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ADVANTAGE CHECKING

Advantage Checking

Premium Benefits for Everyday Banking

Earn interest, enjoy perks, and bank with ease.

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Why Choose Advantage Checking?

  • No opening deposit required1
  • Earns interest
  • Waived monthly maintenance fee for Money Market accounts2
  • 0.25 % discounts on loans3
  • 50% discount on personal checks
  • Free official checks and money orders
  • Special perks for seniors (age 62+):
    • No monthly maintenance fee
    • Free specialty checks
    • Free paper statements

$0 Maintenance Fee If You:

  • Make one direct deposit of at least $500 monthly4, OR
  • Make 15 debit card transactions per month, OR
  • Maintain $1,500 minimum combined personal deposit balances
  • Otherwise, $15 monthly maintenance fee

Checking Account Features Make Everyday Banking Easy

  • Send money to friends and family quickly with Zelle®5
  • Avoid overdraft fees with Overdraft Helper™6
  • No fees on overdraft transfers from linked accounts7
  • Access to 40k+ ATMs with no fees through MoneyPass
  • ID theft protection8 & card controls with mobile wallet-ready Mastercard® debit card
  • Free eStatements (paper statements are $3 per month)
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    Check out the full list of features and fee information.

Benefits of Banking with a Best Bank9

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1 Make a deposit within 60 days to avoid account closure or maintenance fees. Other service fees may apply. Please see our Banking Fees.

2 Monthly maintenance fee waived for statement cycles where you maintain an open First Merchants Elite or First Merchants Advantage account. If you have an open First Merchants Elite or First Merchants Advantage account and receive the $10 monthly maintenance fee on the Money Market account, the fee will be refunded on the next statement cycle.

3 With automatic payments from a First Merchants checking account. Subject to credit approval, excludes first mortgage real estate loans and lines of credit, offer valid for consumer purpose installment loans only.

4 Multiple deposits of less than $500 will not qualify to waive monthly maintenance fee.

5 Zelle® and the Zelle® related marks are wholly owned by Early Warning Services, LLC and are used herein under license. To send or receive money with Zelle®, both parties must have an eligible checking or savings account.

6 No overdraft fees if you’re overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the business day and no daily fee until day 5. Overdraft Helper™ does not require enrollment and comes with most First Merchants Personal Checking accounts. It does not apply if an account is set up for overdraft protection transfers from another account or for Simple Access accounts, which do not permit overdrafts.

7 To help you avoid overdraft fees, we recommend calling or coming into a branch to link another First Merchants account for overdraft protection transfers. If you overdraft, we’ll automatically transfer funds in $50 increments from your linked deposit account—with no transfer fee. Linked account balance must cover the overdraft, and standard account fees may still apply.

8 Certain restrictions, terms, and conditions apply.

9 See details on our ‘Best bank’ awards at firstmerchants.com/awards-accolades

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