New Chase account for reluctant bankers
Jpmorgan Chase & Co. has launched a new, low-cost checking account for consumers who may have had trouble getting or keeping a bank account or for those new to banking.
Called Chase Secure Banking, the account costs $4.95 a month and comes with many traditional account services such as a debit card, access to fee-free ATMS and the ability to make payments electronically.
What the account doesn’t have is paper checks so customers can’t overdraw their accounts, something that has gotten some of these consumers into trouble with banks in the past.
“Our mission, and we take it seriously, is to help people to make the most of their money so they can make the most of their lives,” said Thasunda Duckett, CEO of Chase Consumer Banking who was in Columbus on Thursday.
A 2017 survey by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. found that 25.2 percent of households either lacked a checking or banking account or obtained some financial products outside the banking system.
The new Chase account replaces Chase Liquid, a reloadable prepaid card. Because the new account comes with a debit card, it allows consumers to make electronic payments or do things such as rent a car.
Chase is betting that consumers who use Secure Banking will gravitate to more profitable services down the road with the bank, said Greg Mcbride, Bankrate. com’s chief financial analyst.
“Banks have come to the recognition that they have either have to innovate on their own to attract unbanked consumers or have the regulators force them,” he said.
Results have been mixed with banks that have tried similar accounts, he said.
Separately, Chase has announced plans to expand its retail offices into nine U.S. markets in 2019 while continuing to open new locations in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Boston.
Chase, central Ohio’s largest private employer with about 20,000 workers, expects to open 90 new offices this year and hire 700 employees, part of a plan announced last year to open 400 branches and hire 3,000 workers over five years.