How to Avoid a Monthly Maintenance Fee

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.

How can you avoid a monthly maintenance fee?

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:

1. Meet the bank’s requirements to get them waived
2. Ask for no-fee options, such as student, senior or military accounts
3. Open an account that doesn’t charge monthly fees

1. Meet the bank’s requirements to get them waived

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 $15 monthly maintenance fee. But you can waive that monthly fee by meeting one of the following criteria:

• Receive direct deposits totaling $500 or more per month
• Keep a balance of $1,500 or more at the beginning of each statement period
• Maintain an average balance of $5,000 or more at the beginning of each statement period, including qualifying linked deposits and investments

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.

2. Ask for no-fee options, such as student, senior or military accounts

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.

• Student accounts. There are lots of student accounts that don’t charge monthly fees while you’re in school, or until you’re age 24 or 25.
• Senior accounts. Plenty of senior accounts don’t charge monthly fees for those aged 55 to 60 and up.
• Military accounts. For military members and their families, there are specialized institutions designed for service members that don’t charge monthly fees, such as Navy Federal Credit Union. Several bank accounts, like the Chase Premier Plus Checking account, waive monthly maintenance fees for active service members or veterans.
• Kids’ banking. Some kids’ bank accounts don’t charge monthly fees for children and teens under 18. Just remember that these accounts require an adult co-owner.

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!

3. Open an account that doesn’t charge monthly fees

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:

• SoFi Checking and Savings
• Varo Bank Accounts
• Wealthfront Cash Account
• Chime Checking Account
• American Express High Yield Savings

Compare more top bank accounts

Narrow down top checking accounts by monthly maintenance fees, APYs and features.

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5 of 14 results

Finder Score	Fee	Minimum deposit to open	Annual Percentage Yield (APY)
Promoted 9 Excellent SoFi Checking and Savings	9 Excellent	$0 per month	$0	Up to 3.10%	Earn up to 3.80% APY on savings and $50 or $400 with direct deposit. Open a new SoFi Checking and Savings account by 31 December 2026, set up eligible direct deposit within 60 days, and maintain direct deposit for six months. T&Cs apply.	Go to site View details Compare product selection Compare	loading
Promoted 9.2 Excellent Current	9.2 Excellent	$0 per month	$0	4.00% on balances of $0.01 to $2,000	Get a $100 referral bonus by inviting your friends to join Current. Once the person receives the invite link, applies your unique referral code, and makes qualifying Eligible Payroll Deposits of at least $200 within 45 days of opening the account, you and the referred friend each earn $100. T&Cs apply.	Go to site View details Compare product selection Compare	loading
Promoted 9.6 Excellent Varo Bank Account	9.6 Excellent	$0 per month	$0	N/A	Go to site View details Compare product selection Compare	loading
9.6 Excellent Revolut	9.6 Excellent	From $0 per month	$0	5.50% on balances of $0+ 4.50% on balances of $0+ 4.00% on balances of $0+	Join Revolut and get $20. Make your first virtual or physical Revolut card payment to receive $20 credited to your Revolut account. T&Cs apply.	Go to site View details Compare product selection Compare	loading
8.4 Great Chase Secure Banking℠	8.4 Great	$4.95 per month (can be waived)	$0	N/A	New Chase checking customers enjoy a $125 bonus, when you open a new Chase Secure Banking account and complete 10 qualifying transactions within 60 days of coupon enrolment. T&Cs apply.	Go to site View details Compare product selection Compare	loading

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How we picked these

What is the Finder Score?

The 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.

Read the full breakdown

Bottom line

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.

Frequently asked questions

• What happens if I don't pay a monthly maintenance fee?

  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.

• Do certificates of deposit have monthly maintenance fees?

  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.

To make sure you get accurate and helpful information, this guide has been edited by Holly Jennings as part of our fact-checking process.

Written by

Bethany Hickey

Banking editor

Bethany Hickey is the banking editor and personal finance expert at Finder, specializing in banking, lending, insurance, and crypto. Bethany’s expertise in personal finance has garnered recognition from esteemed media outlets, such as Nasdaq, MSN, Yahoo Finance, GOBankingRates, SuperMoney, AOL and Newsweek. Her articles offer practical financial strategies to Americans, empowering them to make decisions that meet their financial goals. Her past work includes articles on generational spending and saving habits, lending, budgeting and managing debt. Before joining Finder, she was a content manager where she wrote hundreds of articles and news pieces on auto financing and credit repair for CarsDirect, Auto Credit Express and The Car Connection, among others. Bethany holds a BA in English from the University of Michigan-Flint, and was poetry editor for the university’s Qua Literary and Fine Arts Magazine. See full bio

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Bethany has written 450 Finder guides across topics including:

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