Best Checking Accounts

[Bam Man Emeril]

I know this has been discussed prior, but since things change in the banking industry and I would like to leave our local bank, I was hoping for some help with ideas on where to open my new account. Thanks!!! PS, I'm not just looking to get paid a "bonus" for opening, but looking for a new bank that we can use for now on.

[damnyou]

Best place to look at is to go here

http://www.bankrate.com/checking.aspx

Then put your zipcode and it will tell you all available options

If you are looking for high yielding accounts then look here

http://www.highyieldcheckingdeals.com/

Please read the reviews of the financial institution before putting your money into it

[ASA09]

In my area, PNC bank dominates everything else. I've been very happy with them so far, especially the online banking and their quick services. I also use them because I don't have a credit card (use the checking card, no problems so far)
I'm a college student, and they have around 43 ATMs in my town, most of them on campus.

Check your area, see what you like best. Are you going to use it as a debit card, or just for checking?

[danimoo43]

I would recommend going with a local Credit Union over a bank. Less fees, bigger savings and better service!

[danimoo43]

Credit Unions VS Banks (http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/BetterBanking/DitchYourBankForACreditUnion.aspx)

Here is some great info about credit unions, on an MSN article. Some major things are that Credit unions are non-profit, member owned and FDIC insured. I love my local credit union much better than I do any other bank i've had accounts with! Oh and not all credit unions are equal, ask your local friends to see which one they like!
Good luck

[IAMSLICK]

I'm moving from E*Trade Bank to EverBank for checking due to E*Trade's financial trouble. EverBank seems to be a good deal if you are OK with an internet bank. I haven't been in a brick & mortar bank in 10 years.
http://www.everbank.com/001Checking.aspx

http://www.bankrate.com/rates/safe-sound/bank-ratings.aspx?t=cb&i=everbank&r=&a=&c=&s=&z=

[GoodOmens]

I've been using ING direct for a while and love it. There ATM access is a little weird so I keep a local B&M (Suntrust) for check deposits and cash ATM withdraws.

Hasn't been a issue yet.

[bobjones121806]

I know this has been discussed prior, but since things change in the banking industry and I would like to leave our local bank, I was hoping for some help with ideas on where to open my new account. Thanks!!! PS, I'm not just looking to get paid a "bonus" for opening, but looking for a new bank that we can use for now on.

It is actually not easy to give a good advice about a checking account because different people may give different priorities to various banking free features and terms such as

1) Interest rate of a checking account
2) Free ATM rebates
3) Free online ACH transfers
4) Free bill pay
5) Min monthly/daily balance to avoid a monthly fee (if any)
6) Free wire transfers
7) Free ebills with auto-payment
8) Free Email alerts about account activity
9) Free overdraft protection credit line
10) Sign-up bonuses
11) Customer service
etc.

I do not think there is a checking account that offers all these features. E.g. Interest checking of First Internet Bank of Indiana comes close to being a good transactional checking account (http://www.firstib.com/personalaccts/checking.html) but it rate sucks.
There are many interest checking accounts that offer really good rate (up-to 7% as of 6/9/9, see for example at http://www.bankbestrates.com/getrates/bank/bank/checking/0_1K.php ) but they lack many aforementioned features and make you "jump through the hoops" to get the rate. Many banks offer sign-up bonuses up-to $200 (see at http://www.ibankbonus.com/bank/nationwide/index.php) but they customer service is so terrible (e.g. Citibank) that you want to open an account there only to get the bonus and run. Small nationwide banks and CUs should be generally OK as far as customer service is concerned (FirstIB, Everbank, PCBanker, Principal Bank, DCU). Big banks are typically not so much (Citibank, Bank of America, HSBC), You may want to check customer reviews about banks at Epinions (http://www.epinions.com/Banks--~all and http://www.epinions.com/Internet_Banks--~all ) when making a decision about a new bank.


Anyway, if you let us know more about your banking priorities, it might be a bit easier for folks here to come up with some intelligent advice.