I got a notice today from my bank that the rules are changing. Though they “truly value” my business, they have to let me know that my free checking account is no longer free. There will now be a $10 a month service charge! “But wait” you say “there must be a way to get out of it”. There are some ways to get out of the monthly service fee, but unfortunately I do not qualify for any of them.

How can I avoid the $10 monthly service fee?
• Have a direct deposit of $500 or more,
• Or keep an minimum balance of $1500
• Or keep an average balance of $5000 combined in the accounts I have with them

Since I work for a small nonprofit we do not have direct deposit, though I miss the days when my paycheck would magically appear in my account. I utilize these accounts to run my rental and handle my day to day expenses and do not keep a lot of cash in them since interest rates have been averaging less than .25%.

In order to get the best of both worlds my husband and I operate our join expenses and emergency savings account out of our credit union accounts. This works out well since the branches are less conveniently located for the credit union, but we find the fees to be lower and interest rates to be higher. So we operate our daily expenses out of the more convenient bank accounts we have individually and then utilize the credit union accounts for the joint bills. The system worked great until I go this notice!

So what do I do? Do I transfer all of my accounts to the credit union in order to avoid the fee, but then have to deal with finding a branch every payday, when the rent comes or get other checks (I will be so sad to see my deposit by my phone function go)? Do I take the $10 a month hit? Do I transfer $5000 over to ensure I don’t get a fee, but then get next to nothing in interest? Do I look to see if I can get a better deal with another larger bank and hope they don’t change their practices shortly after?