TYPES OF BANK ACCOUNTS

If you are considering opening a bank account, a basic question you need to ask yourself is: What are the different types of accounts?

There are different checking accounts and it is important to determine the ones that suit your needs perfectly. Below are the major checking accounts and their uses. 

1. Free checking accounts
There is an obvious appeal with the notion of free savings accounts, however, what does it actually mean? These accounts do not charge monthly maintenance charges but can charge other fees for certain services and transactions including mailing paper statements. 

2. Online Checking accounts
Online banking will increase your chances of getting a free saving account. Whereas free checking accounts have become scarce among conventional, branch-based accounts, there are no monthly fees on more than a third of online checking accounts. More so, banks that offer online banking services are charging their customers less for using the service.

3. Student Checking accounts
Student saving accounts are intended to attract youths that may have small account balances. The main feature of a student account comprises of low fees, while in some cases, students are granted an exempted from overdraft fee to enable them to get used to proper account management. 

4. Second chance Saving accounts
A customer’s account may be terminated as a result of a bad banking habit such as not covering overdraft. In such cases, it may not be easy for you to open another account in a different bank since the banking sector tracks consumers that have had problems with their previous accounts. Therefore, the only way to get out of this mess is to obtain a second chance saving account. Even though they can restrict you from accessing certain services, you will be guaranteed with low fees as well as minimum balances. 

5. Joint Checking accounts
Two or more individuals may be allowed to write checks or make other transactions with a joint account. Such an account can provide a perfect way to assist a married couple to access money from sources such as a household budget.

6. Senior saving accounts
Senior checking accounts are related to students checking accounts in the sense that they serve a specific age group by providing breaks on various things such as monthly charges. 

7. Interest-bearing checking accounts
It is essential to find an account that will pay you a decent interest rate on the money you save, especially if you have a significant balance in your account. However, it may sometimes be advantageous to avoid high monthly fees than to go for the fairly low-interest rates. 

8. Money market-saving accounts
Such accounts offer some interests after the banks have invested the money. However, money markets checking accounts may come with restrictions such as limited amount of monthly transactions or higher minimum balance. 

9. Business checking accounts
These accounts are created to handle a reasonably high business transaction that can exceed activities of most people. Business checking accounts may also enable you to access several other services hence providing flexibility to its users.