Online-only banks and credit unions tend to offer better rates and charge lower fees, but consumers looking for in-person customer service that’s available across the country will probably be best served by a national bank.
Along with thousands of branches and extensive ATM networks, the best national banks typically offer innovative digital tools and a wide selection of checking and savings accounts.
Here’s a look at some of our favorite national banks.
Best checking account options
Chase
Chase has three tiers of checking account, plus offerings for students, so you are likely to find a fit. And the monthly fees are fairly easy to avoid: With its basic account, Chase Total Checking, you can sidestep the $12 charge so long as you get direct deposits of at least $500 a month, keep a balance of $1,500 or have a total of $5,000 across linked Chase accounts. Signing up and setting up direct deposit also qualifies you for a one-time $200 bonus. (The bonus offer is due to expire June 13, 2016.)
Getting into one of its interest-bearing accounts without paying a fee will require you to keep a lot more money in the account or have a mortgage or investments through Chase. And even then, rates are not great. But that’s often the case with big national banks that have a lot of overhead and branches to maintain.
On the other hand, there are indeed a lot of branches — about 5,300 across 25 states — as well as 15,500 ATMs. And Chase’s mobile app lets you perform a wide range of daily banking tasks such as making transfers, paying bills and uploading and depositing checks. Many people prefer a national bank because it’s convenient, and Chase is certainly that.
» MORE: NerdWallet’s best checking accounts and debit cards
Best in-person support
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo has a wider reach than any of the other banks in our survey, with some 6,200 branches across 42 states and 12,500 ATMs.
It’s also relatively easy to get monthly fees waived on the bank’s basic accounts. Using a debit card at least 10 times per month will do the trick for Everyday Checking customers. If using cash is more your style, keep at least $1,500 in your account at all times or receive monthly direct deposits totaling at least $500.
Best CD rates
U.S. Bank
U.S. Bank is doing its part to challenge the notion that customers won’t find solid CD rates at national banks. APYs vary by state, but a few of the bank’s 59-month CDs have rates as high as 1.75%, which isn’t much lower than the best offerings at online banks. Be aware that these CDs require a minimum deposit of $1,000, and rates may change over time.
U.S. Bank has more than 3,000 branches in 25 states, with an especially strong presence in the Midwest and on the West Coast.
TD Bank
TD Bank earns the title for best standard CD rates overall. The bank requires a low initial deposit of $250, and rates are better than what U.S. Bank offers on most of its CDs. TD Bank’s long-term CDs are especially attractive, with annual yields on five-year terms as high as 0.85% and yields on seven-year terms as high as 1.25%. TD Bank has branches in 15 states along the East Coast.
Best budgeting tool
PNC Bank
PNC Bank‘s Virtual Wallet has slick, easy-to-follow graphics that help customers track their spending and saving habits. The tool actually controls a separate account, which lets you divide your cash into three categories: spend, reserve and growth. The spend category works much like a normal checking account and comes with a debit card. The money in the reserve category can be used for short-term savings and provides free overdraft protection for the spend category. Users can place savings for larger expenses in the growth category, which earns a rate of just 0.01% to start. But if you make five or more qualified debit transactions per month, the APY increases to 0.10%.
PNC’s rates are largely unimpressive, but customers can dodge its $7 monthly maintenance fee on checking accounts either by keeping a combined $500 in the spend and reserve categories or by having at least $500 directly deposited to the spend category each month. Although PNC has over 2,600 branches in 19 states, its West Coast presence is limited.
» MORE: NerdWallet’s best online checking accounts
Best fraud prevention system
Bank of America
Most hackers aren’t in their line of work just for thrills. They’re after the big bucks, which makes national banks look like potential gold mines. The banks surveyed here spend plenty of resources on maintaining security systems, but Bank of America appears to be doing the best job, at least according to Javelin Strategy & Research, a financial services consulting firm in Pleasanton, California. It has named Bank of America the “best overall provider of protection against identity fraud” for nine straight years.
Bank of America has nearly 5,000 branches in 35 states.
Tony Armstrong is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: tony@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @tonystrongarm.
This article was updated. It was originally published in August 2015.
METHODOLOGY
The U.S. national banks surveyed were selected from the 15 largest ranked by assets. Banks without a significant retail banking presence were eliminated. The remaining list was then narrowed down to those that had at least 1,000 branch offices in at least 15 states. These banks’ various accounts, services and tools were then compared.
The financial institutions surveyed: Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, BB&T, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Citizens Bank, Fifth Third Bank, HSBC Bank, PNC Bank, State Street, SunTrust Bank, TD Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.
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