Trying to win business, raise deposits and appeal to a larger segment of customers, all seven of Greater Cincinnati's largest banks are offering free checking accounts.

        Provident and PNC, Greater Cincinnati's second-largest and fourth-largest banks, respectively, based on deposits, within the past months began promoting free checking, largely to attract new clients, build account relationships and raise or change their mix of deposits.

        They join Fifth Third, Firstar, Key Bank, Bank One and Huntington in pushing free checking and offering such perks as free duffle bags, fee-free ATM usage and unlimited check writing.

        The Tristate's advent of free-checking-account promotions follows a national trend.

        As of March, 8.7 percent of U.S. banks in the Spring 2002 Checking Account Pricing Survey by Bankrate.com offered free checking. That number is up from 7.5 percent of those surveyed in October and higher than 7.1 percent in March 2001. The report covers 350 banks and thrifts in 35 of the nation's largest markets, including Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Indianapolis.

        “We've seen an uptick of more banks offering so-called totally free checking accounts in the last year,” said Greg McBride, a financial analyst at Bankrate.com, an online research firm that tracks banking products and interest rates.

        Mr. McBride and other industry experts say banks are aggressively marketing free checking accounts because they appeal to all income segments.

        He said checking accounts allow banks to build new account relationships with both new and existing customers. For example, when a person opens a checking account, a bank can also try to sell credit cards, home-equity loans and other products.

        Wil Daly, chief marketing officer at Fifth Third, said that since launching its “totally free checking account” product two years ago, each branch is now opening three accounts a month that carry an average balance of $1,000. Before that product, its branches would average opening one such account a month.

        Fifth Third originally applied a service charge of $8 if the average monthly balance dropped below $500, a cost that erased with its free checking.

        “We were losing a lot of customers who got mad and moved to another bank if they got hit with the $8 fee if they fell below the balance requirement,” Mr. Daly said. “We haven't had that problem since we removed that fee.”

        Fifth Third has had great success with the product, opening 875,000 totally free checking accounts with $1.2 billion in deposits since March 2000 company wide. Mr. Daly said the bank also has sold customers debit and credit cards, home equity loans and saving accounts.

        Steve Dale, Firstar spokesman, said checking accounts are important because they help build a primary relationship between customers and the bank. He said free checking also has helped Firstar sell other services.

        “It gives us new deposits and the ability to make more loans,” Mr. Dale said of free checking.

        Whatever the reasons, with all the banks offering free checking, Mr. McBride of Bankrate.com suggests that consumers jump on the deals.

        “It's a great opportunity to get a free checking account if you don't have one,” he said. “It makes no sense having a lot of money tied up into a checking account with monthly fees and minimum-balance requirements when there are alternatives.”

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