West/Midwest: TCF
Branches: 381 in Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin
Why it’s a winner: The rate on higher savings balances bested all banks surveyed. Meanwhile, Premier Checking pays a little interest, with a lower-than-average minimum; and TCF has no-minimum, no-fee checking as well. TCF also had the longest hours of all banks surveyed—73 per week and 18 on the weekend (vs. averages of 50 and 6, respectively).
Caveat: Competitor FirstMerit, which operates in some of the same states, has checking with better perks: $0 ATM fee and 0.10% yield on up to $10,000. But that account has a much higher $5,000 minimum.
Standout Accounts:
- Maintenance fee: $15
- Minimum balance to waive fee: $2,500
- ATM fee: two free per statement cycle, then $3
- Interest on $2,500: 0.03%
- Maintenance fee: $10
- Minimum balance to waive fee: $1,000
- Interest on …
$2,500: 0.10%
$10,000: 1.09%
$25,000: 1.09%