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According to the most recent data from the Federal Reserve, 94% of American adults had access to a bank account. The median bank balance for American households was $8,000 as of 2022.
If you’re keeping money in your bank account or frequently moving funds around, it’s more important than ever that you find a bank account that offers you free services so that your money can grow for you instead of getting nickel-and-dimed by a large bank.
What are seven free services that banks should offer?
1. No-Fee Checking Account
“There are monthly maintenance fees for maintaining a checking or savings account, but many banks can and will waive these if you keep a certain minimum balance with them,” said Christopher M. Naghibi, executive vice president and chief operating officer at First Foundation Bank. “Other banks will waive them for certain demographics like students and seniors.”
If you’re looking for a new bank account, you want to ensure that you can waive the monthly fees. The last thing you want to deal with is spending money to access your own money. A monthly maintenance or service fee means you’re spending money to access your own money.
Naghibi added, “People who are just interested in standard operating activities and minimal consumer transactions should have an opportunity for cost-free banking.”
2. Complimentary Financial Advice
While you may likely have to spend some money on professional finance advice at some point, you’ll want to find a bank that at least offers some sort of complimentary service.
Some banks offer financial tools and resources to help you learn more about financial topics so that you know what’s happening with your money.
If you’re looking for a new bank, you’ll want to review the available tools to see how they can expand your financial knowledge.
3. Free Access to Your Money
You want to be able to access your money for free when you need it, and you shouldn’t be charged fees for every minor transaction. Free access mainly applies to using ATMs and taking out cash when needed.
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“All banks should provide free access to ATMs in their network,” Naghibi said. “You should never have to pay ATM fees for withdrawals done at your own bank’s ATMs.”
Naghibi also suggested that you try to find a bank that will pay the fee incurred for using an ATM outside the network. This is an important free service because little fees can add up to make a big dent in your bank balance.
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4. Overdraft Protection
Things happen, and there could be a time when you accidentally don’t leave the necessary funds in your checking account before a bill comes out.
Overdraft protection is essentially a safety net for when you don’t have adequate funds in your checking account to cover an expense.
Some banks will offer overdraft protection to help eliminate the hassle and cost of insufficient funds in the right account by transferring money over from another account to ensure the purchase goes through.
5. Savings Tools
You want to find a bank offering various savings tools to help you reach your goals and simplify your banking experience. With so many banks fighting for our business, you want to find the one with the best possible mobile app and user experience to improve your banking.
What are examples of savings tools that should be offered?
- Savings buckets/categories. This feature allows you to set different categories for your various savings goals. You can also open up multiple sub-accounts to save for the unique major expenses that you have coming up.
- Round-ups. This tool helps you automate your savings by rounding up your transactions to the nearest dollar. When you reach $5, the funds are transferred to your savings account.
- Early direct deposit. Numerous banks will let you access your payroll earnings up to two days earlier so that you have your money sooner.
When deciding which bank account to use, you want to examine the savings tools they offer to get the most value possible.
6. Ability to Track Spending
You want to know where your money’s going so you don’t have to guess. This is why you want to find a checking account that makes it easy to track your spending, find your problem areas and determine where most of your funds are going.
Some digital banks will offer spending buckets so that you can see which categories are eating up most of your funds.
7. The Ability to Send Money
You want to ensure your bank account doesn’t overcharge you for sending money. For example, wire transfer fees are burdensome if you send money frequently. According to CNN, international wire transfer fees can cost between $25 and $50, which can add up.
“Wire fees are becoming increasingly outdated in my mind,” Naghibi said. “Sure, in order to send a large wire, there is work to be done, but most funds can be sent electronically now from your computer or mobile device.”
Another way that you may want to send money is by paying your bills online. This is another service that should be included for free.
“Online bill pay is a bit of a controversial opinion to some, but frankly, having access to pay your bills from your bank’s digital presence should be free for everyone,” Naghibi noted. “The service is integrated into most online banking and is very widely used.”
While you may be unable to avoid all fees, you want to do your best to find a bank offering as many free services as possible so that you can keep more of your money.
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