What's the Difference Between Checking and Savings Accounts?

For your day-to-day life, the main differences between checking and savings accounts are access to the money and interest. Checking accounts allow quick access to your funds on an ongoing basis, and some checking accounts are interest bearing. Savings accounts usually earn more interest compared to checking accounts and are typically used for a financial goal or specific purpose (vacation, home remodel, etc). Depending on your bank, your savings account may also have withdrawal limits.

There are benefits to checking accounts and savings accounts, but it's beneficial to have both a checking and savings account at the same bank. If you're unsure about whether to open a checking or a savings account, we can help. Both accounts provide ways to store your money and allow you access to the money you have deposited.

What is a Checking Account?

A checking account is a deposit account that lets you keep your money in a secure place while still allowing you to easily pay for daily expenses. When you use your debit card at a store, the money is typically withdrawn from your checking account. If you use checks, the money is also usually withdrawn from your checking account.

Benefits of a Checking Account

The benefits of a Huntington checking account include:

• Deposits are FDIC insured, up to insurance limits^†
• Access to funds through:
  • an ATM
  • a teller
  • cashback at a register
  • checks
• No transaction limits as long as your account is in good standing
• Access to Bill Pay online and in our mobile app
• Access to transaction history and statements online
• Access to digital money management tools
• Ability to transfer money to friends and family with Zelle^®¶
• On-demand access to your account balance online, in the mobile app, at an ATM, and through text alerts^¥

When you open a checking account with us, you get access to all these benefits and more. These tools are beneficial when it comes to managing household expenses. At Huntington, our digital money management tools can be accessed in The Hub, which can be found in your online account or mobile app.

Looking to get a handle on where your money is being spent? Spend Analysis provides an analysis of your spending habits based upon your actual spending.

The Hub also contains Spend Setter^℠. After you create a household budget, you can use Spend Setter to visualize if you're at, over, or under your budget for the month.

Huntington’s Online Bill Pay, a free resource, can help you schedule and pay your bills. This can save you from handwriting checks, spending money on stamps, and can save you time by letting you pay all your bills on one secure website.

Bill Pay informs The Hub and gets factored into Spend Setter. The more you use these tools, the more you'll understand where your money is going every month and discover ways to take control of your finances. Integrating this toolset with your checking account can put you in a better position to save money.

What is a Savings Account?

A savings account is a smart choice when you want to save money for the future. All savings accounts at Huntington earn interest.

Benefits of a Savings Account

The benefits of a Huntington savings account include:

• Deposits that are FDIC insured, up to insurance limits
• Interest to earn to grow your personal wealth
• Access to transaction history and statements online
• Access to household budget and digital money management tools
• On-demand access to your account balance online, in the mobile app, at an ATM, and through text alerts

Looking at these at-a-glance lists, you can see how checking accounts and savings accounts are alike: FDIC insured, access to money through ATMs and tellers, and access to online and mobile banking.

It's also easy to see how they're different. For example, savings accounts do not use checks for payments and may be used for putting money aside to reach a savings goal. A Huntington savings account also includes similar benefits as a Huntington checking account giving you access to our digital money management tools in The Hub, both through your online account or mobile app.

The Hub also contains Savings Goal Getter^℠ where you can create up to 10 goals, plus an emergency fund on your savings and money market accounts. Checking and savings accounts serve different purposes. While you may be comparing the benefits of a checking account versus a savings account, it's also helpful to think about how these accounts can work together to help you achieve your financial goals.

Benefits of Having a Checking and Savings Accounts

At Huntington, there are several advantages to opening both a checking and savings account. Establishing both your savings account and your checking account at the same bank makes it very easy to transfer money between the two. You can also add a savings account to an existing debit card that comes with another demand deposit account. You can have access to both accounts through the same card at the ATM. When the debit card is swiped for a purchase, all purchases would still be debited to the demand deposit account.

Being able to easily transfer money encourages you to save. When you open a savings account, you do so with the best intentions, but life gets busy, or expenses come up. Establishing your checking and savings account lets you set up an automatic savings plan that's easy to grow as your financial situation changes.

Building a savings account can help provide an emergency fund to help yourself in the future in the event of an unexpected expense or job loss. Setting goals can help keep you motivated to save, which is why we have the Savings Goal Getter in The Hub. The Savings Goal Getter helps you set different goals, and you can watch your progress as you achieve them. Additionally, you can set up scheduled transfers from your checking account to help you get to your savings goals even faster. 

Another benefit of having a savings and checking account with Huntington is you can waive Savings account Monthly Maintenance Fees. You could also help avoid Overdraft Fees by establishing your savings account as overdraft protection for your checking account^†.

Finally, we offer Money Scout^®, an automatic savings service to help accelerate your savings. Money Scout learns your spending habits and identifies money that’s not being used, and it transfers this money from your checking to your savings account, automatically^‡. To keep you informed and in control, you can get text alerts for every time a transfer happens.

How to Choose What's Best For You

Understanding the benefits of having multiple bank accounts is one step, the other is figuring out which account is the best for you. We have banking information available online to help you. We're also available on the phone or in a branch to talk to you about your financial goals and how we can help you achieve them.