Despite the growth of fintechs and neobanks, traditional checking and savings accounts remain the most popular banking options.
A survey by GOBankingRates found that 1,000 adults are more likely to keep their funds in these accounts than other types of accounts. Why? Because the bank’s funds are FDIC insured, safe, and guaranteed by the U.S. government.
Current and savings accounts also come with the bank’s fraud prevention and data security defenses.
Account holders get access to debit cards, check writing, customer service access, mobile check deposit, and instant internal transfers between accounts. But even with these standard savings and checking accounts, there are still plenty of overlooked benefits people should know about.
Cashback rewards aren’t just for credit cards
While cash back rewards are often associated with credit cards, some banks offer similar rewards to non-credit card customers. You can earn cash back rewards on debit card purchases or when you reach a certain spending threshold.
For example, Discover Cashback Debit and Axos Bank offer a fee-free checking account that works like a standard checking account, while offering 1% cashback rewards on up to $3,000 in purchases each month.
Get paid early with direct deposit
Direct deposit is a widely accepted way to receive your paycheck, and while Chime popularized the concept of receiving your paycheck early via direct deposit, Chime is not an FDIC insured financial institution. But traditional banks are jumping on the bandwagon and offering the feature too.
At least 30 financial institutions are paying direct deposit customers paychecks up to two days early, including Ally, Axos, Capital One, Fifth Third, Navy Federal and Regions Bank.
This is a departure from the bank’s longstanding tradition of holding direct deposits for as long as possible and earning interest before releasing them to their owners.
ATM in the network
The rule for withdrawing cash from an automated teller machine (ATM) was that you could withdraw cash for free unless you used an out-of-network machine, in which case the owner of the ATM would charge you a fee, even if your bank didn’t. But if you had the right account, you could get the fee waived, regardless of who owned the ATM.
Despite the rise of fintechs and neobanks, checking and savings accounts remain the most popular banking options, and these accounts offer the safety of FDIC insured, fraud prevention, and data security defenses, plus a host of other benefits that people overlook.
Cashback rewards aren’t just for credit cards: some banks even offer early payday via direct deposit, and some accounts even waive ATM fees, regardless of who owns the ATM.
Tim Doman, CEO of TopMobileBanks, says it’s important to look at the lesser-known perks of these accounts because they could help you reach your financial goals.
