Express checking: Cheaper, but less personal than traditional banking
By Lucy Lazarony • Bankrate.com

Tired of paying a big bank's high checking account fees, but reluctant to give up the convenience of its sprawling automatic teller machine system?

Consider an express checking account, which is designed for customers who prefer to bank by ATM, telephone or personal computer. It boasts unlimited check writing, low minimum balance requirements and low -- or no -- monthly fees.

For customers who seldom step inside a branch, express accounts are a great way to get low-priced checking from a large bank. The catch? Steep teller fees -- as high as $3 per visit -- make chit chat with a teller quite expensive.

"Express checking accounts are a way for price-sensitive people to have access to the bank," said Mitch Stevens, senior engagement manager for First Manhattan Consulting Group.

George Hergenroeder, a vice president at Speer & Associates in Atlanta, says the accounts are becoming an "industry norm."

"It's a way for big banks to hang on to customers they would normally lose to smaller banks," he said.

Express checking appears in major markets
The Bankrate.com Checking Account Pricing Study found 70 express accounts from banks like NationsBank, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, First Union and KeyBank, in the top 35 metropolitan markets in the country.

Four different banks are offering at least one express account in Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Sacramento, Calif. Three banks are offering express accounts in Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Denver, Portland, Ore. and Orlando, Fla.

Because these accounts are being offered by some of the top competitors in each market, experts expect regional and smaller banks to develop express checking accounts of their own.

It costs money to talk
There is a downside to these accounts. Customers are often charged fees for teller visits. Chase Manhattan in New York charges its self-service account customers $9.50 the first time they visit a teller in a month. KeyBank charges customers $1.50 per teller visit. NationsBank allows customers three free teller visits a month and then charges $3 for each additional visit.

But even the stiffest teller fees matter little to a bank customer who rarely visits a branch. And it's no surprise that low-priced express accounts are especially popular with college students and younger bank customers.

"Young people grew up not going to the branch. So it's not a big deal. They go to ATMs anyway," Stevens said.

-- Posted: June 8, 1998