How to Find a Free Checking / Debit / Credit Card Account. ~ Pesky Banks and What You Need to Know.

Alternate Titles:

How to Get a Free Checking Account.

How to Get a Free Debit Card Account.

How to Get a Free Credit Card Account.

Avoid national banks. Avoid national credit card companies. National debit card companies just might be OK, read the fine print. Locally owned banks and credit unions are the way to go.

The average consumer should never do business with a national bank, national credit card company, or national debit card company. Check out your locally owned banks; even better, check out your local credit unions.

Those who have followed the above practice:

A. Have not paid any monthly account fees in decades.

B. Have not paid any check fees in decades.

C. Have not paid any credit or debit card transaction fees in decades.

Also, they:

A. Have always been paid higher interest on their savings.

B. Have always paid lower interest on their loans.

C. Have always experienced the bliss of fewer and lesser fees all-around.

Reference list: checking accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, debit cards, fee, no fee, free.

It should be noted that some local banks can be even more obnoxious than your national banks. Local banks are just like any other locally owned business. Employee attitude will directly reflect the personality and attitude of the owner of the bank. Fortunately, the bank’s fee structure is very often a clear indication of the bank’s attitude towards the general public.

Credit unions are well-known for being the better deal. As such, there are bankers-to-be who come out of the woodwork to take advantage of the better reputation that credit unions have. The methodology to do this is not that difficult. The banker-to-be simply opens his business via/under the credit union regulations and rules. Then, as far as interest rates and fee structuring goes, they run it like a bank.

Here is the normal fee structure at your good locally owned banks and credit unions:

A. There are no membership fees. There are no annual or monthly credit card fees. There are no annual or monthly debit card fees.

B. Savings accounts have no monthly or other fees. A minimum balance requirement of a couple hundred bucks is acceptable.

C. Checking accounts have no monthly fees and no minimum balance requirements. The requirement that you have a savings or similar account with a reasonable minimum balance to qualify for the free checking account is an acceptable option. Using the direct deposit option to qualify for a free checking account is not always a good idea; getting slammed with a bunch of fees when you lose your job is not the way to go.

And so on...

D. No debit card point-of-sale fees of any kind.

E. No credit card point-of-sale fees of any kind.

F. Very minimal or no ATM fees on debit card transactions.

G. All other fees are less than what you are paying at your current financial institution.

Finding them is not that hard to do. The usual Yellow Pages perusal and/or an internet search will turn them right up. As to finding the good ones, you will need to check their website. Find their fee schedule and you will know what you need to know. If they do not have a fee schedule online, then that is a possible red flag. If your choices are limited, then you may have to make a personal visit to the financial institution and check out their brochures in the lobby. Those financial institutions that have the "glass cage" set-up that you must navigate to enter and exit the premises should be avoided like the plague. For some reason, there seems to be a strong correlation between "glass cage" usage and the treatment of customers as peasants in general.

Next is the opening of an account. A driver’s license, Social Security card, and a pleasant attitude are all that should be required. If the bank or credit union employee, or the procedures in general, are unusually obstructive; then forget it and move on. If they require that you have an account with them for at least six months before allowing you to apply for a debit card, then you definitely want nothing to do with them.

With banks, you are a customer. With credit unions, you are a member. It used to be difficult to become a member of a credit union. The usual requirement was that you were working for a specific employer. In fact, many times the credit union was actually named after the employer. Many of those credit unions are still alive and well today.

Membership requirements these days are much more open. Every credit union has unique criteria. Credit unions did not come up with the idea of membership requirements. Federal regulations require that members of credit unions have something in common; this usually was that they all worked for the same employer. However, other criteria can now be used; just being a member of a certain profession is a good example. What opened the floodgates is the now current use of geographical location as to what determines eligibility. In other words, do you and the credit union live in the same county? If so, congratulations; you are a member. The credit union website will clearly spell out the eligibility requirements to become a member.

If you do not qualify, it is neither their fault nor yours; federal regulations are federal regulations. The good news is that your chances of success are fairly high. Worst case scenario is that you merely proceed to your local bank instead.

S&L’s can also be a good choice (if there are any left in your area). Internet based financial institutions are also worth checking out, but be very careful and check the fee-schedules with a fine-toothed comb.

There are worthy internet-based institutions out there. Just thoroughly check their fee schedule; particularly as relates to their checking accounts, credit cards and debit cards. Also, plug their name and the word "scam" into your search engine and see what pops up.

A Credit Union in the United States is generally defined as a Co-op between members. Those members with money make deposits. Those members who need money take out loans. The spread between the savings interest paid to members and the loan interest collected from members is supposed to be no larger than what will cover the Co-op’s expenses. The covered expenses also enable both savers and borrowers to have free checking accounts, free debit cards, free credit cards, and many other free or lesser-fee services. Many countries have these same co-op type institutions; they are just called by different names.

You are not alone. Please share the above information so as to help others. The more people that are knowledgeable, the better off we all are.