How to Avoid Checking Account Maintenance Fees

[FicoMike0]

There's also the issue of early closing fee or penalty.  Most don't have them, some have 6 months. It's generally considered poor form to close after less than 6 months anyway. The only one I have a special note on is associated, they claw back bonus if closed less than a year. They offer $600 sub, I'll put up with them for a year with no fee no min. Who knows, I might decide I like them.

my strategy is close single account banks first, get their app off my phone. Since I have both a cc and attractive savings at capone, I have to force myself to close checking there.

I should close amex, but I kinda like them. Everyone has a visa or mc debit card, amex, not so much. Only rewards debit card I have too, but I never spend with debit, lol. Irrational.

[CorpCrMgr1]

Having a CU for my main financial institution, another for certain expenses, and a major bank, I don't play the SUB any longer. Did it a couple of times and it wasn't fun. Just my experience.

[longtimelurker]

I believe OP isn't really looking for free checking per se, they presumably are targetting accounts with good SUBs, and then wondering how to avoid fees on those.  But since that can be hard, going for lower SUBs on accounts without minimums (or otherwise easily waivable fees) may make more sense

[Horseshoez]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

I believe OP isn't really looking for free checking per se, they presumably are targetting accounts with good SUBs, and then wondering how to avoid fees on those.  But since that can be hard, going for lower SUBs on accounts without minimums (or otherwise easily waivable fees) may make more sense

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To be a really good sub chaser you need to be in an Alula-class sub.

[FicoMike0]

@Horseshoez  that brings up the triva question, what is the most powerful fighting vehicle in history?

The Ohio class sub! Worldwide  unrefueled range, carries 24 trident slbms each of which carries 8 reentry vehicles, allowing it to attack 192 targets. Each rv delivers a 400 kt warhead, more than 10 x the yield of the Hiroshima or Nagasaki devices.

[Beast26]

Yes this is right.  I saw some people on doctor of credit comments saying they get the monthly fee on some banks waived sometimes if the bonus takes a while to hit.  I know BMO bank right now requires a $10,000 daily balance to keep the highest account free.  I've also seen where some have downgraded and upgraded their accounts before the bonus hit also.

[Anonymalous]

Transfering over some money 1/month frequently works, because their systems can't always tell the difference between a random ACH transfer and a direct deposit, and DDs are usually one of the ways to bypass the monthly charges. But that requires some research and luck, because banks often exclude ACH transfers from other popular institutions, and the only way to tell is crowd-sourced DPs. Some like Chase are very restrictive, though many smaller financial institutions will see almost any ACH as a DD. The only real guarantees are if you use a real direct deposit from your employer (works best if you can just login and switch it), or if you have a subscription to one of the online payroll systems.

[FicoMike0]

Right about bmo and the fee is $25. However, their 2nd tier account is no fee, no min. Their bonus timeline is long, 120 days. I  went with the 2nd tier account for a lesser sub, to avoid fee. Opened in December, just collected the $400!

[ptatohed]

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@Beast26 wrote:

How do you guys avoid high maintenance fees with checking accounts have a minimum daily  balance of around $5000 when churning multiple bank accounts?  Do you actually leave the $5000 tied up on the account for the duration of getting the bonus or is there another way?

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Oftentimes, it is $5,000 collectively among all deposit accounts and this can include savings and even CDs.  

[FicoMike0]

I think $5000 is often mostly with chase. Even the wells cargo highwaymen only ask for $500. And that can be gotten around by smirfing a dd monthly. Amex, CapOne, Fidelity all are no fee, no min. USB is if your young, old or have their cc.