WAMU (now Chase Bank) has been offering “Free Checking” for quite some time now. But what exactly does this mean? The name of the checking account implies that the customer will be able to use a Washington Mutual checking account without incurring any ridiculous fees. Here’s a long term bank review.

Free personal checking from WAMU sounds great when the facts are taken into consideration:

• no minimum checking account balance. This means no monthly maintenance fees. Other banks may charge a fee of 5 or 10 bucks per month if a minimum monthly balance is not maintained (minimum balance necessary could be between 300 – 1000 dollars)
• no direct deposit requirement (some banks such as BofA and Wells Fargo require either a minimum balance OR at least 1 monthly direct deposit to have “free” checking)
• free online bill pay and online account services (more details below)

Remember the bank still charges fees for the following:

• over draft fee (a check is paid even though your account balance cannot cover it)
• returned item fee (a check is not paid and it is returned to the depositor. The depositor will probably incur a fee from their bank.)
• check reorder fee

I’ve used personal free checking from Wa Mu for years and it has been ok. It is definitely a decent account since there is no minimum balance requirement. Online banking is definitely not as nice as US Bank online banking but it does the job.

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WAMU Business Banking Review

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