Chase Bank Savings Account Review

JPMorgan Chase is the consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the United States. It is a huge bank with over $2.6 trillion in assets and 5,100 branches. Nearly half the households in the United States have an account with Chase. One of the big attractions of Chase over other banks is its wide selection of services. Chase does everything from full-service checking and savings accounts, to personal loans, business loans, mortgages, a wide selection of credit cards, car loans and investment advice.

What Are Chase’s Checking and Savings Accounts Like?

Checking Account
Chase has four main types of checking accounts: Chase Total Checking, Premier Plus Checking, Premier Platinum Checking and High School/College Checking. This review focuses on the Total Checking account. Chase offers clients access to over 16,000 ATMs and state-of-the-art online banking.

It only requires a minimum deposit of $25 to open a Chase Total Checking account. This account offers a $150 opening bonus if you set up a direct deposit. There is a $12 monthly fee, but it’s waived if you have $500 a month in direct deposits, maintain a $1,500 balance or you have $5,000 or more in other Chase accounts.

The primary fees to consider are $34 for insufficient funds and $10 for overdraft protection from a linked account.
Chase’s basic accounts don’t pay interest. You need a Chase Premier Platinum or Chase Premier Plus account for that. In any case, the interest is just 0.01%, regardless of your balance.

Savings Accounts
Chase Savings accounts have a $5 or $25 monthly service fee that can be waived. You are charged a $5 fee if you make more than six withdrawals a month.

The APY offered ranges from only 0.01% to 0.09% depending on the type of savings account and your balance. 

Even the CDs offered by Chase have unimpressive rates that range from 0.15% to 0.90%. You are better off using a credit union or a high-yield online savings account.

What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Chase?

We like this:
• Easy to avoid monthly fees.
• Nifty automatic savings transfer program.
• Comprehensive banking and financial services.
• Excellent customer service.
• Wide geographic coverage in the U.S.
• Network of 16,000 ATMs

We're NOT thrilled about this:
• Low interest rates on savings and checking accounts.
• Complicated fee structure
• Minimum amount to earn the highest interest rate is very high.
• Even long-term CDs have laughable APYs.