Wells Fargo vs. Chase: Which Is Better for Your Money?

If you’re deciding between Wells Fargo Bank vs. Chase Bank, you might notice these two banks have a lot of similarities. Both are well-established with extensive ATM and branch networks, and they each offer various banking products, including checking, savings and certificate of deposit (CD) accounts, along with credit card and investment options.

When deciding between the two, your choice might come down to which state you live in, as Chase Bank has retail branch locations in all of the lower 48 states, while Wells Fargo Bank is limited to branches in 36 states plus the District of Columbia. Chase Bank has more ATMs, offering 16,000 to Wells Fargo Bank’s 11,000, but Wells Fargo Bank has more branches, with 5,600 locations compared with Chase Bank’s 4,700.

If you’re more concerned with rates, you may do slightly better with Wells Fargo Bank vs. Chase Bank, but it depends on the product and whether you qualify for relationship rates. Moreover, neither bank offers rates that compete with those of leading online banks. It’s a good idea to look closely at each bank’s products and its fees, waivers, rates and features before you make a decision.

Is Chase Bank or Wells Fargo Bank better?

Both Chase Bank and Wells Fargo Bank offer strengths that can make either bank a good choice depending on your financial needs and preferences.

Generally, Chase Bank is a stronger option if you prefer extensive ATM access and digital banking and need a variety of account options. For example, it offers youth-specific accounts. However, getting the best relationship rates on CDs requires linked premium deposit accounts, and its annual percentage yields (APYs) on savings accounts are low even if you qualify for relationship rates. That could be a problem if you don’t want to go all-in and maintain multiple accounts with Chase Bank.

Wells Fargo Bank has a more extensive branch network than Chase Bank. It also has slightly more opportunities for waived monthly service fees, such as fee waivers for youth account holders or those with qualifying military direct deposits. Although Wells Fargo Bank has relationship savings and CD rates like Chase Bank, Wells Fargo Bank’s standard rates tend to be better than Chase Bank’s. Plus, you can pick and choose which Wells Fargo Bank accounts work best for you without needing to hold a premium account to get a good CD rate.

Chase Bank vs. Wells Fargo Bank: Quick comparison

See how Chase Bank and Wells Fargo Bank stack up in terms of checking, savings and CD accounts, as well as ATM and branch access.

Chase Bank vs. Wells Fargo Bank: Checking accounts

Chase Bank offers numerous checking account options ranging from everyday accounts to premium and youth checking accounts:

• Chase's everyday checking accounts: Chase Total Checking is the most popular, with no minimum opening deposit and a $12 monthly service fee that’s waived if you can meet balance, automatic transfer or other requirements. It offers features for automatic saving and avoiding overdraft fees. Chase Secure Banking is similar to Chase Total Checking but has a lower $4.95 monthly fee and doesn’t offer autosaving or overdraft features. It does offer early direct deposit and no fees for money orders or cashier’s checks though.
• Chase's premium checking accounts: Chase’s premium checking accounts include Chase Sapphire Checking, Chase Premier Plus Checking and Private Client Checking. These accounts have a higher monthly fee than Chase Total Checking, but they offer limited or no ATM fees, free paper checks and no fees on banking services, including wire transfers and stop payments. Chase Sapphire Checking and Private Client Checking also have higher limits on deposits, Zelle, daily purchases and ATM withdrawals. While all of these premium accounts earn interest, it’s not much: Just 0.01% APY for all balances with any of the accounts.
• Chase Bank's youth checking accounts: Chase Bank has three youth checking account options: Chase First Banking for kids ages 6 to 17, Chase High School Checking for teens ages 13 to 17, and Chase College Checking for students ages 17 to 24. Chase First Banking and Chase High School Checking have no monthly fee and are owned in full or in part by parents. Chase First Banking offers parental control with limits on spending and recurring allowance, while Chase High School Checking allows for direct deposit, autosave and sending and receiving money via Zelle. Chase College Checking offers most of the same features as Chase High School Checking but has a $12 monthly fee unless you meet deposit or daily balance requirements.

Wells Fargo Bank has slightly fewer checking account options but offers products for everyday banking, limited fees, and teen and premium accounts:

• Wells Fargo's everyday checking accounts: Everyday Checking is Wells Fargo’s most popular account, offering early direct deposits, a grace period on overdrafts and a $10 monthly fee that can be waived by meeting daily balance, deposit, age or other requirements. Another account option, Clear Access Banking, has a $5 monthly service fee that can be waived by qualifying with age, linked accounts or military direct deposit. You’ll need $25 to open the account, but there’s no minimum daily balance requirement. There’s also no overdraft service — so no fee associated with that.
• Wells Fargo's premium checking accounts: Wells Fargo Bank has two premium account options: Wells Fargo Prime Checking and Wells Fargo Premier Checking. Both have higher fees than Everyday Checking and require steep balances to avoid the monthly fee. However, you can get discounts on banking services, including ATM fee waivers and higher relationship rates on products such as CDs. Both accounts earn interest on deposits, but it’s only 0.35% APY.
• Wells Fargo's youth checking accounts: Wells Fargo Bank doesn’t offer youth-specific checking accounts, but it offers monthly service fee waivers based on age. The Clear Access Banking account waives the monthly fee for 13- to 24-year-olds, while Everyday Checking does the same for 17- to 24-year-olds.

Chase Bank vs. Wells Fargo Bank: Savings accounts

With Chase Savings, all balances earn 0.01% APY. There’s a $5 monthly service fee, which can be waived if you meet balance, automatic transfer or other requirements. There's also the option to set up autosave options to make scheduled deposits or move a portion of deposits to your savings account.

Chase Premier Savings offers a standard 0.01% APY, but you can earn 0.02% APY if you link your savings account to a Chase Premier Plus Checking or Chase Sapphire Checking account. The $25 monthly service fee can be waived if you have a linked Chase Premier Plus Checking or Chase Sapphire Checking account, or maintain a daily balance of at least $15,000 or higher daily balance.

You can earn up to 1.00% APY on a 9-month CD with Chase Bank, but you’ll need to deposit at least $100,000 and must have a qualifying linked Chase checking account to get the relationship rate. There’s a vast difference between Chase’s standard CD rates and relationship rates, which require a linked Chase personal checking account. For example, you can get a 2.0% APY relationship rate on a two-month CD with a $1,000 minimum deposit, but that same CD term and amount only earn 0.01% APY without the relationship rate.

Wells Fargo offers Way2Save Savings and Platinum Savings accounts. With Wells Fargo Way2Save Savings, you can open an account with $25 and earn 0.01% APY. There’s a $5 monthly service fee that can be waived with a $300 minimum daily balance, qualifying transfers or having a primary account holder who is 24 years old or under. You can set up transfers to automatically move $1 from your linked checking account for qualifying transactions or set up regular automatic transfers on a daily or monthly basis.

Wells Fargo Platinum Savings has a $12 monthly service fee, which can be avoided by maintaining a $3,500 minimum daily balance. This account unlocks slightly higher interest rates, offering a standard 0.01% APY. If you link your Premium Savings account to a Prime Checking account, you can earn 0.02% APY on all balances. APYs are higher if you link to a Premier Checking account, earning 0.05% APY on balances up to $99,999.99 and increasing to 2.51% APY on balances of $1 million or more.

You can earn 4.01% APY on Wells Fargo Bank’s four or seven-month special fixed-rate CD, as long as you qualify for relationship rates and have a $5k minimum opening deposit. Other CD terms earn less, such as a three-month CD with a $2,500 minimum opening deposit that earns a standard 1.50% APY or a 1.51% relationship APY on balances up to $4,999.99. A one-year CD with a minimum $2,500 opening deposit earns a standard 1.50% APY or a 1.51% relationship APY on balances up to $4,999.99. Additional terms, including terms longer than a year, are available at Wells Fargo Bank branches.

Pros and cons of Chase Bank

Pros:

• No minimum opening deposit is required for checking accounts and a low $1,000 minimum deposit is required on CDs.
• Offers youth-specific checking accounts with helpful management and learning features.
• Premium accounts can offer value if you want to avoid banking service fees and unlock relationship rates on deposits.

Cons:

• Savings account and CD APYs are low unless you qualify for relationship rates.
• The best CD rates require large deposits.
• Waiver of monthly fees may require maintaining steep daily balances or having linked premium accounts.

Pros and cons of Wells Fargo Bank

Pros:

• Some accounts waive fees with a military direct deposit or youth account holder.
• There’s not much difference between standard and relationship CD rates.
• You can get banking service fees waived by opening a premium checking account.

Cons:

• No youth-specific checking accounts.
• Some accounts require a large daily balance to avoid a monthly fee.
• Savings accounts don’t earn much unless you have a linked premium checking account.

When to choose Chase Bank

If you're picking between the two, choose Chase Bank if:

• You prefer higher relationship CD rates.
• You need a youth-specific account.
• You want premium account benefits, including no ATM fees and higher rates on linked savings accounts and CDs.

When to choose Wells Fargo Bank

When deciding between Wells Fargo Bank vs. Chase Bank, you'll want to choose Wells Fargo Bank if:

• You need a robust branch network.
• You can qualify for fee waivers, such as those for military personnel with direct deposit and youth account holders.
• You can benefit from overdraft grace periods.