Free Checking with Rewards
As I was checking my bank account online this morning (yahoo, it’s payday!), I glanced down through my account information. It listed the rewards and benefits of our particular account and that’s when I realized what a great decision we made in choosing our bank. Being frugal doesn’t always mean finding ways to save money, it can also deal with ways to make money.
I believe the benefits vary by state, but I would seriously like to recommend Washington Mutual’s Free Checking Account. Some of the key benefits include:
- Free Checks for Life
- Free Wire Transfers
- Free ATMs
- Free Online Banking
- Free Check Safekeeping
- No Monthly Fees
- Free Identity Theft Services
- Free Account Alerts
Here in California (not sure which other states offer this), we also get:
- Free ATM Withdrawals Worldwide
- Free Gold Debit Mastercard with Rewards (I’ll come back to this later)
- One Free Overdraft or Bounced Check Refund Per Year
- Free Outgoing Wire Transfers
At first glance you may not see anything special, but there are three particular things about this account that stick out to me.
- Free Checks For Life – Unless you can get a promotional offer, checks can be a little pricey. They cost about $20 a box and depending on how many checks you write, it can add up. Hypothetically, let’s say you write about 15 checks a month. At that rate you will use about a box a year. Savings: $20 a year
- Free Gold Debit Mastercard with Rewards – Every time I use my debit card, I earn .03ยข. I LOVE to earn money by doing things that I normally do anyhow. We opened our account in May and so far I have accrued $11.46. The rewards will be deposited on our account anniversary date, so we still have 6 months. Earnings: $23.00 a year
- One Free Overdraft Charge Refund Per Year – I’ll confess – I don’t make it a habit of bouncing checks, but life happens. I’ve already used my free overdraft this year. Savings: $30.00 a year
If you do wire transfers or use ATMs you can save more money, but these were the three that apply to me most often. Based on that, when May 2008 rolls around, I will have $73 more in my pocket than if I had gone with another bank. Sounds like a pretty smart decision to me.
When I found out about WaMu’s 5% on-line savings account which has to be connected to a free checking, I had to close my existing checking account and open another one online in order to sign up for the savings account. It’s a bit of a hassle but the rate sure beats ING.
I love Wamu…. Like the previous commenter, I also took advantage of the 5% online savings account… unfortunately, it recently fell to 4.5%. Kind of a bummer. They were also offering a 6 month 5.25% cd (not sure if that’s still offered or not) but I jumped on that one also..
I do love the free checks for life even though I don’t write many checks, I don’t want to pay for them either
I’m in California also…. it’s just really a convenient bank..
great post!