First I recommend that you look at a few internet sites where you can find general information about checking accounts. Look at educational sites first. Later you might look at bank sites.
Banks and other financial institutions offer materials that can be very informative but often they omit important information that might influence you away from their options.
For that reason you will be better served by beginning with information from more neutral educational or government sites. You might start by checking out Checking Accounts: Finding the Right Balance, an article on the FDIC site.
Then visit several banks in your community and collect specific information about their various accounts.
Finally, check out some of the online bank checking accounts as well.
How Bank Checking Accounts Work
Remember, banks are in business to make money. It is very likely that you will first be directed to accounts that have lots of features along with related fees.
Get information on all their offerings. You will find that many banks (local banks and online banks) have free checking accounts, ones that have no fees attached. You will likely be surprised at the variety of accounts found within individual banks. You will also likely be surprised at how expensive some banks are compared to others.
What is right for you today may not be the best next year or the year after. For example, many accounts require minimum balances to avoid fees. You may choose to have an account that requires no balance today to avoid that fee. Then a few months from now it may be easy to maintain a $250.00 balance on an account that offers free checks too.
And next year (when you have a little more cash in hand) you may want to switch to a checking account that requires a $500.00 balance but pays interest, as well. Or again, you may find that when you turn fifty your bank will offer you a senior account that provides for free what before required a monthly fee.
Special Bank Checking Account Options
A particularly good option that should be looked for comes from linking bank accounts. For example, by maintaining a minimum savings account in a bank you may be able to guarantee interest on your bank checking account in addition to no fees or minimums.
At the same time the bank may automatically transfer money to your checking account in the event of an error on your part that would otherwise result in an overdraft and subsequent charges, often incredibly high ones.
Online checking accounts, like many financial accounts of all kinds, often have only online statements and the like. This is one option to study carefully. It offers savings to the institution (which they may or not pass on to you) but if statements are only available for a short time care must be taken to save adequate records for taxes and other legal matters.
Choosing the Right Bank Checking Account
Even with this information at hand, many people fail to make good use of what they know. Why is this? Primarily because of the natural human avoidance of change.
Know that your financial situation is in a constant stream of change. You can only become successful with money when you are motivated to make changes regularly and quickly when necessary.
Just remember that banks are also businesses. A very large part of their profit is selling services for which they collect fees. You can lose a lot of money paying for services that you don’t need.
Many people do just that without even knowing about it. This is especially true with their checking accounts. Don’t be one of them. Insist on a free bank checking account whether it is a local bank or an online checking account. Avoid the pitfalls, but profit from the opportunities.
