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Interest Rates on Checking Accounts
Earning interest on your checking account nowadays is, well, difficult. And when you do, it's not easy get an interest rate that's very impressive. If you're looking for ways to earn money, your time may be better spent looking at savings accounts, money market accounts, or more long term investments like IRAs, bonds, or mutual funds. Read more...
Online Banking and Billpay Advanced Features
Over time, customers of banks and members of credit unions have found the benefits of online banking to be great, and financial institutions have responded by including features beyond the basics like email alerts and activity download. Read more...
The Ins and Outs of Mobile Banking
Mobile banking takes a lot of the features of online banking and brings them to your cell or smart phone. Depending on who you bank with, mobile banking might save you a trip to a bank branch. All of the mobile banking features apply to your checking account, but some mobile banking apps allow access to your savings accounts and credit card balances as well. Read more...
Understanding Minimum Balance Requirements
Second Chance checking accounts are designed for people who are not allowed to open normal checking accounts due to past banking behavior or bad credit. The reasons you may be disallowed vary, but once you build a bad history, you're reported agencies or networks like Chexsystem. When you request to open an account, banks and credit unions check these databases to see if you have a bad record. Read more...
Understanding High-Yield Interest "Rewards" Checking Accounts
In recent years, both banks and credit unions have offered rewards checking accounts with terrific interest rates -- sometimes up to 6.00%. While the interest rates have cooled off, the accounts still offer great benefits like no fee ATM withdrawals and even ATM Rebates. Read more...
The Value of Debit Card Reward Programs
Banks offer debit card reward programs to encourage signature-based purchases that earn both the bank and the card vendor a better profit than a debit card purchase. The card holder can earn points by making purchases and setting-up direct deposits, or through other transactions. These points add up, granting the card holder access to prizes like free airline miles, gift certificates, and kitchen appliances.
The benefits of these rewards programs vary greatly. Free programs like Visa Extras might offer 5,000 points just for joining the program, but these points are worth only a fraction of a penny each. Other programs might offer free vacations, but for a number of points so large, you'll never get that free trip to Hawaii. But there are programs that reward purchases more favorably, and offer strategies to make sure you're earning points. Be sure to understand the basics of your reward program and the likelihood of you benefiting from the program before you sign up -- especially if it has a monthly or annual fee.
Why Banks Offer Free Online Billpay
Did you ever wonder why banks let you use online billpay for free? After all, it's not free for them -- they pay vendors like CheckFree big bucks so they can offer you free online billpay services. Are you worth it? Clearly, the banking industry is convinced you are -- almost all banks and credit unions provide free online billpay with all their checking accounts. Some banks even reward you to use it.
The simple answer is that bankers believe online billpay users remain customers for more years than customers who don't use online billpay. And an extra year of your business is worth providing you with free online billpay.
Look at the math: Let's estimate the average cost (to the bank) to offer you billpay at $0.50 per transaction and the average customer sends out 8 bills per month. That means it costs the bank about $4 per month or $48 per year to offer you free online billpay. So if their assumption that you'll stick around longer is correct, free online billpay makes sense. Why? The average checking account customer generates about $300 in revenue per year (fees, $ on your deposits, etc.).
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Our branch location database is sourced from the FDIC and is updated with information provided by banks and credit unions.
All deposit accounts in FindABetterBank are insured by the FDIC or NCUA.