the Price of Combination Checking and Savings Accounts

This monthly service fee is applied to both the checking account and the savings account if they fail to meet certain criteria. If the criteria are met, these fees are waived. The checking account criterion is direct deposit; the savings account criteria are maintaining a monthly balance of at least 3,000; direct deposit; or making an automatic transfer from checking to savings of at least $25/month.

I am satisfied with the service I receive. The bank employees are friendly, they explain the criteria reasonably well, and they helped me to change my account types when I wanted different criteria.

Be sure you know all of the criteria associated with service fee waivers before opening an account, and make sure that you will meet these every month. At $10 a hit, the fees can really drain your bank account quickly, and oftentimes the things you need to do in order to have them waived are easy and/or don't require too high a balance. If you see that you will not meet the criteria for a particular month, stop into branch office as soon as possible and talk to one of the bankers (not the tellers). They will often change your account type so that you can avoid the fees, and may even remove a fee once it has been charged. It doesn't hurt to ask.