I am starting to wonder what is happening to all the free checking as I just received a letter from Chase that changes the terms of having a free checking account.

They currently want a direct deposit of $500 in order to waive the monthly service fee on the account and have it remain as free. The other option is to make at least 5 debit card purchases for the month but since I do not use debit I will just set up a transfer in ING to get that direct deposit out of the way.

I use checks in the rare case I have to give someone money and I also use them to make my weekly offerings at church but this is an extra transaction that I have to set up in ING to transfer money back and forth so it is becoming a hassle.

I just found out about Ally free checking which does not require all of this hassle so I am looking at setting up a checking account there and closing Chase.