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Chase Bank and Wells Fargo are both giants in the banking industry and offer banking products and services for individuals, small businesses, commercial businesses, and more.
Read on to find out how these two financial institutions compare.
Chase Bank is the largest bank in the U.S. It operates more than 4,900 branches and 15,000 ATMs nationwide. Chase offers a wide range of financial products, including credit cards, checking and savings accounts, CDs, home and auto loans, and business and commercial banking products.
Read more: These are the 20 biggest banks in the U.S.
Established in 1852, Wells Fargo offers banking products and services for personal, small business, commercial, and corporate clients. This includes checking and savings accounts, CDs, home and auto loans, lines of credit, commercial financing, investing, and wealth management services. Wells Fargo operates more than 4,300 branches and 11,000 ATMs in the U.S.
Here’s a closer look at some of the basic deposit account options offered by Chase and Wells Fargo.
Chase and Wells Fargo both offer a few checking account options. Their most basic checking accounts — Chase Total Checking and Wells Fargo Everyday Checking — are fairly similar when it comes to features and interest rates. Neither account earns interest or rewards. The Chase Total Checking account is free to open, while Wells Fargo requires a minimum opening deposit of $25.
Both accounts charge a monthly maintenance fee — Chase’s checking fee is slightly higher at $12 compared to Wells Fargo’s $10 fee. However, both banks offer ways to have these fees waived.
Right now, both banks are offering a $300 welcome bonus for new checking customers.
Read more: Best new bank account promotions today: Earn up to $3,000
Chase and Wells Fargo’s basic savings account options are also similar, with both accounts offering just 0.01% APY. Wells Fargo requires a higher minimum opening deposit of $25, while Chase does not require a minimum deposit.
Neither account requires a minimum balance to earn interest or avoid fees. And while both banks charge a monthly maintenance fee of $5, they also offer ways to get the fee waived.
Chase and Wells Fargo both offer CDs. Chase has a wider range of terms, from one month to 120 months. Wells Fargo offers fewer CD terms, but higher interest rates with its promotional CDs.
The minimum opening deposit for a Chase CD is lower at $1,000, while Wells Fargo requires a minimum of $2,500 to open its standard CDs and $5,000 for its promotional CDs.
Chase and Wells Fargo are both major players in the banking space and their products and services aren’t limited to your everyday checking and savings accounts. In addition to the accounts we examined above, Chase also offers credit cards, home loans, auto loans, business, and commercial banking.
Wells Fargo also offers credit cards, personal loans, home loans, auto loans, investment and wealth management services, small business and commercial banking, as well as corporate and investment banking services.
Chase and Wells Fargo offer similar APYs. However, Wells Fargo does offer slightly higher APYs for its promotional CDs. Neither bank offers a high-yield savings account or money market account.
Overall, Wells Fargo has lower fees than Chase. However, the differences are minimal and both banks waive account maintenance fees when customers meet certain requirements.
Chase Bank is a great option for customers who value branch access, a large ATM network, and accounts that don’t pose any minimum opening deposit requirements. Chase also offers a highly rated mobile app that allows customers to deposit checks, send money via Zelle, check their credit scores, manage budgets, and more. Chase doesn’t offer competitive interest rates on savings, so this bank is best for customers who don’t consider high yields to be the most important factor when choosing a bank.
Read more: 10 best high-yield savings accounts available today
Wells Fargo offers customers access to a large number of physical branches and a variety of products and services. However, it doesn’t offer competitive rates and requires a minimum opening deposit for most accounts. Customers considering this bank will also likely have to pay a monthly account fee unless they meet the requirements to waive it, so customers should make sure they can maintain the required balance to waive this fee.
Like Chase, Wells Fargo also offers a comprehensive digital banking experience. Its mobile app has a rating of 4.9 and 4.8 stars on the Apple App Store and Google Play, respectively.