TD Essential Banking

What it is

TD's checkless account costs $4.95 a month (waived only while the primary owner is 13 to 17) and needs no opening deposit. TD charges no overdraft fees and may decline or return transactions that exceed the balance. TD's agreement says it can check your deposit history through consumer reporting agencies, including Early Warning, before opening an account.^3,4

Does TD use ChexSystems?

TD's account terms say it may pull consumer reports when you apply. Those can include banking-history reports like ChexSystems. TD's Personal Deposit Account Agreement says TD may verify your credit, deposit and employment history through third parties, including consumer reporting agencies, and use that information to decide whether to open, maintain or close an account. If an account is declined for adverse information, you can request the report from the agency. ChexSystems isn't named in the text we read.¹

Early Warning Services: may check. The same section tells customers to dispute deposit-history information supplied to TD directly with the consumer reporting agency, and gives Early Warning Services' phone number and consumer-ID instructions.¹

Fees and overdraft

Monthly fee

$4.95 a month. No monthly fee while the primary account holder is 13 through 17; the fee starts on the holder's 18th birthday. No other waiver is listed.^3,4

Minimum to open

$0

Overdraft

Overdraft services don't apply and TD never charges an overdraft fee on this account. TD may decline or return items that exceed the available balance; some transactions, such as preauthorized ones, can still post and overdraw the account without an overdraft fee.

ATMs

No fee at TD ATMs in the U.S. and Canada; $3 per withdrawal or transfer at non-TD ATMs plus any owner or network surcharge; 3% fee on foreign-currency transactions.

Early direct deposit

Yes

Who can open it

TD offers an online application for Essential Banking (subject to approval; applicants under 18 need a parent or guardian as joint owner). TD's location directory lists stores in CT, DE, DC, FL, ME, MD, MA, NH, NJ, NY, NC, PA, RI, SC, VT and VA, but the pages we read don't say whether online applicants must live in those states.

Deposit insurance: TD Bank, N.A., Member FDIC

If you've been denied before

• If a bank or credit union turns you down because of a checking account report, it must send you an "adverse action" notice with the name and contact information of the reporting company it used.^7,8
• By law, you can get a free copy of your checking account report once every 12 months, and you are also entitled to a free copy if a bank turns you down because of it.^9,10
• If your checking account report has an error, you have the right to dispute it with the reporting company and with the bank or credit union that supplied the information. Under the FCRA, companies must investigate disputes free of charge.^9,10,11
• The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) says negative information generally stays on ChexSystems and Early Warning Services reports for five years.¹²

ChexSystems, explained