Top Free Checking Accounts: October 2021 - Millennial Money

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Hate spending money on the luxury of keeping your bank account open? You’re not alone. It’s quite frustrating to think that a bank would charge you a fee just for keeping your bank account open – but, unfortunately, that’s the case with many banks now.

You’re required to pay a monthly fee for the maintenance of your checking account – and it can range from just a few dollars to as much as $20 a month (depending on the bank and checking account type).

If you want to keep more of your money in your pocket – and I’m sure you do – there are some pretty awesome free checking accounts to consider.

You won’t be required to pay monthly service fees – even if your bank balances aren’t extremely high. But the best thing is that some of these accounts offer perks like free services and interest on your money!

12 Best Free Checking Accounts

Here are the best free checking accounts you can open today:

• Discover Cashback Debit Checking
• Aspiration Checking
• Consumers Credit Union Rewards Checking
• Axos Bank Rewards Checking
• Betterment Checking
• Chime Deposit Account
• BBVA Online Check
• nbkc Personal Checking
• CapitalOne 360 Checking
• Ally Bank Interest Checking
• Bank5 Connect High-Interest Checking

Discover Cashback Debit Checking

Discover Cashback Debit Checking account will not only save you money on banking – it’ll also reward you for using your checking account.

Earn 1% cashback on up to $3,000 spent every month – as much as $30 a month just for using your debit card! That could add up to $360 a year – which you could use to start investing in some of the best passive income ideas.

Note that there are some exceptions for receiving cashback. For example, eou won’t get cashback on ATM transactions, purchase of money orders, P2P payments, or loan payments (and a few other transactions). Make sure you’re fully aware of them before you spend money on your Discover Cashback Debit card to maximize your rewards.

You can open a Discover Cashback Debit Checking account with no minimum opening deposit – and there are no minimum balance requirements either.

Moreover, Discover allows you to manage your checking account online with a top-rated mobile app (4.8 stars on the App Store, 4.7 on Google Play) – and there are over 60,000 no-fee ATMs in the U.S.

Read more about the best online checking accounts.

Learn More: Read our full Discover Bank Review.

Highlights APY N/A, 1% cashback on debit spending Minimum Deposit $50 Monthly Fees $0 Minimum Balance $0 Fee-Free ATMs 60,000 in U.S.

Promotions: None

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Aspiration Spend & Save™

Aspiration Spend & Save™ is an online-only checking account that charges no fees and even pays you cash back on select debit card purchases.

You can earn up to 10% cash back on debit card purchases — earn the most when you shop with socially conscious retailers.

Combine that with the account’s 1% APR on your checking account balance, and you’ll notice the savings trickling in, little by little, as you go about making your normal transactions.

Aspiration also pays you back for all ATM fees other banks charge at Allpoint ATMs and does not charge overdraft fees.

How can they make this work? With no branches and a small staff, Aspiration saves a ton on overhead. They can afford to share their savings with you — and still have enough left over to donate 10 percent of its profits to charities.

Their skeletal staff helps you save a little money every day, but this business model has a downside: getting help from customer service will usually take longer compared with a traditional, neighborhood bank.

Highlights APY up to 1% Minimum Deposit $10 Monthly Fees $0 Minimum Balance $0 Fee-Free ATMs 55,000+ Allpoint ATMs

Promotions: None

Get Startedat Aspiration

Consumers Credit Union Checking

Consumers Credit Union is open to the public and offers the highest APY checking account opportunity we’ve ever seen – up to 4.00% on balances up to $15,000. That’s 80x the national average!

The Serious Interest Checking account requires no minimum balance and there are no monthly fees. To make things even easier, you only need $5 to open an account.

Enjoy unlimited reimbursement for any and all ATM fees. They offer over 30,000 surcharge-free ATMs nationwide and refund fees charged by other bank ATMs when you meet your minimum Rewards Checking requirements.

You won’t be charged any fees for any of these actions – and you won’t pay a fee for foreign transactions either.

Online banking and bill-pay, mobile banking, and unlimited check writing are just a few other features offered by this account.

Note: to qualify for the highest APY, you will need to complete qualified activities: eStatements, maintain $1,000 daily balance, complete 12 monthly debit card transactions, and have $1,000 in recurring direct deposit or ach credits.

Highlights APY up to 4.00% Minimum Deposit $5 Monthly Fees $0 Minimum Balance $0 Fee-Free ATMs ∞ (Fee reimbursement)

Promotions: None

Get Startedat Consumers Credit Union

Axos Bank Rewards Checking

Lack of fees, solid rates, and domestic ATM reimbursements – Axos Bank Rewards Checking account has it all!

There are no monthly balance requirements nor maintenance fees, and you can reap some excellent rewards (for example, up to 1.25% APY on your balance) – but you will need to qualify as stated below.

To earn the highest APY, you will need to receive at least $1,000 in monthly direct deposits, and use your debit card for at least 15 transactions worth $3 or more.

If you meet the criteria – Axos Rewards Checking offers one of the best checking account APYs on the market.

The Axos Bank Rewards Checking account requires a $50 minimum balance to open an account.

Learn More: Read our full Axos Bank Review.

Highlights APY up to 1.25% Minimum Deposit $50 Monthly Fees $0 Minimum Balance $0 Fee-Free ATMs ∞ Domestic (Fee reimbursement)

Promotions: None

Get Startedat Axos Bank

Betterment Checking

Betterment has taken free checking to a new level. Yes, you’ll avoid the monthly fee, but not because you meet certain criteria. You’ll avoid the fee because Betterment doesn’t charge it.

Betterment is the largest independent online investment advisor, and their mission is to help you make the most of your money.

One of my favorite things about Betterment Checking is the ability to transfer money in and out of your Betterment robo-advisor account seamlessly — no more waiting three or four business days for the money to materialize.

Betterment will also reimburse you for other bank’s ATM surcharges no matter whose bank or where in the world you happen to be. Once again, you won’t have to do the legwork to receive this reimbursement; Betterment automatically pays you back.

This new mobile-friendly bank also reimburses Visa’s standard 1-percent fee on international transactions when you use your Betterment Checking debit card.

And here’s the biggest freebie of them all: no overdraft fees. Betterment doesn’t charge them. If you slip into the red by accident you won’t get a $29 or $31 hit to make matters worse. You will need to make a deposit quickly though, or Betterment will automatically pull from your other connected accounts.

Betterment easily syncs with Mint and TurboTax.

Learn More: Read our full Betterment Review.

Highlights APY N/A Minimum Deposit $0 Monthly Fees $0 Minimum Balance $0 Fee-Free ATMs ∞ (Fee reimbursement)

Promotions: Receive up to 1 year of investments managed fee-free with all new accounts.

Get Startedat Betterment

Chime Deposit Account

You may have heard of Chime (one of the best bank accounts for millennials!) – a fast-growing mobile bank that offers low-cost banking. Chime makes it easy to put money aside into a savings account with automatic saving options. When you open your bank account with Chime, you get an optional Savings Account.

Unsurprisingly, Chime also has a free checking account which comes with many attractive features like no foreign transaction fees, Early Direct Deposit, and access to over 38,000 no-fee Visa Plus Alliance and MoneyPass ATMs.

When you spend money using your Chime Visa Debit Card, Chime will round up your spending to the nearest dollar and transfer the round-up into your automatic savings account.

Another cool feature of Chime is that it allows you to get a jump on payday through the Early Direct Deposit feature.

Early Direct Deposit makes your money available to you when your employer deposits it, and, because traditionally it can take up to two business days to deposit paper checks, that means you could get paid up to two days early.

Chime has a top-rated mobile app (4.7 stars on the App Store, 4.6 on Google Play) and access to 38,000 atms

Learn More: Read our full Chime Bank Review.

Highlights APY N/A, 1% cashback on debit spending Minimum Deposit $0 Monthly Fees $0 Minimum Balance $0 Fee-Free ATMs 38,000+

Promotions: None

Get Startedat Chime

BBVA Free Online Checking

BBVA online free checking account offers banking with no monthly service charges – and a small minimum opening deposit of $25.

Where BBVA falls short is interest earnings. You won’t be earning any interest on your balance – and that’s something many other free checking accounts offer.

Keeping your account open won’t cost you anything with BBVA, and you won’t need to worry about having a minimum balance. However, you will get charged for paper statements, so make sure you opt-out.

However, with BBVA Free Online Checking Account, you can easily withdraw money at over 55,000 ATMs worldwide. You will pay a currency conversion fee on foreign transactions, but it’s relatively low (1%).

BBVA has a highly-rated mobile banking app (4.8 stars on the App Store, 4.4 on Google Play).

Learn More: Read our full BBVA Bank Review.

Highlights APY N/A Minimum Deposit $25 Monthly Service Charge None Minimum Balance $0 Fee-Free ATMs 55,000+

Promotions: None

nbkc Personal Checking

nbkc Personal Checking is another excellent free checking account option that will not only save you money by cutting out banking fees – but will also help you earn interest.

This account offers a very generous .75% APY on all balances – while many of its competitors require you to maintain an average minimum amount in your account (which can be anything from a $1,000 to $50,000).

On top of that, nbkc won’t charge you for many of the tasks that other banks charges fees for – such as overdrafts, stop payments, or incoming domestic wires.

However, bear in mind that you will be charged for sending domestic and international wires – and other fees may apply (word of advice – always check the fine print).

You can manage your nbkc Personal Account and perform common banking tasks like pay bills and transfer money easily from the nbkc mobile app – as well as add your nbkc Personal Account card to your digital wallet.

Withdraw money at over 32,000 MoneyPass® ATMs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico for free. And, if you get charged withdrawal fees at any other ATMs anywhere in the world, nbkc offers up to $12 in monthly refunds.

Learn more: Read our full nbkc Bank Review

Highlights APY .75% Minimum Deposit $5 Monthly Fees $0 Minimum Balance $0 Fee-Free ATMs 32,000+ MoneyPass® ATMs

Promotions: None

Capital One 360 Checking Account

Capital One 360 Checking Account is another excellent no-fee checking account that offers seamless banking on-the-go.

With a top-rated mobile app (4.7 stars on the App Store and Google Play), Capital One makes it easy to transfer money, manage accounts, and deposit checks while you’re out and about.

You won’t be charged any fees for any of these actions – and you won’t pay a fee for foreign transactions either.

Moreover, Capital One 360 allows you to earn an annual percentage yield of 0.20% on any balances of $49,999.99 or less. If you have more than that in your account ($50,000-$99,999.99), you’ll earn 0.75% APY, or 1.00% APY if your balance is $100,000 or higher.
Capital One 360 allows you to earn an annual percentage yield of 0.20% on all balances.

Highlights APY .20% Minimum Deposit $0 Monthly Fees $0 Minimum Balance $0 Fee-Free ATMs 39,000 Capital One and AllPoint® ATMs

Learn More: Read our full CapitalOne 360 Review.

Promotions: None

Ally Bank Interest Checking

Ally Bank offers a completely free checking account that gives your money a boost with pretty solid APY rates – 0.10% APY on balances of less than $15,000 – and 0.50% APY on balances of at least $15,000.

With Ally Bank Interest Checking Account, you won’t pay a dime for keeping your account open – and there are no minimum balance requirements nor minimum opening deposits.

Withdrawing money for free is easy – use any of Allpoint® ATMs nationwide. Plus, if you do get charged fees at any other ATM in the U.S., Ally Bank will reimburse up to $10 per statement cycle.

Ally bank has a top-rated mobile app (4.8 stars on the App Store, 4.3 on Google Play).

Ally is a popular choice for customers seeking competitive rates and a good customer experience.

Learn More: Read our full Ally Bank Review.

Highlights APY .10% – .50% Minimum Deposit $0 Monthly Fees $0 Minimum Balance $0 Fee-Free ATMs 43,000+ Allpoint® ATMs

Promotions: None

Bank5 Connect High-Interest Checking

If you choose the Bank5 Connect High-Interest Checking Account, you’ll enjoy competitive yields – even on low balances. You only need $100 in your account to earn 0.25% APR on your balance – when many other free checking accounts require at least a $1,000.

You won’t pay any monthly maintenance fees for your account – as long as you choose paperless statements.  Bank5 Connect ATMs won’t charge you for withdrawal – and you’ll also be reimbursed for other banks’ surcharges of up to $15 per statement cycle.

There is a minimum balance of $10 to open your account – but that’s pretty easy to hit.

Your first order of basic checks is free.

Bank5 Connect has a top-rated Android app (4.3 on Google Play), as well as an iOS version (5 stars – bear in mind that it only has 11 ratings at the time of this writing).

Bank5 Connect is also not available to customers in Massachusetts or Rhode Island – which is a bit of a shame if that’s you.

Highlights APY .25% Minimum Deposit $10 Monthly Fees $0 Minimum Balance $0 Fee-Free ATMs 1,000s of SUM® ATMs

Promotions: None

Finding the Best Free Checking Account for You

Paying for a checking bank account isn’t something you have to put up with – not when there are so many excellent free options that can help you save money, as well as allow you to earn solid interest rates.

Which free checking account you go for will depend on your financial needs and the extras you’re after. The most important thing is to do your homework before you make a decision – and get clear about what your financial needs are.

If you’re after a high APY, make sure you can hit the account minimums. It’s also always a good idea to keep a checking account buffer.

Bear in mind that many of these free checking account providers are online banks – so there are no physical branches. If you don’t think you’ll ever need to go in and see a customer service representative face-to-face, then it won’t be a problem for you.

If you’ve been denied approval for a checking account, here are some of the best checking account alternatives.

And now – are you eager to learn how to manage your money better? Check out my 18 legit personal finance tips to get actionable advice on how to make, save, and invest your money to help you speed up your journey to financial freedom!

Additional Disclosures: Millennial Money has partnered with CardRatings and creditcards.com for our coverage of credit card products. Millennial Money, CardRatings and creditcards.com may receive a commission from card issuers. This site does not include all financial companies or financial offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.