When choosing a bank, ask a lot of questions and check several banks for your best deal.
Some have what they call free checking and although they do not charge a monthly fee they do charge for checks and they are quite expensive. A way to avoid this is to get the first set of checks free which most banks will offer, then order your checks by mail. You get the design of your choice at a fraction of the cost.
If at all possible get an interest bearing checking account but not if there are a bunch of fees involved because then you make nothing.
What I do is a monthly budget, take the amount that I need for bills and put in the checking account and the rest in the savings which does draw interest. If you find you need more money you can always withdraw from the savings or make a transfer to the checking.
In addition I wanted one that offers a visa debit card so I do add extra to my checking for on line purchases and emergency money which can be with drawn 24/7.
It works as a credit card but since the money comes directly out of your checking account there are no interest fees to pay and you are not racking up a big credit card payment yet you have the same usage of it such as you need one to rent a car and sometimes even to rent videos. It is also great if you can not get a regular credit card.
You must be careful with this in the fact that you must subtract the amount you debit right away. also remember that it takes your bank until the next day to process this, so you can not debit again for 24 hours unless you with draw from the ATM machine.
I did not know this when I started and could not figure out why my card was being turned down till I called the bank and asked why.
Be very careful if you sign up for a reoccuring debit from your account that you mark down the date and get it right into your checkbook.
As far as the bank itself choose one that is well established, that has been recommended by someone you know and again ask a lot of questions. One being do I have overdraft protection. If you don’t and you are off by 10 cents even you are going to get socked with a charge, depending on the bank this could be up to 40.00 us dollars.
Many people do not have a savings account for emergencies and the reason being is they say they can’t afford to put money into one. You really can not afford not to. I don’t know about anyone else but here unexpected expenses are always popping up so when I do my budget I allow 200.00 extra which goes in the bank and stays there and gets added to each month. It may not be a lot but it sure does help many times.