How to Avoid Checking Account Maintenance Fees

[Horseshoez]

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@FicoMike0 wrote:

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.

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Per my post above (post #5 in this thread at https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Personal-Finance/How-to-Avoid-Checking-Account-Maintenance-Fees/m-p... ), there are several ways to have a no-fee Chase checking account.

[RedKhaos]

If your employer has self-service direct deposit portal and you have a decent income, it's not too hard to cycle payroll across multiple accounts. Most checking accounts require only $500-$1000 monthly direct deposit to avoid monthly fees. Churning bank accounts is sort of nice break from churning credit cards and help spread out inquiries between your credit bureaus and chexsystems.

[FicoMike0]

Even if your employer makes it hard to redirect dd, or you make your money at the track, you can still do checking subs. Every one I've tried accepts an ACH push from my brokerage account as a direct deposit. It can be quick, too. Push ACH the day after opening account. If they want two dd's, push another two days later. If they want a large dd total, recycle. I did one that wanted $10000. I only had $5000 to work with, so pushed $5000 in, pulled it right back out, pushed it in again. It helps to know who does Chex and who does ews. Alternate.

[TrapLine]

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@FicoMike0 wrote:

Even if your employer makes it hard to redirect dd, or you make your money at the track, you can still do checking subs. Every one I've tried accepts an ACH push from my brokerage account as a direct deposit. It can be quick, too. Push ACH the day after opening account. If they want two dd's, push another two days later. If they want a large dd total, recycle. I did one that wanted $10000. I only had $5000 to work with, so pushed $5000 in, pulled it right back out, pushed it in again. It helps to know who does Chex and who does ews. Alternate.

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Keep this up and you will have $10K for deposit

[FicoMike0]

Right on! Roflol.

After they paid the $500 checking sub, I signed up with them for a $500 credit card sub.

[ptatohed]

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@FicoMike0 wrote:

Right on! Roflol.

After they paid the $500 checking sub, I signed up with them for a $500 credit card sub.

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Who has a $500 credit card SUB?

[FicoMike0]

@ptatohed 

Usb.  50000 point sub, $2000 spend.  Af waived. Actually only $400, taken as statement credit. Still, best I've seen for the spend.

https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/altitude-connect-visa-signature-credit-card.html

Only travel card I have.

[NoHardLimits]

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@FicoMike0 wrote:

@ptatohed 

Usb.  50000 point sub, $2000 spend.  Af waived. Actually only $400, taken as statement credit. Still, best I've seen for the spend.

https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/altitude-connect-visa-signature-credit-card.html

Only travel card I have.

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I believe it's still $500 statement credit for a few more months.  The point devaluation was announced to take place beginning September 9, 2024.

[FicoMike0]

@NoHardLimits 

I hope You're right, I'll have the sub before September. They seem to be planning on changes in September, including dropping the af. I'll probably try to pc to cash+ by then, I chose connect for the sub. Then again maybe I'll app for cash+ and collect another sub, lol.

[Beast26]

Are you pulling the money with the same bank or brokerage that you did the ACH push with?  I usually use Wells Fargo for the majority of my push deposits.  Would it still work if I pull the money with Wells Fargo and do a push deposit again to the bank?

If so it would save me some time because I usually would push the deposit from bank A to bank B(B being the target bank with the checking bonus).  Then push from bank B to bank C.  Then push to bank A to repeat the ACH push to bank B again.  But of course this takes more time.