Checking Accounts 101: The Best Way To Find A Bank With High Interest Checking

Do you keep a large amount of money in your checking account? If you do, you may want to consider moving it to a high interest checking account.

There are several banks that offer high interest checking, but figuring out which one is the best one for you can be a little tricky. That is unless you use Checking Finder (now Kasasa).

Checking Finder is an online tool to find banks that are offering high interest checking.

The main goals behind CheckingFinder is to help you find free checking accounts from banks with high interest rates, no minimum balance, ATM fee refunds, and other such perks. 

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Here’s why I like it:

Kasasa doesn’t just give you banks that are in your state (or even in your town).

While this may seem inconvenient at first, as someone who does all their banking online, I find this to be refreshing — because I could open an account at any one of banks online and manage my high interest checking account online as well.

This way, you’re broadening your options when it comes to choosing a bank with the best high interest checking.

It also saves you a lot of time. Searching online through a search engine takes time, but you don’t have to do that with Checking Finder. They take all the time and guesswork out of having to manually search for banks that offer high interest checking.

In a nutshell, Checking Finder takes your zip code and then shows you a list of banks offering high interest checking. You can then open an account right there online through Checking Finder.

This video highlights some of the key things you should know about high interest checking accounts:

Pros & Cons Of Check Finder

Kasasa isn’t for everyone.

For example, some who tried to open new bank accounts through Checking Finder found the identity verification process to be a bear. The problem seems to be that if you answer even one of the online questions incorrectly, you can be disqualified from the bank you are applying with, as well as from other banks found through Checking Finder.

In spite of this, some said when this happened, the bank took the initiative to call you and do the questionnaire over the phone. While this can be more time-consuming, it’s nice to know that if you find yourself being rejected because of a weird question or answer, there is a possibility you will have an opportunity to rectify the problem by talking to a bank representative directly on the phone.

Kim Komando finds Checking Finder very helpful and writes:

Its goal is to help you find high-interest checking accounts. Of course, you want to choose carefully when selecting a deal. You don’t want to get hit with ATM fees. Nor do you want to pay for online banking or bill pay. You don’t have to worry about these things with CheckingFinder. Banks featured give you free online banking and bill pay. They’ll also refund ATM fees. All of the accounts are insured, so that should put your mind to rest. Likewise, there is no minimum balance — just high interest rates!

— Kim Komando

Other Options For Finding High Interest Checking

In the end, if the banks found through Kasasa don’t pan out for some reason, or you don’t like their interest rate or terms, there are still plenty of other banks that offer high interest checking.

For example, I was able to find some banks (other than the ones that came up through Checking Finder) by simply doing a search online for banks that offer high interest checking. The downside is that you don’t have the quick online application process like you get with Checking Finder. With the banks you find online, you will probably have to make a phone call or actually go into a branch to open a high interest checking account.

While Checking Finder is one of the best ways to find high interest checking, in my opinion, you can also search online for other lists of banks that offer high interest checking.

For example, according to Deposit Accounts,these are the top 5 banks that offer the highest interest rates for checking accounts at the time of this writing:

1. America’s Credit Union – Their interest rate is a whopping 5% right now! That’s the highest interest rate for a checking account I’ve seen so far. To get the 5% with their Perk Checking Program, you have to keep a minimum balance of $1,000. There are also some other requirements, such as having 10 debit transactions and paying 2 bills using online bill pay each month.
2. Cascade Bank – With the next highest interest rate at 1.9%, they have 4 different types of checking accounts to choose from. It’s not clear from their website if that interest rate applies to all accounts, but one good thing is that you can apply online.
3. Alliant Credit Union – Their interest rate is 1.75%. As with most credit unions, there are rules for being a member. Also, you can’t apply online, so you would have to go a branch to open a high interest checking account here. On the up side, if you can meet their criteria, they have no fees and no minimum balance. While not all ATM’s are free, they have 80,000 that are!
4. Incredible Bank – Touting an interest rate of 1.74%, you can apply for an account online with this one. They have no ATM fees, free online bill pay, and mobile banking.
5. Royal Banks of Missouri – Their interest rate is 1.63%. They have a variety of checking accounts, but it’s not clear if this interest rate is for all of them or not. It’s also not exactly clear what the requirements are for this high interest checking account. You cannot apply online with this one.

This video has some great tips for finding the right checking account to meet your needs: