One of the best ways to avoid a monthly maintenance fee is to get a bank account that doesn’t charge one from the jump.
Banks charge monthly maintenance fees to cover operating costs, like staff salaries, maintaining physical branches and ATMs, and other infrastructure. In exchange for accessing the bank’s services, you pay a monthly maintenance fee.
Depending on the bank and the account type, monthly maintenance fees are usually around $5 to $25 per month, which can mean paying anywhere from $60 to $300 annually just to keep the account open.
So, how do you avoid these monthly maintenance fees on checking, savings or money market accounts?
There are three main ways to avoid these pesky fees:
Many banks charge monthly maintenance fees, but most also offer ways to waive those fees.
For example, the Chase Total Checking account normally has a $12 monthly maintenance fee. But you can waive that monthly fee by meeting one of the following criteria:
Before opening a checking, savings or money market account, ask the institution about any possible fee waivers available. Most fee waivers require setting up direct deposit or meeting a minimum balance requirement.
If you want to avoid a monthly maintenance fee and you’re part of a specific demographic, you might be lucky enough to qualify for an account that skips them.
If you’re a senior, student or service member, there’s a good chance your bank or credit union will offer special benefits for bank accounts, including waiving monthly fees or extra perks like ATM rebates or free checks. Doesn’t hurt to ask!
Instead of jumping through hoops to avoid a monthly maintenance fee, it’s probably easier to just open a bank account that doesn’t charge them at all.
Some top accounts that don’t charge a monthly maintenance fee for all account holders include:
Narrow down top checking accounts by monthly maintenance fees, APYs and features.
We currently don't have that product, but here are others to consider:
How we picked theseThe Finder Score crunches over 300 checking accounts from hundreds of financial institutions. It takes into account the product's monthly fees, overdraft fees, opening deposit, customer support options, ATM network and features — this gives you a simple score out of 10.
To provide a Score, Finder’s banking experts analyze hundreds of checking accounts against what we consider is the best option: no monthly fees, no overdraft fees, a large ATM network of 50,000 or more, additional features outside of typical banking services, and the optional perk of earning interest. Accounts that are nearly free to maintain and use are scored the highest, while accounts with costly fees and few features are scored the lowest.
While many checking and savings accounts offer fee waivers, it’s probably easier to just choose a bank account that doesn’t charge monthly maintenance fees at all.
Compare the best free checking accounts or the best savings accounts.
Banks usually deduct their monthly maintenance fees directly from your account, so it’s not something you pay manually.
However, if you don’t have enough funds in your account to cover a maintenance fee and the fee is due, the charge is likely to overdraft your account (causing more fees). If you have repeated overdrafts or a negative balance for a month or longer, there’s a very good chance that the bank will close your account and bill you for the negative balance.
No, certificates of deposit (CDs) don’t charge monthly maintenance fees. These accounts are “locked” savings accounts, and the only fees you’ll likely pay with these accounts are early withdrawal fees, which only happen if you close the account early or withdraw funds before the term is up.
Online banks can be just as safe as a brick-and-mortar bank, but make sure they have industry-standard protections and deposit insurance.
Most banks now let you open a joint account online, and the process is pretty straightforward.
Most bank accounts have the same features, but there are a few that stand out.
SoFi, OnePay, Current, GreenFi and Axos have some of the best savings and checking combo accounts out there. Take a look why.
SoFi Plus is a membership option for SoFi customers that comes with no monthly fees, offering higher APYs and more perks.
Chime is a fintech company and not a true bank, so it can’t integrate with Zelle. But you can use Chime’s Pay Anyone for P2P payments.
SoFi, Capital One, Chase, Discover and Revolut have some of the best student bank accounts for savings, checking and building credit.
Charlie, Chase and SoFi are some of the best free bank accounts for seniors and retirees, with competitive APYs and low deposit requirements.
Chime offers a competitive $100 referral bonus and a $100 direct deposit bonus when you meet certain requirements. See details here.
SoFi®is better for earning stronger savings rewards, while Chime is better for credit-building. Compared head-to-head, SoFi® wins.