Credit Unions Beat Banks With Free Checking Accounts

Want a free checking account? Your best chance is still a credit union.

A Bankrate report surveying 50 credit unions found that 38 of them offered free checking accounts.

The average credit union overdraft fee is $27 compared to $33 average charge at banks. When it came to ATM fees, 34 percent of the unions had no fee for out of network ATMs, or at least one free out-of-network withdrawal per week.

“At a time when free checking has become increasingly rare at large banks, it is still very prevalent among credit unions,” said Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate.com’s chief financial analyst.