Chase vs. Wells Fargo

Checking fees side by side

The two main checking accounts are near twins.

• Chase Total Checking: $15 a month, free with $500 in qualifying electronic deposits, a $1,500 daily balance or $5,000 across linked accounts.
• Wells Fargo Everyday Checking: $15 a month, free with $500 in qualifying electronic deposits, a $1,500 daily balance, $5,000 in linked balances, a primary owner aged 17 to 24, or a qualifying military direct deposit.

Both banks sell a starter account without overdraft fees. Chase Secure Checking costs $4.95 and is free with $250 in electronic deposits or for owners aged 17 to 24. Wells Fargo Clear Access Banking costs $5 and can be opened from age 13. Wells Fargo’s Everyday Checking waiver for young adults is a small plus for students who want a full account with paper checks.

Above the basics, Chase Premier Plus is free with $15,000 in linked balances and Wells Fargo Prime Checking with $20,000. Out-of-network ATM fees match at $3 per U.S. withdrawal and $5 abroad, and both charge 3% on foreign debit purchases (Wells Fargo waives it on Premier Checking).

Overdraft rules

The fee is almost the same, but the rules around it differ in ways that matter.

Chase charges $34 per item, up to 3 a day, and only when your account is overdrawn by more than $50 at the end of the business day. Transactions of $5 or less never trigger a fee. That $50 buffer covers many small slips.

Wells Fargo charges $35 per item, up to 3 a day. Its Extra Day Grace Period waives the fee if you bring the available balance to zero or more by 11:59 p.m. Eastern the next business day. That helps if you notice the shortfall quickly and can move money in.

Which is friendlier depends on how you overdraw. Small, occasional shortfalls favor Chase’s buffer. Larger shortfalls you can fix within a day favor Wells Fargo’s grace period. If you want no chance of a fee, both starter accounts (Chase Secure and Wells Fargo Clear Access) decline transactions instead of overdrawing.

Savings rates

Standard savings pays 0.01% APY at both banks: Chase Savings and Wells Fargo Way2Save. Chase Savings costs $5 a month unless you keep $300, set up $25 in monthly Autosave transfers or link qualifying checking. Way2Save costs $5 a month with similar waivers.

Wells Fargo has one competitive offer. Its Platinum Savings paid 3.25% APY as of October 7, 2026 for new savings customers who deposit at least $25,000 within 30 days and keep that much in the account each day. Any day the balance dips below $25,000 earns the standard rate instead, and the account has a $12 monthly fee unless you keep a $3,500 daily balance. Rates vary by ZIP code.

Chase’s best rates are relationship rates on select CD terms; Bankrate listed 3.20% to 3.70% on a 4-month CD in July 2026, compared with 0.01% on standard CDs.

Standard savings at the biggest branch banks pays very little. If you keep more than a small cushion in savings, a separate online savings account or a credit union can pay far more, and FDIC or NCUA insurance covers up to $250,000 per depositor, per ownership category.

Branches, size and track record

Per FDIC data as of June 30, 2026, Chase has about $4.09 trillion in assets and 5,176 domestic offices in 48 states and D.C. Wells Fargo has about $1.91 trillion and 4,161 offices in 39 states and D.C. Both apps are rated 4.8 or higher on the App Store from millions of ratings.

Wells Fargo’s record is the weaker of the two. In December 2022 the CFPB ordered it to pay $3.7 billion, including over frozen deposit accounts and surprise overdraft fees. The Federal Reserve lifted the asset cap it imposed in 2018 in June 2025, a sign regulators see progress. Wells Fargo holds a D- at the BBB; JPMorgan Chase holds an A-.

Complaint counts are similar in size. In the 12 months to October 12, 2026, the CFPB logged 26,196 complaints about JPMorgan Chase across all products and 22,635 about Wells Fargo. On checking and savings alone, Chase had 9,289 and Wells Fargo 9,761. Deposits are FDIC insured at both, up to $250,000 per depositor, per ownership category.