The Best Checking Account List - Tired of wasting money on fees and no interest

I've been wasting money each month by having a Bank of America Checking account. They charge monthly fees, pay for checks, I often have to go to another ATM and have to pay as well, and lastly, even though interest rates are very low now, I don't make any interest on my balance in my checking account where I get my entire check deposited every month. I've decided to become financially fit and have been looking at ways of saving money. Finding the best checking account is my first step.

For me, the criteria for selecting a checking account is a set of criteria.

• First and foremost is no monthly fees regardless of the balance in the checking account.
• Access to ATMs without having to pay fees
• The ability to earn interest on the balance in the checking account. The higher the yield, the better.
• Mobile deposits. I don't like going to the bank to deposit checks, so I want to be able to use a mobile app to take a picture of a check and have it deposited.
• Free Bill Pay service. We pay almost all our bills via online bill pay. This is a critical feature.
• Other things to consider are if the checking account provides free checks, over draft protection, Debit card with rewards.

I began researching checking accounts by asking the most financially fit people I know what they use for checking and personal investing. I find that people that use Vanguard for personal investing is often a good indicator that they care about good services at a low cost and will select a high quality checking service. It turns out, almost everyone is paying too much for checking services.

Credit unions often have some very good services. For example, PenFed has some very good credit cards, low auto loans, but it doesn't stack up on checking account services. Other local banks and credit unions often fell short in one category like mobile banking options, or access to free ATMs. If there was one area I found small banks that beat my final list is in yields. There are checking accounts paying double the interest, but I felt there other fees and lack of convenience kept them from my final list.

My list of top checking accounts are all online services.

• Charles Schwab
• USAA
• CapitalOne Bank
• Ally
• Presidential Online Bank

After comparing all the checking accounts and getting comfortable with doing all my checking by mail, direct deposit, and using online tools, I chose Charles Schwab. I think it's the best services for my needs because of the no fees and no minimum balance (You can open an account with $5). Also, you have to have a brokerage account with CS, but you don't have to fund it (This is what I'm doing). They also provide free checks and a free debit card. The only downside, it wasn't the highest yielding. Capital One checking is, but CO doesn't have as good as mobile banking. We often have checks to deposit and being able to snap a picture and send it in will save us time and money. CapitalOne is probably my second choice, although I think USAA is a high quality service as well. I would have probably gone with USAA if they had better yields on lower balances.