You can usually find some great bank checking account promotions if you are looking to open a new account or get an additional one.  Not only can you find great deals, you can also use it as leverage for your current bank.

Now of course, keeping your money in your checking account is not a good investment strategy, but nonetheless, everyone needs one.  Checking accounts generally don’t give you any interest, so it won’t even beat inflation.

Free Checking

Usually the most common promotions is the banks free checking accounts.  They will usually offer up to a year without fees and without minimum balances.  But then the fees go to around $10-15 for balances below a certain amount.  There may be a way to keep the free checking going, which I will explain how to do below.

Banks with free checking is virtually all of the major retail ones like Bank of America, Wachovia, and Suntrust Banks.  Business banks and those geared more toward the wealthy may not have these promotions available.

Other Promotions

Some of the other cool promotions are free give aways.  Some banks give away even things like free laptop computers.  Now you have to meet certain requirements to be able to get it, but it’s out there to draw you in.

The classic checking account promotion used to be getting a free toaster.  But now it has gone from free groceries, to free car washes, to spa treatments and of course even to laptop computers.

In addition, there are promotions that include free savings accounts as well.  This may not seem like much since most banks want you to also open a savings account since it is less liquid.

Using As Leverage

Most new checking account promotions usually have an end date to their offering.  If it is a free checking account, it may only last 6 months or a year.  But usually, if it started out as a promotion, it will end at some point.

On the same token, most banks are always offering free checking.  That means you can use the promotions of other banks as leverage to keep your checking account for free, indefinitely.

So here is how to play this card.  You call your bank’s customer service department and just tell them you want free checking, with no minimum balances, or you’re off to the next bank.  If you banks says no, just move on to the next bank with free checking.

If after a while you can’t find a bank that will give you perpetual free checking, I know for sure that Wachovia will do it for you.  Wells Fargo will probably do it as well since they are the same bank now.