Monthly bank fees and how to avoid them

What a monthly fee costs a bonus

A monthly fee, which banks also call a maintenance or service fee, comes out of the account each statement period unless you meet a waiver. On a bonus account it runs while you wait: through the deposit window, the hold period and the weeks before the bank pays. Closing the account early can bring a different charge, covered in the guide to early closure fees and clawbacks.

The arithmetic is short. A $15 fee you cannot avoid, paid for six months, costs $90, so a $200 bonus nets $110 before tax. Waived, the same fee costs nothing. On a checking bonus that asks for direct deposits, the waiver often asks for the same deposits, so meeting the bonus requirement clears the fee as well.

The waivers banks publish

Of the 34 offers we checked against the banks' own pages on October 6, 2026, 15 came with an account that has no monthly fee. The other 19 charged from $5 to $50 a month, and each of those listed at least one way to avoid the fee. The waivers fall into five kinds.

• Direct deposits. A monthly total of electronic deposits, from $250 to $5,000 a month among the offers we list. The bank defines which deposits count, as it does for the bonus. The guide to what counts as a direct deposit explains the usual rules.
• A balance. A minimum daily balance or an average balance for the statement period, from $300 on a savings account to $150,000 on a private client account. A minimum daily balance fails on the one day you dip below it. An average balance can absorb a short dip.
• A relationship. Linked accounts, combined balances across deposits and investments, or a credit card or loan with the same bank.
• Who you are. An age band, student status or military service. Several large banks waive the fee for customers under a certain age, and some for older customers too.
• Activity. A number of posted transactions or an amount of debit card spending in the month, common on business accounts.

Some banks also waive the fee for the first months. One business account we list charges nothing for its first 12 months, and one personal checking account skips the fee for its first 2 statement periods. Each offer page names the waivers the bank publishes, and its note adds the rules that apply to only some of the accounts in an offer.

Pick the waiver you already meet

The cheapest waiver is one your money meets without changes. Work through these before you apply.

1. Check whether the bonus requirement meets the waiver too. A $10,000 balance held for a business bonus clears a $2,000 minimum balance waiver for as long as it stays.
2. Check how the bank measures the waiver. Most are tested per statement period, so each month stands on its own, and a minimum balance waiver fails on one low day.
3. Plan the months after the bonus. A waiver tied to direct deposits stops when you move your pay back, and the fee starts again. Decide in advance the month you stop deposits and the month you close.

How the calculator counts the fee

The calculator and the Worth it for you box on each offer page treat the fee the same way. The fee counts as zero when the account has no fee, when your monthly direct deposit reaches the bank's direct deposit waiver, or when the balance you will hold reaches its balance waiver. That balance is the larger of the cash you entered and the cash the tier asks you to park, so a tier that parks enough to waive the fee never pays it. Months the bank charges no fee come off the count. A waivable fee whose waiver the terms give in no figures is left out of the net gain and shown as up to its amount.

When the fee is not waived, the calculator charges it for every started 30 days of a period it calls D. D is the number of days the bank asks you to keep the account open; without one, it is an estimate of the days until the bonus arrives; without that, 90 days. It is never fewer than 30. The estimate is the longest of the direct deposit window, the hold period and the funding window, plus the payout days the bank states. A 90 day window with payout within 15 days gives 105 days, which is four started months, so a $12 fee costs $48.

The rule has limits. It knows two kinds of waiver, by direct deposit and by balance, so a waiver by age, by a linked account or by transactions shows as a fee you pay. It also charges every month it counts, including months a bank leaves free. The working under each result names the fee and the reason, and the offer note says when a bank waives the first months, so you can adjust by hand. The methodology states every formula.

Fees can change after you open

Under Regulation DD, section 1030.4, a bank must give you its account disclosures before you open the account, and again when you ask. They state the amount of each fee and when the bank can charge it, and they state the bonus, when the bank pays it and the balance and time it needs. If the bank later changes a term in a way that can hurt you, such as a higher fee, section 1030.5 generally requires notice at least 30 days before the change takes effect.

Keep the disclosures you receive at opening. They hold the terms the bank applies to your account, while the public offer page can change after you apply.