or world. Having a checking account that pays interest is a bonus.
Most local banks do not offer interest on their checking accounts. Bank of America checking accounts have a .05% APY. This is essentually no interest. Bank of America also has high monthly maintenace fees, and a large minumum balance to avoid fees. Currently, to avoid fees, their minumun balance is $10,000. Student checking accounts have much lower fees if any at all. If banking locally has no clear benefits people with these accounts should look else were for checking. Students should be looking into other checking accounts after they graduate because their free checking account will soon expire.
Here is a list of some great Online based free checking accounts:
| Effective Date | APY | Open | Avoid Fee | Monthly Fee | NSF Fee | Another Bank’s ATM | ATM Fee | Online Access | Advertisers comments | |
| Salem Five Bank | 02/07 | 3.50 | 100.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 27.00 | 0 | 0 | YES |
Up to 4.10% APY – Free Bill Pay and ATMs. FDIC/DIF-insured |
| ING DIRECT | 02/07 | 2.25 | 1.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0 | N/A | YES |
Earn 3.75% APY on balances $50k+ and 4.00% APY on balances $100k+ |
| Charles Schwab Bank | 02/07 | 3.01 | 1.00 | 0 | 0.00 | 25.00 | 0 | 0 | YES |
Earn 3.01% APY, No Minimum balance, No ATM Fees & Free bill pay |
February 7th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Schwab also offeres a free brokerage account with their checking, which you can use when you are ready. Trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.
June 19th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
why is it so difficult to allpy???? no web buttons to click
June 19th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
@steve Sorry about that, this post is a little outdated. The rates have changed, and that link to Schwab no longer works. I have updated the link to the new location.
Schwab Accounts