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Through this bank account comparator you will be able to find all the options available in the North American market for private clients, from checking accounts to savings and online accounts.
We analyze and frequently update the conditions of each one of them so that you can obtain all the information up to date and you can easily compare them to choose the one that best suits your needs.
What are bank accounts
Bank accounts are one of the basic products of commercial banks and a way to access to many other products and services that financial institutions offer to their customers. You can deposit and withdraw money in various ways, using physical branches, ATMs, making transfers from other accounts or direct debit payments and collections.
Formally, it is a contract between you and the bank, by which the bank undertakes to keep the money you deposit and give you the freedom to dispose of it according to the terms indicated in the agreement document.
A bank account allows you to link other products offered by the entity, such as credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, checkbooks and much more.
Types of bank accounts
Banks can offer different modalities that adapt to the different needs that their clients may have. These are the most common:
Checking accounts
allow payments to be made by debit and credit cards, by check, direct debiting charges or ordering transfers. You can also withdraw cash through ATMs or at the window of a bank branch.
To deposit money into them, you also have several possibilities, order a transfer from another account, domicile the income, such as your salary or pension, or deposit the money in cash at an office of the entity.
Although they are called checking accounts because in the United States they are usually called this way, although there are also checking accounts that do not allow paper checks to be written nor to have a checkbook.
Savings accounts
These accounts are designed to deposit into them the money that you are not going to use in the short and medium term, so that you can obtain remuneration for it and increase your savings safely and with total availability of the money, without penalty if we withdraw all or a part.
The most common is that these types of accounts have limited operations, and only allow money transfers to or from other accounts.
Online accounts
This modality may refer to both checking and savings accounts. These are accounts that offer access mainly through the internet, with which you can make any operation using the bank's website or its smartphone application.
Among its advantages, it stands out that they are usually without commissions and offer cheaper services than the rest of traditional accounts. The use of the internet saves costs for banking entities, that's why they encourage the use of online accounts by lowering costs for their holders.
Fixed term accounts or certificates of deposit (CDs)
Although we are not going to analyze this type in this comparator, since we plan to create a specific comparator, we can also treat it as another form of account.
It is something similar to savings accounts, but with a predetermined period, during which the money must be kept in the bank so that the agreed interest is applied, which is usually higher than in interest-bearing accounts.
In the event that we withdraw all or part of the money before the due date, we will be penalized by reducing or eliminating interest.
Bank account fees
Each bank has a certain freedom to apply the charges and commissions that it deems appropriate in its bank accounts, as well as offering the possibility of avoiding some of them in various ways. Here we collect the most common fees they usually apply:
- Monthly fee or management commission. It is a charge that is applied every month and whose justification comes from the cost that the maintenance of your account has for the bank. There are accounts that do not apply it and others that offer ways to exonerate them, such as maintaining a minimum average balance or making regular deposits.
- Commission for issuing checks. When you want to write a check to make a payment, the bank may charge you for it.
- Depositing checks fee. Depositing a check to have its value added to your account balance may also incur a fee.
- Commission for use of online banking. Although they are less and less, there are still some entities that charge so that you can use their services through their website and mobile application.
- Commission for sending and receiving transfers. Between accounts of the same bank you will never have to pay this expense, but it is more common when you want to transfer money between different entities and, even more so, for transfers to or from abroad.
- Fee for withdrawing cash at ATMs. If you use the machines of the entity itself you will not have to pay anything with your debit card, in the ATMs of other entities it is usual for a commission to be applied. Some entities assume these charges so that it is free for you to also withdraw cash at other banks.
Bank account security
Checking and savings accounts are one of the safest ways to store your money, especially if your bank is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which guarantees up to $250,000 per account holder.
This institution is in charge of insuring the money of the depositors of the financial entities that are active. Therefore, if you want to make sure that you have this protection, it is best to check if your bank is listed on the FDIC.
About this bank account comparator
This page is intended to compare the various checking and savings accounts that banks in the United States of America offer to their customers. We write complete and updated analysis of each product, so that you know all the details of each one, and you can contrast them to stay with the one that best suits you. We also provide you with information on the different accounts and their expenses, so that you know these products in depth.
- Procedure and sources of information: the public information provided by the banks through their web pages and the data provided by their communication departments by telephone and email have been essential for our specialists to complete the analysis of each bank account. In addition, other sources have been used to collect compelling information, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act of 1991.
- Note: you can freely consult all the information published here as access is completely free.
- About us: Busconomico is a comparator of financial products of banks and credit institutions in the United States, which analyzes and offers information for all residents who want to use banking services.
En español: Comparador de cuentas bancarias