Not Running: A Checking Account that Pays You

To start off with I'm not a financial adviser or guru, I don't even really make a lot of money, however, I am obsessed with being productive and efficient in everything that I do from running to how I manage my life and my finances. Today I discovered that my brick and mortar(standard bank with physical locations), Wells Fargo, was going to start charging me for a number of services linked to my checking account. I have been slowly decreasing my use of this account and so I was not too happy to find $7 charges for services that I was no longer even using, bill pay in this case. That got me thinking as to way I should keep this account open especially when I am now utilizing another checking account that offers all of these services for free and even pays me to have a checking account with them.

Yes, from time to time I have posted some non-running advice and I think that it still relates into running to a small degree. In this post I'd like to talk about checking accounts and provide some feedback on maximizing this very simply yet often over looked financial tool. My goal here is to help you maximize your checking account to help you save money, those race entry fees aren't getting any cheaper.

So most of us have a standard checking account that we opened with possibly the bank that our parents banked with and that is all fine and good except there have been are could continue to be changes to the standard "Free" checking account that we have. I personally have three checking accounts.

WellsFargo "Value" Checking Account

Charles Schwab Investor Checking Account

ING Electric Orange Checking Account

Now my WellsFargo account is your standard brick and mortar bank and I've had an account with them for about 10 years now. I have a savings, credit card and checking account with them. At this point I do not use any of them except the checking account with I am in the process of phasing out. Don't get me wrong WellsFargo have really good retail banking staff, they are friendly, knowledgeable and seem to really care about you as customers. My problem with them is with the people who make the policy decisions for their retail banking programs. They seem to like to charge you for a lot of services that other banks will provide for free.

Fee based services through WellsFargo include:

• Fee for online bill pay
• Fee for transferring funds outside of WellsFargo
• Fee for withdrawing cash from an ATM that is not a WellsFargo ATM ($5.00 from WF plus the fee from the machine)
  
• Rumored to be coming soon debit card use

Key Drawbacks:

• a joint savings account that requires a monthly auto deposit
• a minimum of $1500 USD account balance
• or a monthly direct deposit of $500 USD

Key Benefits:

• No Minimums with joint savings account
  
• Lots of locations
• Very good customer service
• Mobile phone App
• Possibility of getting a free Snuggie if you open a checking account.
  

My Charles Schwab Investor Checking Account on the other hand is great. This is my main checking account and it has a lot of great features that most other banks charge for. When you open a Chucker investor checking account you will also need to open a brokerage account with it, but there is no need to use this account and there is no need to keep money in it and there are not fees or minimums.

Key Drawbacks:

• Almost no brick and mortar locations
• transferring money into or out of account can take 2-5 business days
  

Key Benefits:

• No minimums
• No annual fee
• Accrue interest on balance (0.20%)
• No ATM fees and unlimited reimbursement for ATM fees
• Free Bill Pay
• Great customer service
• Mobile phone App
  

What I like the most about the Chucker account is that it actually pays me to have my money with them, they don't charge me for the account or any of the checking account features and they reimburse me for any charges that I incur from an ATM machine. That means I don't have to worry about paying money to get access to my funds. I have had fees of over $5 credited back into my account. Yes, they do not really have any brick and mortar locations but I am finding that I am automating more and more of my finances and the real need for a physical location is becoming less and less important. Whenever, I have had an issue I have been able to resolve it over the phone, they have really good customer service.

ING is the third checking account that I have and the only reason that I have it is that I have an ING savings account and it makes getting to my funds quicker and easier with the joint free checking account. Plus they are having a promotion that if you open a checking account and use it 3 or more times within the first 45 days they will give you $50, might as well. I will say that I do not plan on using this checking account for much, but I do strongly recommend the ING online saving account for a few reasons.

1. You can set up sub savings accounts that you can use to save for various purchases, such as wedding, vacation, new car ect...
2. The savings account gives you 1% interest on the balance of your account, which is generally 5-10 times higher than most brick and mortar bank savings accounts.

ING Electric Orange Checking Account:

Key Drawback:

• No physical locations
• Can take 2-5 business days to transfer money

Key Benefits:

• No minimums
• No fees
• $50 Promo going on
• Good customer service
• Free bill pay
• Accrue interest on balance (0.24%)
• $1,000 line of credit based on you credit history

In conclusion my recommendation would be to get a Charles Schwab checking account for the benefits mentioned above. If you have to use a brick and mortar bank checking account make sure that you are not having to pay to have the account or for the basic features of a checking account. There are simply too many other options available that will provide these services for free.



Below are some of resources for more everyday financial advice that I utilize often.

I Will Teach You to Get Rich Blog great Book too


Get Rich Slowly Website/Blog