Did you say, FREE Checking?...

It has come to my attention that I actually know people who pay for their checking accounts. I'm not talking about fancy-dancy checking accounts that earn interest and give you rewards. I'm talking about basic, everyday, deposit-money-and-magically-your-Debit-card-works-when-pay-for-your-Chipotle-burrito Checking accounts.
I'm here to tell you that basic checking accounts are supposed to be free. Yes, FREE. If you are paying $5.95 a month for basic checking services, then you are selling yourself short. If you are paying these outrageous fees, I suggest you do some research. Most of the time, these fees can be waived if you have direct deposit, you have some sort of electronic transfer each month, or you maintain a specified balance.
Look at your statement and see if you're paying a monthly fee. Yes, those letters you get in the mail at the beginning of every month? Open them. Read them. If you see a monthly service charge, call and see if you can change that. (This information is obviously for your non-Green Account friends, because we all know that a Free Checking account from LA Financial has no monthly fee. Ever. That's why we rock.)

$5.95 doesn't sound like much, but that turns into $71.40 per year. I could ski at Big Bear for the day and still have money for lunch. What could you use it for?