U.S. Bank offers a variety of personal and business accounts, including checking, savings, money market accounts and CDs. All accounts come with access to its online and mobile banking platform, which lets you manage your money and deposit checks for free. Account holders get eStatements and overdraft protection, or avoid overdraft fees altogether with its personal Safe Debit account. But there aren’t branches in every state, most accounts come with maintenance fees and the APY on the personal savings account is low.
Best for: Seniors, young adults, teens and military members in need of a full-service bank.
U.S. Bank may be worth considering if you’re looking for somewhere to do all your personal banking and borrowing. With the Smart Rewards program — included for free with U.S. Bank’s Smarty Checking account — you may get extra perks like mortgage credits, new auto loan rate discounts and a higher APY on its Standard Savings account.
The best perks with U.S. Bank are available for specific demographics: seniors, young adults, teens and military members (veteran or active duty). These groups are more likely to get monthly maintenance fees waived on select accounts and enjoy extra perks that come with U.S. Bank’s Smart Rewards program.
But if you don’t need a full-service bank and can’t waive the monthly maintenance fees on its personal accounts, consider other options. We’ve seen many other savings accounts with APYs as high as 5%, crushing the low 0.01% APY on U.S. Bank’s Standard Savings account. Also, there are many free checking accounts to compare that don’t require you to be a certain age or demographic or hold a certain balance to avoid a monthly fee.
U.S. Bank is FDIC-insured with over 90 years in the industry. It serves well over 11 million customers and has over 2,000 full-service branches in 24 states.
Similar to many large banks, U.S. Bank is integrated with Zelle, so you can easily send money to friends and family with no fees on U.S. Bank’s end. It also has a large, free ATM network, and you can use any MoneyPass ATM for free.
With U.S. Bank’s Smartly Checking account, you can join the Smart Rewards program for free, which includes extra bonuses and more waived fees, depending on your account balance and tier (Plus, Premium or Pinnacle). Some of the better rewards we saw include:
There are also exclusive rewards reserved for seniors, young adults, teens and military members in the program. If you’re in one of those demographics, you’re eligible to waive the monthly maintenance fee on the Smartly Checking account. You may also qualify for extra perks, like a 50% discount on personal check reorders and safe deposit box rental fees.
In short, if you don’t need a full-service bank, consider other account options without monthly fees.
U.S. Bank charges monthly maintenance fees on its checking accounts, and with the Safe Debit account, there’s no way to waive the $4.95 monthly fee.
The accounts that do offer the ability to waive the fee require you to meet certain criteria, such as:
Also, while the bank advertises its U.S. Bank Overdraft Fee Forgiveness Program for its Smartly Checking account, there are parameters, and if you pass them, you’ll pay a $12.50 overdraft fee.
Here’s how the program works: If you overdraw by $50.01 or more, your overdraft fee is refunded as long as you restore your account balance before 11:00 p.m. ET. To avoid the fee altogether, you can set up automatic transfers from another U.S. Bank account to cover the overdraft. Plenty of other banks offer free checking accounts that waive the overdraft fee completely.
U.S. Bank’s only savings account earns a meager 0.01% APY. And on top of this, you’ll pay a $4 monthly fee unless you qualify to waive it.
Although the account’s APY can vary by location, we entered multiple zip codes to get an idea of the going rates across the states, and the rate was always around 0.01% APY. This rate is much lower than the best savings account and the national average, which is currently 0.40% APY, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Although there’s a chance you can earn an additional 5% APY on the account with the Smart Rewards program, you’re required to maintain a balance between $20,000 to $49,999.99 to qualify.
Narrow down U.S. Bank accounts by fees, APYs and opening deposits. Select the Compare box to view products side by side for an easier comparison.
U.S. Bank offers six different personal accounts, ranging from checking, savings, money market accounts and CDs.
There are two checking accounts to choose from — both requiring a $25 opening deposit.
U.S. Bank offers one personal savings account: Standard Savings. We’ve already covered the low 0.01% APY you’ll likely get, though exact rates vary by zip code.
If you also get the Smartly Checking Account, you can waive the $4 monthly fee of the Standard Savings account and enroll in the Smart Rewards with the Primary Tier or higher. Getting into the primary tier requires a balance of $20,000 to $49,999.99. So if you don’t have robust savings just yet, you’ll likely be shouldered with the maintenance fee if you don’t qualify another way.
Other ways to waive the $4 fee include:
There are two personal money market savings accounts to choose from.
Similar to U.S. Bank’s savings accounts, CD rates vary by area. U.S. Bank’s CD rates typically max out to APY, but you may get a different rate depending on where you live. CD options include:
The bank also offers 10 business accounts, including checking, savings and money market accounts.
Some business checking and money market accounts are interest bearing, like the Basic business savings account, Platinum Business Money Market account and the Premium Business Money Market account. However, many require an opening deposit and rates are low, ranging around 0.01% to 0.30% APY — much lower than the national average.
Aside from business accounts, other U.S. Bank products include:
Narrow down top personal bank accounts by fees, APYs and opening deposits. Select the Compare box to view products side by side for easier comparison.
Currently holding an A- rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and 94 years in business, there’s a lot of insight to gain from U.S. Bank customers.
U.S. Bank has gotten over 4,900 complaints in the last three years on its BBB profile and over 600 reviews resulting in a less-than-ideal 1.1 customer star rating. The U.S. Bank Trustpilot profile is unclaimed, but it carries over 600 reviews to date — also with a poor 1.2-star rating.
While it’s not uncommon for a financial institution to receive mostly-negative reviews, U.S. Bank’s are rather poor. Many reviews cite unique circumstances, such as issues with paycheck withholdings, frozen accounts and issues resolving fraud — all typical complaints we see with banks.
The BBB also posted an alert for U.S. Bank, detailing an incident where they entered a settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB alleged that the bank was accessing personal credit reports without the account holder’s permission, violating the Consumer Financial Protection Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Truth in Lending Act and the Truth in Savings Act. The bank had to pay a $37.5 million penalty to the CFPB and states it’s enacting a plan to remediate the issue. The situation does cast a poor look on U.S. Bank, but the settlement refers back to incidents dating back to 2010, and since 2016, it has addressed these issues. It was a long investigation lasting over five years.
U.S. Bank’s top-tier account rewards deeper financial commitment.
U.S. Bank’s Special CDs have decent interest rates overall.