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December 21st, 2007
Do you have a free checking account? Many people think they do when they in fact do not. What your bank tells you is a free checking account may not quite be the same free checking account you think you were getting. If you want a free account, then you need to make sure you are getting a free account. Otherwise it is important to go back to your bank and figure out how you can get yourself an actual free checking account.
Requirements of a Free Account
Have you heard of the Truth in Savings Act? This Act requires that there is no minimum balance required and not maintenance fees that are associated with a free account. This includes that is a monthly service charge. If it is going to be a free account, then it truly needs to be a free account.
It you get a free account you must know that it will probably not pay interest. So you will not make much money off this account regardless of how much money you deposit into it. You will also find that there will be more limitations laid out for this account then there would be for a normal account. You may be only allowed to withdraw a certain amount of money per day, and you may have to sign up for a direct paycheck deposit with your workplace.
What Fees are Allowed?
Even though an account may be free that are plenty of fees that a bank can charge to your account. If you do not have enough money in your account to pay bills, then you can be charged. If you want to close an account early or your account goes dormant then you may also be subject to some fees. It is not smart to think that a free checking account will be completely void of fees. But these fees will only come about if you stop paying attention on your end.
There also can be ways you can get the banks to wave these fees. If you maintain a good relationship with them, and maintain a certain balance on that account, then you will find that they will work with you to remove some of those fees. That is a good reason why you want to always pay attention.
Know the Fee Schedule
It is important for you to know what fees you will be charged. But did you ever think that it is also important to know when these fees will come about? Get a copy of the bank’s fee schedule when you open up the account. This way you know when they will take money out of your account. This will also help you mount an offensive to try and get those fees waived.
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