How we rank checking accounts

Where the data comes from

Account records come from the CFE Fund's Bank On National Data (BOND) Hub roster of certified accounts, combined with the fee schedules the institutions themselves publish.

Monthly fees, opening deposits, overdraft policies, and feature flags are the institutions' own published figures. They are not our estimates and we do not adjust them.

How we calculate annual cost

The annual cost on every account card is the monthly maintenance fee multiplied by twelve. That is the only recurring charge our data supports, so it is the only thing in the arithmetic.

The opening deposit is never added to it. That money stays yours — it is shown as a separate line and labelled that way.

We hold no per-account out-of-network ATM fee data, so we never model or estimate ATM fees. Overdraft is $0 on every certified account by definition, so it does not differentiate accounts; we state it as a fact rather than adding it in.

The "typical account" comparison on the homepage

The typical-account receipt uses two published averages from Bankrate’s 2025 Checking Account and ATM Fee Study: an average monthly maintenance fee of $5.47 on non-interest checking, and an average overdraft fee of $26.77.

The number of overdrafts per year is our own assumption, not Bankrate’s: we assume three. CFPB research on overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees finds that households who are charged at all are typically charged more than once in a year, and three is a deliberately conservative figure within that range. It is an assumption, and we would rather you see it than not.

The comparison is a baseline for what an uncertified account can cost. It is not a prediction of what any individual will pay.

The sort modes

On any results page you can choose how the list is ordered:

• Lowest annual cost — monthly fee times twelve, lowest first. This is the default.
• Recommended — ordered by the score below, highest first.
• Most free ATMs — ordered by the number of surcharge-free ATMs, highest first.
• Local first — local institutions, then regional, then national, with the recommended score breaking ties inside each group.

The recommended score

The score is a sum of points awarded from published account terms. Higher is better, and the maximum possible score is 90.

Maximum score: 90 points.

What the score deliberately ignores

• Interest rate or APY
• Branch count and physical footprint
• Brand recognition or size
• Any commercial relationship we have with the institution

Limitations

• Fees change without notice, and an institution can revise its schedule before our next refresh.
• ZIP-to-state mapping is done by USPS prefix, so a ZIP code near a state line may return accounts from the neighbouring state's roster.
• Always verify the current terms directly with the institution before opening an account.