7 best bank accounts for older savers, seniors and retirees in July 2024

You might know Betterment for its investment products, but its mobile checking account may be a good fit for those who don’t want to waste their money on banking fees. With this account, you pay no maintenance or minimum balance fees and no overdraft fees.

Betterment Checking is also a good pick for travelers, as all ATM fees and foreign transaction fees are reimbursed when you use your account’s debit card worldwide.

As an added bonus, your debit card works a little like a rewards card, earning you cash back on purchases from select companies and retail stores. Betterment is partnered with the Dosh app, which offers cashback rewards for shopping at stores like Costco and Shake Shack, or using your debit card for Lyft rides or to sign up for Disney+. These rewards are automatically posted to your account within 1 to 90 days, without your having to use the app.

SoFi offers a combination high-yield savings and checking account that offers top rates with almost no fees. As long as you’re willing to set up direct deposit to either your checking or savings account — your paycheck, pension or government payments — you can earn a competitive APY of up to 4.60% on your savings balance and 0.50% APY on your checking balance.

Other banks may advertise higher rates on checking — some as high as 5% or more — but the requirements to get that rate can require some work. The accounts also usually come with account fees, which could serve to negate the interest you earn in the long run.

SoFi’s checking and savings account has no monthly maintenance fees or any other account fees. And as long as you direct deposit at least $1,000 each month, any overdrafts from debit card purchases are covered up to $50.

You can also earn an enrollment bonus after your first month of direct deposits to your account — $50 for deposits of $1,000 or more in the first 25 days, and $300 for deposits of $5,000 or more within that first 25 days.

Ally Bank offers interest-bearing checking and savings accounts with almost no fees and no minimum balance requirement. And while the bank doesn’t support branch locations for in-person support, you can talk, text or email customer support around the clock, 24/7.

Ally doesn’t offer a senior-specific account, but if you’re big into budgeting, both Ally’s Spending and Savings accounts may have the features you’ve been waiting for. Both accounts offer “buckets” that allow you to separate your funds into monthly budget items or savings goals.

For example, on the Spending side, you can fund up to 10 monthly bill buckets for things like your mortgage payment, groceries, insurance, prescriptions and credit cards. You decide how much to spend on each and how often it needs to be funded and either let Ally set aside that money for you or manually fund each bucket yourself. You can even set specific stores for each bucket so you can track how much you’re spending on a budget item by the receipts from that store each month.

In this way, Ally incorporates a budgeting spreadsheet and deposit account into one app.

Online banks have a lot of benefits in common, but Discover Bank stands out for its perks and rewards, highly rated mobile app and a commitment to offering no-fee deposit accounts. The bank also offers 24/7 customer support, which could help users used to having in-person branch support take the plunge into online banking.

While Discover’s checking account isn’t interest-bearing, you get 1% cash back on up to $3,000 in qualified debit card purchases each month. Its savings account comes with a 4.25% APY, which is compounded daily, unlike many big-bank competitors. You’ll pay no fees for either account — no maintenance fees, no overdraft or insufficient funds fees, no stop payment or item return fees. And there’s no minimum deposit to open either account.

Unlike many online accounts, Discover has a plan for customers who regularly deposit cash, and you won’t need to pay a third-party service to do it for you. If you ever need to deposit cash, you can walk into any Walmart and add the cash to your checking account without a fee.

The one area in which this bank falters is its CD products that require a high minimum deposit of $2,500. You may be able to find higher APYs with low or no minimums at another bank.

The Charles Schwab Investor Account isn’t specifically for older customers, but it offers a lot of perks to investors looking for easy transfers between their checking and brokerage accounts. The account is interest-bearing, though low for an online account, at 0.45% variable as of June 2024.

While Charles Schwab supports more than 400 brokerage branches worldwide, Schwab Bank is online only, which means you must be prepared to do all of your banking online, on a mobile app or over the phone using its 24/7 customer service line.

The account comes with no fees — even on overdrafts, domestic wire transfers or bounced checks and deposits. Frequent travelers will love getting unlimited rebates on ATM fees worldwide and never having to pay foreign transaction fees on debit card purchases. And whether you like contactless purchases or still write out paper checks, both are free with your Investor Checking account.

You must open a Schwab One brokerage account, but you don’t have to be an investor to enjoy the perks of this account. With no monthly fees or minimum deposits on either account, you can choose whether to take advantage of your brokerage account for investing or leave it empty and just use the checking account.

If a brick-and-mortar bank location is a must for you and customer support is vital, Chase Bank might be a good fit. Chase has the most branch locations of any bank in the U.S., with 4,700 nationwide and more than 15,000 ATMs.

And Chase is known for its customer service. The bank scored second place in J.D. Power’s U.S. National Banking Satisfaction Study, and the mobile app scored high on its own, earning a score of 690 — 19 points above the national average. Chase offers 24/7 customer support by phone, and if you prefer texting to talking, you can send messages to an account representative through the Chase app.

Choose from multiple checking and savings account options, depending on features most important to you.

This rewards checking account isn’t only for seniors, but members who are ages 60 and older won’t pay the monthly maintenance fee to access the giant list of perks that comes with Mountain America’s MyStyle Checking.

Mountain America Credit Union is the ninth-largest credit union in the US, offering your typical banking benefits like no minimum balance requirement, interest rate discounts and contactless payment options. But the account throws in useful perks that include free telehealth services, prescription discounts, mobile phone replacement coverage and ID protection services to save you more.

Residents of Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah may find one of the credit union’s 100 physical MACU branches close by, but all of the credit union’s benefits are available through online banking — whether you’re near a bank or not — as long as you can qualify for membership. If you can't, you can bypass residency, employment and affiliation requirements needed to become a member of MACU by joining the American Consumer Council for a $5 membership fee.