GOBankingRates Study Finds Arizona, California, Connecticut Worst States for Affordable Banking

LOS ANGELES, May 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- With fewer branches, rising fees and lower deposit yields, finding an affordable financial institution is becoming increasingly difficult for Americans. To help consumers better understand the affordability of their local banking market, GOBankingRates released its ranking of the 10 Best and Worst States for Affordable Banking.

Several factors were considered, including interest rates on more than 6,200 bank accounts, average checking and savings fees, and the number of bank options available.

The least affordable states for banking are:

1. Arizona
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Connecticut
4. Nevada
5. South Dakota
6. California
7. Indiana
8. South Carolina
9. Delaware
10. Wisconsin

CLICK HERE to see the 10 best states:

http://bit.ly/1tjtwg2

James Zussman, business development associate at RateWatch, explained that identifying banking affordability is complex.

"The easy answer to what makes banking affordable is high yields on bank accounts and low fees, but there is much more to it than that," Zussman said. "Among various institutions, fees can vary quite significantly. … A bank or credit union may charge anywhere from $1 to $25 per month for a checking account. That is a huge difference and can significantly impact the affordability of that product."

Jennifer Calonia, GOBankingRates' editorial manager, added, "The biggest difference we observed between the most and least affordable states was in the minimum savings deposit requirement: Arizona, the least affordable state, had an average minimum savings deposit requirement seven times that of the best state, Arkansas."

About GOBankingRates

GOBankingRates (www.gobankingrates.com) connects consumers with the best banks, credit unions and interest rates nationwide, aggregating over 11 million rates from more than 6,000 institutions. Its editors are regularly featured on top media outlets, including U.S. News, Forbes, Huffington Post, Yahoo! Finance and Business Insider.

Methodology: GOBankingRates evaluated all 50 states and the District of Columbia according to nine criteria (weighted equally): number of financial institutions per state, average checking and savings account rates, average checking and savings minimum balance requirements, average NSF returned check fees, average out-of-network ATM fees, and average monthly maintenance charges for checking and savings accounts. Information was compiled from GOBankingRates' database, which aggregates information from Informa Research Services, and RateWatch.

Contact:

Connie Lundegard

[email protected] 
310.297.9233x112

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140528/91579

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130926/LA86996LOGO

SOURCE GOBankingRates