U.S. Bank

U.S. Bank holds about $706 billion in assets and $540 billion in deposits across 2,098 branches — roughly a sixth of Chase's balance sheet with about two-fifths of its branches. That ratio is the whole identity of the bank: a real regional network without the national scale, priced a couple of dollars below the largest players.

Smartly Checking charges $12 a month against Chase's and Wells Fargo's $15, and the apps rate 4.79 on the App Store and 4.8 on Google Play — a hair below the leaders but comfortably in the same tier.

Smartly Checking waives its fee outright for the first two statement periods. No other checking account in this catalog does that, and it's more useful than it sounds: opening an account and getting a direct deposit rerouted to it usually takes one payroll cycle, sometimes two, and most banks charge you during exactly that window.

After the grace period, the waiver paths are $1,500 in combined direct deposit, a $1,500 average balance, holding the Smartly Visa Signature card, or a Smart Rewards tier. The $1,500 direct deposit threshold is the highest in this catalog — three times Chase's $500 — so the grace period is buying you time to set up a relationship, not a low bar to clear afterward.

Smartly Savings waives its $5 fee by linking a Smartly Checking account or holding the Smartly Visa Signature card. Checking waives its fee partly by holding that same card. The Smart Rewards tiers sit above both. The design intent is unmistakable: U.S. Bank is priced to reward a customer who brings checking, savings and a card, and priced indifferently for anyone who brings one of the three.

That's a legitimate model and it works out well if you were going to consolidate anyway. It's a poor fit if you deliberately spread accounts across institutions, which is a reasonable thing to do for rate-shopping reasons.