Deposit Accounts

When choosing a deposit account and a depository institution, you should determine what types of account features you are interested in and what you are willing to pay for those features.  You should consider account rates, the volume of account activity you will have, the average daily balance you will maintain, your usage of ATMs and the associated fees that you may incur, and other account fees.

There are a variety of websites that contain comparative rate information for depository institutions.  You should also consider discussing rates, offers, and features of a deposit account with various institutions in your community.

You should be aware that banks and credit unions are allowed to decline to open an account based on your previous financial history.  To reduce concerns about your previous financial history, you should protect your credit, investigate any irregularities in your credit history, and make sure that you do not have any “insufficient funds” items or overdrafts in your checking account that were not preauthorized through an account opening agreement or otherwise.

When opening a deposit account, you may also be offered the option to open a debit card.  Debit cards allow you to pay for things with money directly from the linked deposit account.  For more information about debit cards, please visit www.consumer.gov/articles/1004-using-debit-cards.

If you are having difficulty establishing a depository relationship with a financial institution, you may wish to look into accounts offered by community banks in your area.  You may also wish to look into whether you are eligible to join any credit unions available in your area.  You should always be upfront with financial institutions regarding your previous financial history rather than having them find out about it from a credit report.