Chase Bank Review

JPMorgan Chase Bank Review

With assets of $2 trillion and an impressive heritage, JPMorgan Chase is a national institution almost to the extent that it's a financial institution. That status is reflected in the breadth of its portfolio of products and services for consumers and businesses alike.

For those impressed by pedigrees, JPMorgan Chase & Co. is about as blue-blooded as financial institutions get. Today's company is partly a result of a long series of mergers and acquisitions that involved some of the most famous names in American banking:

• J.P. Morgan
• Chase Manhattan
• Chemical
• Manufacturers Hanover
• Bank One
• First Chicago
• National Bank of Detroit
• Bear Stearns

Today, JPMorgan Chase & Co. can make many boasts. It has:

• America's second biggest branch network, reaching 42 percent of the U.S. population
• Assets of $2 trillion
• Over 200,000 employees
• Around 26.4 million open checking accounts

Products are generally marketed under the Chase brand, and offers vary in different parts of the country, so visitors to the web site are asked to enter their zip code. This means that the following information may not be applicable in all areas.

Consumer banking

The bank has two traditional savings vehicles, neither of which -- at least at the time of writing -- could honestly be described as as a high interest savings account. However, it also has two money market accounts (Chase Money Market Savings and Chase Retirement Money Market Account) and a CD product, and one or more of these may offer a higher return.

JPMorgan Chase has four forms of checking account, and the monthly fees for all of these can be waived providing customers meet certain conditions. The two checking account that pay interest require substantial deposits and/or investments in order to qualify for that fee waiver.

Business banking

Naturally, for a bank of this size, JPMorgan Chase business products comprehensively cover most enterprises' needs, with checking accounts, cards, lending facilities, savings accounts, merchant services, cash management services, and so on. The Chase Online for Business Service seems particularly strong, and provides:

• Payroll services
• Invoicing
• Fund transfers
• ACH (automated clearing house) collections and payments
• Bill payments
• Wire services
• Quick deposits
• Balance inquiries

Deposit insurance

JPMorgan Chase is a member bank of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The temporary increase in FDIC coverage from $100,000 to $250,000 per depositor was made permanent in July 2010. All eligible deposits are FDIC-insured up to at least $250,000 per depositor. Joint accounts are FDIC-insured up to at least $250,000 per account holder.

Compare savings account rates from JPMorgan Chase and more than 400 other banks at SavingsAccounts.com.