Opening and Using a Bank Account

Most banks offer two everyday accounts. A checking account is built for spending: you use it for a debit card, bills, and direct deposit of your pay. A savings account is built for setting money aside, and it usually pays a little interest while you leave the money alone.

Many people use both. Day-to-day money sits in checking, and money for later sits in savings, which keeps the two from getting mixed up.

Accounts can carry fees, but most can be avoided once you know what they are.

• Overdraft fee: charged when you spend more than your balance, often around 35 dollars per slip.
• Monthly maintenance fee: a flat charge some accounts add, often waived if you set up direct deposit or keep a minimum balance.
• Out-of-network ATM fee: charged when you use a cash machine that is not your bank's, sometimes from both the ATM and your bank.

Being unbanked means having no bank account at all. It sounds free, but it often costs more. Without an account, people may rely on check-cashing stores that take a percentage of every check, and on money orders that charge a fee each time a bill needs to be paid.

Those small charges add up. Cashing a 600 dollar paycheck at a 2 percent fee costs 12 dollars, every payday, for a service a checking account usually provides for free.

Money in a bank is protected in ways cash is not. If your debit card is lost or stolen, you can report it and the card is shut off. Cash that goes missing is simply gone.