Best Checking Accounts in 2025!!

If you are getting slapped with fees from your checking account, or you've been with the same bank because, I don't know, your parents picked it, and you don't have a clue as to what makes a really good checking account, stick around. I have the best checking accounts of 2025. Hey guys, welcome to the Debt Free Millennials channel. I'm your host, Justine. Here we talk about all ways to achieve financial confidence, crush debt, so that you can live a life with fewer payments. Now, one of the things that I think we kind of overlook or just don't even think about is our checking account, because we've had the same one since we were, I don't know, 18, whenever you started bringing in a paycheck. And let's be honest, there are a lot of banks now that are riddling you with monthly fees. So this is the criteria that I look for when I'm considering opening a checking account. First off, no monthly maintenance fees. We don't want to have any fees on our checking account, plus no minimum balance requirements. I also look for a checking account or a bank that I can work with that has a mobile app and then mobile check deposit. For those of you who still receive paper checks on the off occasion, this is a huge deal breaker. If I have to physically go into a location, I want to be able to take a snapshot of that check and upload it through the mobile app. Next, I want it to connect to external bank accounts. I want it to be FDIC insured, and I want to have ATM access or at the very least reimbursable ATM fees. And the best checking accounts are interest bearing. So stick around until the end, because I have a bank that is actually earning 4% on your money inside of a checking account. But let's go ahead and hop into the list. Okay, so these are my top picks for matching all criteria. The first one is Capital One 360 checking. No monthly fees, no minimum balance. You've got the mobile app. It's very much the Toyota Corolla of checking accounts. It's just like, it's basic. It's a good model. You're going to get from point A to point B with really good mileage. Plus it is interest earning, but you're only earning a 0.1% on the account balance inside of your checking account. I did, however, find something that was a little bit unique to Capital One 360, and that is they are offering a $250 bonus for signing up with their checking account. Let me show you what this looks like. So if you use the code CHECKING250, CHECKING250, and complete these steps. So you're going to open the checking account and then do at least two direct deposits of $500 or more each within 75 days of the account opening, you can earn a $250 deposit into your account, which I think is pretty cool. The next one matching my criteria is the Ally Bank checking account. It matches everything. Plus what's unique about Ally Bank and their checking account is that you can add in spending buckets, which is almost like a built-in budget inside of your checking account. Number three is Discover. The Discover checking account is really unique because not only does it match all of my criteria, except for interest bearing, it does not have any interest, but I think it makes up for the fact that it doesn't have interest on it with their 1% cash back rewards program. So the 1% cash back is up to $3,000 in purchases every single month. So if you're primarily using your debit card linked to your Discover checking account to make purchases, which is a really smart way to just build up a really healthy relationship with money versus a credit card, this could be a huge benefit. Also, if you're able to pay for things like rent using your Discover debit card, you can really see the benefits of that cash back reward program in play. I think this is a fantastic one that you should take a look at. Number four is Basque Bank. This is also interest bearing, and you can earn 3% when you complete these activities. Okay, so this one is a little bit time sensitive, but if you have a new or existing, oh, existing customers, listen up, by June 30th, 2025, you can earn an additional 3% on top of the base rate of 1%, totaling 4% through August. Okay, so it's only good for two months, but when the qualifying activities are met, qualify, complete 2,500 monthly automated deposits, maintain an average monthly balance of 2,500 through the reward period. So I'd say that's pretty easy, especially if you're already an existing customer, or if you are handling that amount of money and above, this could really help you. So base rates, 1% on their checking, which I think is awesome. Plus this 3% bonus that you can take advantage of this summer. Number five is the Zenlo Bank more spending account. So it meets all of my criteria. Plus you can earn 2% on any balance. Number six is Chime. Even though Chime doesn't offer any interest on your checking account, it does have that in their Chime savings account, which was 2% as of the time of this recording. But what I really like about Chime is they have this spot me feature. Spot me is overage protection for you. So if you have any overdrafts that happen, you can be spotted by Chime for up to $200 in that period, which is really helpful. So if you're like, well, how do I pay that money back? If I go over my account balance, it's simple. The next time that you deposit money into your Chime account, Chime is going to withdraw the $200 or whatever the amount was that you went over in order to pay them back. So I think that's a really sweet feature, especially if you have a history of overdrafting, this could help alleviate some of those symptoms for you. Number seven is the experience smart money checking account. So this also comes with a debit card. And what I like about this one is it is a credit builder. So you're getting the experience boost integration, which helps you potentially increase your FICO score over time. So if you're interested in building up your credit, this is one to look at. While it doesn't accrue any interest on this account, I feel like the credit score booster is a really unique feature that I hadn't seen elsewhere. Now, if you've made it this far in the video, then this is where I want to tell you about the checking account that is currently earning more than 4%. And that is with premise bank checking. I think it's premise, primus, tomato, tomato, you'll get it. It's, it's everything hitting my criteria, except for you do need $1 for a minimum account balance to open. Once you hit that and you're opened, then you're earning 4.2% at the time of this recording on your checking account, which is insane. I love that. I'm going to give you a bonus here on best checking accounts for 2025. And that is with your local credit union. Now credit unions differ from banks because they are member owned and oftentimes when they are member owned, you are reducing the overhead fees and thus passing along those savings to the customer in form of interest. Now, various credit unions will require different eligibility requirements for their members to join, such as you must live in Kansas city to be part of the Kansas city credit union. You must be affiliated with the military or the U S government. If you want to join Navy federal credit union. So take a look. I didn't call out a specific credit union here because it really is localized and it's specific to your situation in your own lifestyle. But what I find with credit unions is typically you are not getting hit with any monthly maintenance fees. There's no minimum account balance to open. And oftentimes they are interest bearing. Plus you're getting favorable interest rates on other products through that credit union, such as we have our mortgage rate through our credit union. And we were actually able to get really favorable terms with that. Okay. So that's your list. Did I miss any checking accounts in this list? Let me know in the comments below in which one you are banking with that is giving you really good bang for your buck. And I will see you in the next video.