Bank Checking & Savings Accounts
A transaction account, checking account, or demand deposit account is a deposit account held at a bank or other financial institution which is available to the account owner “on demand” and is available for frequent and immediate access by the account owner or to others as the account owner may direct. Access may be in a variety of ways, such as cash withdrawals, use of cheques and debit by electronic transfer. In economic terms, the funds held in a transaction account are regarded as liquid funds.
Transaction accounts are generally used for the business or personal convenience of the account holder. They normally do not earn any or a high interest and the financial institution that maintains the account commonly charges account maintenance or transaction fees to the account holder.
Saving accounts (UK: savings accounts) are accounts maintained by retail financial institutions that pay interestbut cannot be used directly as money in the narrow sense of a medium of exchange (for example, by writing acheque). These accounts let customers set aside a portion of their liquid assets while earning a monetary return. For the bank, money in a savings account may not be callable immediately and, in some jurisdictions, does not incur a reserve requirement. Cash in the bank’s vaults may thus be used, for example, to fund interest-payingloans.
The other major types of deposit account are the transactional account (usually known as a “checking” (US) or “current” (UK) account), money market account and time deposit.
USA
The United States of America (USA), commonly referred to as the United States (U.S.), America, and sometimes the States, is a federal republic[17][18] consisting of 50 statesand a federal district. The 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C., are in central North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is located in the northwestern part of North America and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also has five populated and nine unpopulated territories in the Pacific and the Caribbean. At 3.80 million square miles (9.85 million km2)[4] and with around 318 million people, the United States is the world’s fourth-largest country by total area and third-largest by population. It is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[19]The geography and climate of the United States is also extremely diverse, and it is home to a wide variety of wildlife.[20]
The United States is a developed country and has the world’s largest national economy.[6] The economy is fueled by an abundance of natural resources and high worker productivity.[29] While the U.S. economy is considered post-industrial, it continues to be one of the world’s largest manufacturers.[30] The country accounts for 37% of global military spending,[31] being the world’s foremost economic and military power, a prominent political and cultural force, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations.[32]