Selecting your bank and checking account

Economy is recovering and so are the banks and our accountsalong with it. While a few years back there was less than a 1000$ on an average US citizen checking account recent numbers show that this amount has more than doubled this year. If you are thinking about opening a new bank account and with it a new checking account for saving, here are some guidelines for you.

Always look for more options even if you don’t intend to use all of them. Credit cards and their usage should be free of fees; some banks can offer you this option. There are some conditions you may have to fulfill first and doing this will pay off. Wells Fargo’s checking accounts for example have 10$ fee per month, which can be avoided if your daily balance stays over 1500 dollars or you have at least 500 dollars in form of deposit or as a third option use your credit card for purchases more than 10 times per month. Now, 10 dollars saved may not seem much but if there are other benefits that may apply to you, making another 10-20 dollars can get you more than 300 in overall savings yearly on top of the interest rates that apply at your savings on checking account alone.

There is another interesting option being offered by BBVA Compas at this time. If you choose to open a new checking account with them, you can gain a 150 dollars bonus during your first year of saving. You will have to make a deposit of 1000$ and in this way meet their criteria. In return, for each month of your loyalty bank will add 10 bucks to your checking account and after 12 months’ time another 30 dollars extra. This bank also offers more options to customize their customers’ accounts concerning frequent ATM use or writing large number of checks. Add mentioned 150 $ bonus to interest rates gain and savings you can make by customizing your bank account usage and again you could come on top with more than first tough.

Those mentioned above are only a few well balanced options those banks can offer you today, if you think other banks don’t have a similar or even better offer ready for you. There are lots of promotions these days and it’s certainly worth checking out before entering the first bank you find around the corner.