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Happy Money Monday!

Starting off for the first post in this series, I wanted to write about personal checking accounts. These days, as physical checks are less prevalent, banks have recently been marketing them as “Spending Accounts”. However, the concept remains, it’s a place for money transfers between yourself and others, such as receiving direct deposits from your employer, depositing money received from others, paying bills, and transferring money to other accounts. Typically, a debit card is provided alongside a checking account, and depending on the bank or credit union, some physical checks as well.

As these accounts are meant to be used day to day, it’s critical to be aware that many banks prey on people, especially the lower-class. There’s often hidden fees associated with these accounts, such as overdraft fees from overspending, low balance fees, inactivity fees, ATM withdrawal fees, ACH fees, wire transfer feees, and numerous others. Some banks will get new members via colleges by having on-location branches and no-cost student accounts, where after graduating, the account suddenly gets loaded with unexpected fees.

It’s also important to note that personal checking accounts are usually one of three options:

1. From a bank
2. From a credit union
3. From a fintech backed by a bank

These options have overlap on whether physical locations are available for access to a banker, whether the funds are protected by FDIC or NCUA or not at all, whether there is good customer support, and whether their provided accounts are loaded with fees or not.

For a good catch-all Checking account, I’m currently recommending Ally Bank. They are an online-only bank with an interest-earning checking account. They have other products as well, such as a high-yield Savings account, CDs, investment accounts, retirement accounts, and more. But today, I’m specifically focused on their “Spending” accounts.

Why it’s lazy-friendly: the Ally Bank checking account is good all-around and is online-focused, no need to go to a bank. There are some other new options out there, but Ally has proven to be a solid option.

Ally Bank has no overdraft fees. They have two completely optional options for handling potential overdrafts: Overdraft transfers which will pull amounts of $100 from other accounts, and CoverDraft which will allow a negative balance of up to $250 for up to 14 days. Alternatively, you can simply choose neither (my personal choice) and budget appropriately to avoid getting an overdraft decline or negative balance.

Ally Bank additionally doesn’t charge any ATM withdrawal fees inside the United States. They are in-network with Allpoint and MoneyPass and will refund up to $10 per statement period for all fees charged by out of network ATMs.

Ally has fair 24/7 customer support which can be reached for most issues to be resolved. For more specific account issues like account investigations, the business-day customer support has more resources and access than their after-hours lines.

The main “catch” with Ally is that it’s completely online. It’s an actual FDIC insured bank bound by US Banking regulations. You can deposit checks via the mobile app. You can add cash at Walmarts if needed. You have access to paperless statements online, and optional mailed paper statements. There’s no in-person banker to talk to. And in this day and age, that’s almost never needed anyway.

I’m pushing off writing about the “Buckets” available in Ally’s spending and saving accounts for another post, as those are more about budgeting.

There’s some good alternative options that I’m considering recommending, including SoFi, but not yet.

Information about the Ally Bank referral link:
If you use the referral link to open a new Ally Spending account (or Savings, make to read the specific requirements) and set up qualifying direct deposits (such as payroll from your employer) you will receive a $100 welcome bonus. The fine print states that you must receive a deposit at least once a month for three months in order to qualify.