Checking

Once you find the right machine, depositing cash is generally a simple process.

Online checking accounts offer 24/7 accessibility and often lower costs and better interest rates than many traditional checking accounts. We’ve analyzed over 40 options to bring you the best online checking accounts with competitive rates, rewards and perks.

Our top three picks for the best checking accounts are from Discover Bank, SoFi Bank and Ally Bank, all of which offer no monthly fees and access to large, free ATM networks. To help you choose an account that’s in lockstep with your unique needs, we at the MarketWatch Guides team researched checking accounts from 114 banks and credit unions.

We then narrowed our list to focus on accounts that can help you easily access, grow or better manage your money. Our resulting top nine checking accounts offer few fees, easy ATM access, budgeting tools and perks such as debit card rewards, interest or welcome bonuses.

In 2022, approximately 6% of adults in the U.S. didn’t have a bank account, according to the Federal Reserve. If you’re in this situation, known as being unbanked, you might wonder how to cash a check without a bank account. There are options, including check-cashing services, retail locations and mobile apps, and some are more expensive than others. We at the MarketWatch Guides team will explain how four of these options work.

We researched the top financial institutions in the country to bring you the five best free checking accounts with great perks and no monthly fees.

You might pay your day-to-day expenses with cash, a debit card, a credit card or a personal check. But when you need to make a large purchase, these payment methods may not be ideal or even accepted. Cashier’s checks allow you to make large payments for things such as a house down payment or an expensive vehicle.

A cashier’s check is a guaranteed form of payment that’s backed by bank funds rather than your account.

Cashier’s checks are commonly used for high-cost purchases because they provide a bank guarantee that the check won’t bounce and the seller or service provider will get paid. We at the MarketWatch Guides team will dive into the benefits of cashier’s checks, the situations they’re good for and how to get them.

Your bank account comes with its own unique number, known as your account number. Your bank also has its own unique ID, referred to as the routing number. You don’t need to memorize these sets of numbers, but you do need to know how to find them since they’re required for a variety of financial transactions.

We at the MarketWatch Guides team will tell you where to find your routing number for your traditional and online checking accounts, when you’ll need it and how to protect your financial information from fraudsters.