Best Bank for Overdraft Fee Avoidance

How we picked the companies to evaluate:

NerdWallet reviewed the top 25 financial institutions by domestic deposit assets, the top 25 by number of branches, the top 20 by search volume, the top 10 credit unions by membership, the top 10 credit unions by deposits, and emerging and notable players.

How we chose the winner:

Banks and credit unions were rated on the following factors: Overdraft coverage/nonsufficient funds fees (contributed to 30% of the rating), daily limit on overdraft coverage/nonsufficient funds fees (20%), overdraft line of credit (20%), continuous negative balance fee (10%), overdraft protection transfer (20%).
In case of a tie, banks and credit unions were compared by category in the following order until one institution remained:
  • Checking (monthly fees contributed to 50% of the rating, domestic ATMs 33.3%, interest rate 13.3% and required minimum opening deposit 3.3%).
  • Banking experience.

How we verified our data:

NerdWallet writers and editors confirmed fees, rates, policies and other key features on each financial institution’s website. If an institution’s website was missing information, we contacted a representative directly for confirmation.