Checking Accounts

For ATM withdrawals and one-time debit-card transactions, a bank generally cannot charge an overdraft fee unless the consumer affirmatively opted in to overdraft coverage.

A checking account advertised as free or no cost cannot have monthly service fees, transaction-limit fees, deposit/withdrawal/transfer fees, or minimum-balance fees, although other specific fees may still apply.

Checking-account balances can be difficult to track because deposits, withdrawals, and other transactions do not always update immediately or in the order a consumer expects.