I recently decided to switch our checking accounts from HSBC to Charles Schwabs new Investor Checking account. I have not been happy with the steady decrease in my linked HSBC savings account and decided it was time for a change. It has a lot of attractive features that drew me to it:

• No account minimums
• No monthly service charges
• Free checks
• Free bill pay
• No ATM fees
• 4.0% APY

Signing Up

Unfortunately if you don’t have a Schwab brokerage account already you do have to sign up for one, and the paperwork needs to be sent through the mail instead of being opened online. Once mailed it took about a week for them to process my paperwork which I thought was pretty speedy. I received an email welcoming me and then a letter with my account information. From there I could register my account online for 24/7 access.

I also received an account welcome packet that had my Visa Debit Card in it as well as some prepaid envelopes for mailing checks in. The no ATM fees feature was one of the main reasons I signed up. In my area there is no bank that is really convenient no matter which way you are going, so this lets us withdraw cash from whichever ATM we chose without having to worry about outrageous fees. Schwab will reimburse whatever the ATM charges (with the exception of foreign transaction fees).

Initial Thoughts

The Schwab online interface has been easy to navigate so far. I have not tried the Bill Pay feature yet but did go through the motions and it was pretty easy to set up. One nice feature is that you can order your free checks online, and it even includes duplicate checks. You can also have them send you more prepaid envelopes to send deposits in with for free.

The one negative I have to report so far is linking external accounts. It does not appear you can add external savings accounts to your account. Also, in order to add a checking account you have to mail in a voided check to Schwab along with a form. There does appear to be an online option for this for some people, however it keeps telling me I am not eligible for this and need to mail in the form. This is pretty annoying since most other banks I have worked with just let you enter the routing and account information online.

Besides that, so far I am pretty happy with my new account. It has a very competitive interest rate for a checking account as well as some very appealing features that I have not seen matched by any other bank yet.

Popularity: 1% [?]