An independent public-data project
LowCostChecking.com is not a bank, a lender, or an advisory service. It is a search tool built on top of public data, so that anyone can find a checking account that will not charge them an overdraft fee.
What this is
The Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Fund publishes the Bank On National Data (BOND) Hub roster of certified checking accounts. We take that roster and make it searchable — by ZIP code and by state — with the fee data laid out side by side.
The database currently holds 498 certified accounts across 469 institutions, covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
What Bank On certification actually requires
An account only appears here if it meets the Bank On National Account Standards. In practice that means:
- No overdraft or non-sufficient-funds (NSF) fees
- A low or no monthly maintenance fee
- A low minimum opening deposit
- Debit or prepaid card access
- Online bill pay
- Mobile check deposit
- Free monthly statements
The standard is set and maintained by the CFE Fund, not by us. You can read it in full at joinbankon.org.
Who runs it
Brian Farrey
Founder & Editor
Brian Farrey is a technology executive who has spent his career building data systems for operations-heavy businesses. He built LowCostChecking.com after finding that the CFE Fund's Bank On certified account roster — the best public list of no-overdraft-fee checking accounts in the United States — existed only as static documents, with no way to search it by ZIP code.
Why it is bilingual
The households hit hardest by overdraft and maintenance fees include a large share of Spanish-speaking families. Every page on this site exists in both English and Spanish, so the language you read in never decides how much of the data you get.
What we do not do
- We are not a bank or a credit union.
- We never touch anyone's money.
- We do not process, submit, or influence account applications.
- Nothing on this site is financial advice.
How it is funded
To keep the site free, we may hold lead-generation agreements or affiliate partnerships with some of the institutions listed here, and we may be paid a referral fee if you follow an apply link and open an account.
That compensation never changes the ranking order. The recommended score is computed from published fee data alone — no institution can pay to move up.