A bank account has many other essential uses besides saving money. Having a bank account is almost essential for taking a loan, transferring money, or making online payments.
But, you may not have money on hand to make a down payment for opening a bank account. So, you may want to know how to open a bank account with no deposit required.
Banks require you to make a small deposit to open a bank account. But, few financial institutions allow you to delay this step. A few banks let you open a bank account without any deposit – Chime, Capital One 360 Checking, Axos Bank Essential Checking, Navy Federal Credit Union, and Varo.
There are also other banks, but these few ones are pretty popular. Now, you need to open an account.
How To Open A Bank Account With No Deposit Required
After you have chosen a bank account, most of your hard work is over. Most banks offer online services, so you can easily and quickly open an account online. All the banks mentioned above are FDIC-insured, which means they offer higher rates than your tropical banks.
Follow the steps to open a bank account without a deposit:
Choose the account type: There are different accounts you can open in a bank, including checking account, saving account, single account, joint account, and others. So, first, decide which type of account you want to create.
Keep in mind that few banks only offer no deposit required only for a particular account, like Capital One 360 offer no deposit option only for checking account; and, similar with Navy Federal Credit Union and Axos Bank. You don’t have any other choice with those banks if you want to open a bank account without any down payment.
Collect your personal documents: The bank will require personal documents and information to open an account. So, you should prepare for them before going to apply. The documents you will require –
- Your Social Security number or another identification number for those who don’t have it.
- Your Valid driver’s license or any government-issued ID.
- Your bank may ask for an initial deposit, even with a zero-down payment requirement.
Filling The Form: To open a bank account, you need to fill out an application of the bank with your personal information. When filling out the application, you should use a secure home internet connection or a trustworthy network.
The information you will require to fill the form – your name, date of birth, address, contact information, or such. Although online filling the application is enough, sometimes, few banks may ask for the softcopy of your original documents.
After applying for regular banks, you need to make an initial deposit to complete the process. As for your process, you won’t require any down payment; your account will be successfully created. Just keep in mind to set a valid password or security code.
How to create free online banking no deposit required
To open free online banking, no deposit required, follow the steps below:
Provide your personal information
When you are registering for your checking account, the first thing you will need to provide is your personal information. In most cases, you first open an account with information, like name, email address, and password, and then confirm through email and log in.
After log in, you can set your account information. You will always need to provide your first and last name, home address, email address, and phone number. Some banks may also ask for your date of birth, social security number, and percentage if you are opening a joint account.
If you are opening a joint account, depending on a specific business type and your share in the business, you may also need to provide some information for other owners. Besides your social security number, you may also need to provide a copy of your driver’s license.
Provide Additional Information
This step is for those who are opening a joint bank account for a business. After you provide information about yourself, it’s time to provide information about your business.
In most cases, you will be required to provide information about – the legal name of your business, DBA (if applicable), the current address of your business, entity type, industry, approximate annual revenue, and so on.
Different entity types have different requirements. Based on your business entity, you will be required to provide some documentation to validate your business information. For different businesses, you require –
Sole Proprietorship: A single person owns this type of business, so you are allowed to use your social security number rather than EIN or business tax ID number. Besides, the business owner may need to provide additional documents to prove they have registered for a business license.
Partnership: The applicant needs to provide all the documents of a business license along with a partnership agreement.
LLC: The application requires to provide the articles of organization filed with the state.
Corporation: The applicant requires to provide the articles of incorporation filed with the state.
Submit The Application
After filling in all the necessary information about yourself and/or your business and adding necessary documents, you will be asked to review all details before submitting your application. Then, you can submit the application for approval from the bank.
Usually, online-based banks are pretty quick when reviewing your application and giving approval if all the details in your application are correct. You’ll soon get your login information, business debit card, and other necessities as you receive your approval.
Here, you can start transferring money without taking any additional steps, like depositing a minimum amount. That’s the benefit of a bank account with no deposit required.
How can I open checking account online instantly without deposit
To open checking account online instantly, no deposit is required; you need to follow the same process just mentioned before. Most of the online-only banks will provide your approval pretty quickly. But, for instant approval, apply for accounts on HDFC Bank, Lending Club, Verve, and so on.
It doesn’t matter which bank you open a bank account with; the processes are pretty similar. First, you will be required to provide your personal information on the website, provide necessary documents, accept the terms and conditions, and confirm your application.
What Are Online-Only Banks?
One of the big benefits that online merchants, such as Amazon and Overstock, have over brick-and-mortar stores is that they don’t have to pay rent, utilities, or personnel expenses to keep locations open and stocked. Because of the little overhead, internet sellers may offer lower prices for their items while still making a profit.
This concept is utilized in a variety of sectors, including banking. Online-only banks — those that do not have physical bank locations — are becoming more common in consumer banking.
Online-only banks may provide cheaper fees and higher interest rates without jeopardizing their bottom line since they do not incur the costs involved with operating and maintaining bank locations.
These banks also typically provide strong online and mobile banking services, which appeal to busy users who do not want to waste time visiting the bank.
However, there are a few negatives to online-only banks, starting with the lack of in-person customer care – you can’t go into the local office to ask a question about your account. You can’t also stop in for a quick cash deposit or to exchange a few notes for foreign currency.
What is a second chance checking with no opening deposit
A second chance checking accounts are accounts where banks or credit unions don’t have a ChexSystems or aren’t willing to look at your past missteps.
When you open a bank account, a bank or credit union usually checks your history, also known as ChexSystem. Similar to credit history, a CheckSystems report shows all your negative bank account actions and activities.
Thus, if a bank and credit union finds that you are risky to deal with, they are likely to deny your application to open an account in their bank.
On the other hand, Second-chance bank accounts provide you a chance to renew your banking history. Although they don’t require a high deposit, most banks still ask for one. However, there are few banks where you won’t require any opening deposit.
Some banks that offer second-chance checking accounts –
Top 5 Banks With Free Checking Accounts With No Deposit
As I said before, many banks offer free online checking account no opening deposit no credit check to their users. But, keep in mind those accounts are fairly standard, there most likely won’t be any additional perks, but still, few top banks are better than others.
1. Axos Bank
Axos Bank is an online-only bank previously known as Bank of Internet USA. As they are only available online, Axos Bank doesn’t have any physical location and doesn’t offer in-person service.
Instead, customers get a 24×7 phone line, automated online chat, secure online messaging, and Twitter. It offers something special to attract customers – reward checking.
The bank doesn’t charge any monthly fee for maintaining your checking account. Moreover, when you open your checking account, there won’t be any minimum deposit requirement.
Also, High Yield Savings accounts don’t charge any monthly fees and won’t require a minimum requirement; however, when opening this kind of account, you will be required to deposit $250. Anyways, it provides a decent interest rate of up to 0.61% annual percentage yield if your balance is under $25,000.
The bank has some outstanding perks, like – with Direct Deposit Express, you can receive paychecks two days early. The account comes with unlimited domestic ATM fee reimbursements, no overdraft or under draft fees, and some personal finance tools that can help clients manage their accounts.
Suitable For You – If you like high-yield savings or checking accounts, you can take advantage of online-only customer service and unlimited ATM fee reimbursements.
Advantages
- Decent checking rates and rewards.
- No monthly fee for checking accounts.
- No overdraft or non-sufficient fees.
- Unlimited ATM fee reimbursement.
- Peer-to-peer payments.
Disadvantages
- No interest in checking accounts.
- No Branches.
- Low CD rates.
2. Ally Bank
Ally Bank is another online-only bank that offers interest on its Interest Checking account. Very few banks have no deposit requirement and also pay interest on checking accounts.
Moreover, it offers high-interest rates and has minimal fees, like, the bank won’t charge for overdraft or non-sufficient fees. Besides, the Interest Checking account additionally offers free online checking account with virtual debit card and online bill pay. You can take advantage of the Allpoint ATMs to withdraw money free.
It also has friendly customer service and is suitable for people who don’t need to depend on a physical branch.
You can get a 0.50% interest rate from Ally’s savings account, which is much higher than any other bank. Even high-yield checking max out 0.25% is higher than many saving accounts.
Moreover, its interest is compounded daily, which means you will receive more interest than an account compounded monthly or weekly.
Suitable For You – if you want competitive rates, almost no fees, friendly and active customer support, and you won’t like to deposit cash.
Advantage
- No monthly fees (Maintenance).
- Huge ATMs network ( Over 43,000 free ATMs).
- Interest in Checking accounts.
- Many money sending and receiving options.
- Online bill pay.
Disadvantages
- No cash deposits.
- No physical branch.
3. Capital One
Capital One is more outstanding than other banks with outstanding perks, like – no monthly fees on checking and saving accounts, high saving rates, and decent CD rates. Moreover, you get a brick-and-mortar location.
The bank doesn’t charge any fees on checking accounts, doesn’t have any minimum balance requirements, and pays interest, the best deal for any checking account. On top, you get a top-class banking experience with fantastic customer service.
If that’s not enough, Capital One 360 customers get even more. After you open an account, it offers free debit cards, and customers won’t be charged when withdrawing money on their more than 70,000 free ATMs.
Capital One has a user-friendly mobile app, which makes online and mobile banking simple. Through the mobile app, you can make mobile check deposits. Usually, very few banks offer interest on no-monthly-fee checking accounts. Capital One offers a 0.10% APY on all balances.
Suitable For You – if you want a free checking or saving account with a high-interest rate and no deposit requirement.
Advantages
- High-interest rates.
- Free accounts, no monthly fees.
- No minimum deposit requirement.
- Online and mobile banking.
- One physical location.
Disadvantages
- Very few physical locations.
4. Discover
Discover is a little different from the other banks on this list. It’s a Brick-and-mortar bank, which offers less interest rate compared to the only-online banks. But, there is a twist with the Discover.
The bank lets you earn cashback whenever you make a qualifying debit card purchase each month up to $3,000. And, it gives you free access to a large ATM network.
The internet bank also provides a high-yield savings account. Customers who want to bank in person, on the other hand, will be disappointed since Discover just offers one real branch.
It offers you 1% cash bank for each purchase meant you make through the debit card. With the mobile app, you get control over the debit card by the ability like card freezing and debit check through it.
It doesn’t charge any monthly fees for checking accounts, as you can accept. And, there isn’t any minimum deposit requirement when opening an account.
Suitable For You: If you want a competitive rate, checking perks, rewards, free ATM access all over the branches, and no monthly fees.
5. Lending Club
Lending Club’s checking account is another great option if you are looking for a free account without any monthly charge. It offers outstanding perks, including ATM fee rebates and cashback.
There are also deposit-taking ATMs for easy cash deposits and a strong savings rate. But, CD rates are relatively less compared to other online banks.
With the LendingClub Rewards Checking account, you won’t be required to pay for any service fees and can access over 325,000 surcharge-free ATMs via NYCE, SUM, and MoneyPass ATM networks. It also offers the option to receive your paycheck 2 days earlier.
To open this account, you won’t need to deposit any money. But, if you want to enjoy 0.10% APY and score 1% cashback on unlimited purchases, you need to maintain at least $2,500.
Suitable For You: If you often use a debit card and want to earn high rates, and are comfortable with only online banking.
You may like: How To Withdraw Money From Varo Without Card
Final Verdict
How to open a bank account with no deposit required? Even if you don’t have money to fill the minimum deposit, you can still open a bank account.
What bank account can I open with no deposit? Several banks allow you to open a bank account with no deposit. Chime, Capital One 360 Checking, Axos Bank Essential Checking, Navy Federal Credit Union, and Varo are popular among them.
Moreover, I also added the top five banks, those allowed to open a bank account without any deposit and also don’t charge any monthly fees. That’s all for today’s article.