Credit unions are more than twice as likely as banks to offer new members a free checking account, according to a new Bankrate.com report.

The company surveyed the 50 largest credit unions and found that 76% of their checking accounts carry no transaction or service fees regardless of the member's balance or activity. By comparison, only 37% of banks offer that same service to customers, according to Bankrate.

That represents a sharp drop from 2010, when 65% of banks offered free checking to customers, according to Bankrate. At that time, 78% of the credit unions had free checking.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts.
  • Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders.
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders.
  • Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com.
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.