With so many banks offering FREE checking, how so you choose your bank?

Answer 1

Consumer banks make much of their non-loan revenue in the extra fees, charges, & penalties that the customer gets tagged with upon doing things such as: using other banks' atms, overdrafting their accounts, late payments, etc. That being said, these are the things that "screw" the consumer - so ask banks what their fee structure for these kinds of things are, you'll be surprised. Find the one with the lowest fees, & balance that out with your other needs, such as: the interest rate they give you in savings account, # of branches available, free online bill payment (it should be free, it's less paperwork for them!), etc.

Answer 2

Well for me I like to choose a bank that is big enough to have banks around me that easy for me to access and also since my hubby works out of town alot I want it to be big enough that changes are he will have one wherever he might be. Also we travel to NC and SC alot so I like to make sure that there are bank there for me also.

I am currently with Bank Of america and they have been a good bank up until lately. In the past if anything caused the account to overdrawl they alway put the small stuff in first so those wouldn't charge me a fee to and then the big one. But here this last time they put in a 20$ charge that caused it to overdraw and charge a 33$ fee and then they put in a 2$ and 3$ charge after that so that each one of those charged 33$ each also. They all posted the same night and normally they would have put the smalls in first because there was enough money to cover those and only overdrafted on the big one. I think what they did was sneaky and years ago First Union which has now merged with Wacovia started doing that to all there customers and well hence why they had to merge people were as irrate as myself and left. I will be calling Bank of America tommorrow to see if they can fix it in some way and if not then I will be switching banks again because they also charge a fee for their checking and that was fine before when they are a honest bank but I can go with any other bank now that doesn't and maybe get one more honest. So we will see!

So I am in your situation once again Which bank to choose! Here we have Suntrust but Im not to sure if its big enough for us. Gotta check more into it

Answer 3

You should choose one that has the services you want, as well as locations that are convienent as well as fees you can live with.

Many banks that have free checking will charge large fees if you overdraw on a check or go below a minimum balance.
Others charge you a large amount to print/order checks or to use another banks ATM.

Answer 4

Branch locations and hours, both local and national
ATM locations, both bank-owned and in-network
Fees, and which fee structure yields the smallest bite
Online bill payment, preferably free

Answer 5

Choose the one that has the most branches near you.