Most people don't need banks. Do you really need a bank? If you can use a credit union instead of a bank, the terms will be better for most services. I use Wells Fargo and have been happy with them for several years. I don't pay a monthly service fee for checking but there are conditions I must meet. I don't think they are special in this regard. They seems to be better managed than other large banks. I have no idea where you are so I don't know if they are convientient for you to use. Fees have nothing to do with trustworthiness. The fees are not secret. Banks and credit unions offer accounts without monthly service fees to customers that keep a sufficient amount of money in the bank so that the bank isn't going broke by providing the service. Some customers are more touble than others. If you write 193 checks per month but never have more than about $100 in your account, expect the bank to be reluctant to provide the service for free. Likewise, expect them to want to have a way to get paid for keeping track of the $28.17 you deposited in your savings account. Do you like to work for free? Do you really expect them to work for free? The bank tells you beforehand that if you write checks without sufficient funds, they will charge you a fee for dealing with your mess. This is usually considered to be quite helpful since an alternate approach would be to notify the police with the result that you go to prison for writing bad checks.
