Regions Bank LifeGreen Checking Account 2024 Review

Regions Bank

Regions Bank is an apparent choice if you're looking for a new checking account and you're located in the South or Midwest.

The bank’s network of more than 1,900 ATMs and 1,500 branches make it a popular choice.

The LifeGreen Checking Account is the basic option offered by the bank.

It's a very standard checking account -- it gets the job done.

However, you should still find out everything you need to know about the account first.

Then, compare it to alternatives to see if there is a better choice for you.

In this Regions Checking Account review, we'll compare rates, fees and services to other national and online banks.

Earn Relationship Rewards and Cashback with Your Debit Card

One of the biggest disadvantages of using a debit card to make purchases is its lack of rewards. Credit cards can give consumers a way to earn points, miles, or cash back while they shop.

Some cards can give you as much as 5% of the value of your purchase as rewards. That gives using a debit card a significant opportunity cost.

Luckily, the Regions Bank LifeGreen Checking Account gives you two ways to earn rewards from your checking account.

Relationship Rewards program

You can earn points for all sorts of banking activities, such as ATM deposits, signing up for monthly statements, and using online bill pay.

You can redeem the points that you earn for a variety of rewards.

Redemption options include airfare, rental cars, travel packages, gift cards, electronics, merchandise, and cash.

Cashback Rewards program

It gets better:

When you log in to your online banking portal, you’ll see a list of offers available to you.

You can activate these offers to add them to your debit card, giving you the chance to earn some cash back.

These offers will come in the form of “Spend $X at a specific retailer and get $Y back.” For example, you might get an offer to spend $50 at Amazon.com and get $10 back.

All you have to do after adding the offer to your debit card is to use your card to make purchases as usual. If you satisfy the requirements of the offer, the rewards will be deposited to your checking account automatically.

Use Insights by Regions to Help Manage Your Money

Money can be complicated.

It’s hard to know how to manage your money, how to save towards your goals, or what to do if you’re experiencing financial stress.

Regions Bank wants to help its customers with their financial questions, so it offers Insights by Regions to its customers.

These Insights include tools, tips, and calculators that you can use to help figure out how best to manage your money.

For example, you can read about saving towards retirement and use a calculator to see how much you should be saving each month.

Whether you need help making a huge decision such as whether to rent or buy a home, or a smaller one like how much money to keep in a savings account, Insights by Regions can give you the help you need.

Send Money to Friends Using Zelle

Using cash might seem like the best option when it comes to settling a restaurant tab or splitting bills with roommates, but cash can be inconvenient.

You have to make sure you have enough on hand to pay for your purchases, and you’ll wind up visiting ATMs or banks a lot to make withdrawals.

You also have to hope that you have exact change on hand or hope that the person you’re paying can make change for you.

Here's the deal:

Regions Bank will soon offer a service called Zelle that makes it easy to transfer money to your friends without having to use cash.

Zelle lets you send money to anyone else with a Zelle enabled bank account free of charge.

Sending money

The entire process is electronic, so money will leave your account and automatically arrive in the recipients when the transaction completes.

To make things even better:

You can even send money to people who haven’t set Zelle up yet.

When you want to send money to someone, simply open up Regions Bank’s app or website.

Sign into your account and open Zelle, and you’ll be prompted to enter the phone number or e-mail address of the person you want to send money to. You won’t need to know anything about their bank or their bank accounts.

Enter the amount you want to send and confirm the transaction. The money will be automatically removed from your account. How much you can send or receive will vary based on the banks involved.

Once you’ve sent money, your friend will be notified that a payment is incoming.

If they haven’t set up Zelle yet, they’ll be prompted to do so. Once Zelle has been set up, the money will arrive in three business days.

Good ATM Access in the Bank’s Service Area

Regions Bank is primarily located in the South and Midwest, so it’s ATM network is focused on those areas.

If you travel outside of those regions, you might not be able to find any ATMs owned by the bank.

If you use a Regions Bank ATM, you won’t have to pay any fees for the transactions that you make. If you find yourself using another bank’s ATM, you’ll want to be wary of the fees.

What to watch for:

If you’re using another bank’s ATM in the US, you’ll pay a $2.50 for each transaction. Outside the US, the per-transaction fee is doubled to $5.

These fees are charged by Regions Bank in addition to the fees charged by the ATM’s owner.

If you’re traveling, make sure you have enough cash that you won’t have to visit an ATM regularly. If you’re forced to use another bank’s ATM on a regular basis, it could get quite expensive.

Ways to Avoid the Monthly Fee

The Regions Bank LifeGreen Checking Account charges a $10 monthly fee.

You can knock the fee down to $8 by signing up for online statements. You should do this right away so that you can ensure that you’ll save some money if you are not able to get the full fee waived.

To get the entire monthly fee waived, you must meet one of the following requirements:

• Maintain an average monthly balance of $1,500
• Receive a single direct deposit of at least $500
• Receive $1,000 in combined deposits

Try to keep some money in your account or sign up for direct deposit to avoid the monthly fee.

Other Fees

Monthly maintenance fees are the most common fees you’ll see charged to a checking account.

However, there are some other fees that are less common, but still good to know about.

Some of the fees that may apply to your Regions Bank LifeGreen Checking Account are listed below:

Regions Bank LifeGreen Checking Account Fees

Convenience

The Regions Bank LifeGreen Checking Account offers the convenience features that you’d expect from a checking account.

You should always try to choose a checking account that is easy to use, so having access to these features is important.

If your checking account is difficult to manage, even the most basic transactions can become a headache.

You can easily manage your LifeGreen Checking account from anywhere using the bank’s website or smartphone app.

Once you log in to your account you’ll be able to see your balance, transaction history, and scheduled transactions. You’ll also be able to make instant transfers or set up other future transactions.

The bank’s website and mobile apps also give you access to a free bill payment service. Instead of writing checks each month and mailing them out, Regions Bank can handle that task for you.

Just enter the companies you have to pay and how much you have to pay them. The bank will send the money on your behalf.

Other Regions Bank Checking Options

If you're interested in becoming a Regions banking consumer, but aren't sold on this checking account, check out some additional checking account options also offered by this bank:

Regions LifeGreen Simple Checking

The Regions LifeGreen Simple Checking account is just that, a simple checking account with all the basics a consumer would need to have a successful checking account.

With a $5 or $7 monthly fee that cannot be waived, it's important to weigh the perks of this account, to see if it's worth paying that monthly fee.

One of the key perks of this bank account is the inclusion of Regions Relationship Rewards program, which allows you to earn cash back through online banking for qualifying card purchases. 

In addition to the Rewards program, customers with this account receive:

• Unlimited check writing
• 30% discount on one (1) Safe Deposit Box with an additional 10% discount for auto debit
• Relationship rates on most CDs for customers who meet the Relationship requirements
• Discounts on qualifying installment loans with payments auto debited from a Regions account
• No Regions ATM fee on two (2) ATM transactions at non-Regions ATMs per statement period if you provide your Military ID when opening account

Here's some of the main fees of the account:

Regions Bank LifeGreen Simple Checking Account Fees

Regions LifeGreen Preferred Checking Account

As one of Regions Bank more premier checking accounts, the LifeGreen Preferred Checking account is an interest-bearing, reward-earning bank account that features simple online banking and special features.

At an $18 monthly fee, it's crucial to note the perks that come with this account. Some of the most important ones are:

• Unlimited checking writing
• Waived fee for Cashier's Checks and Money Orders
• 50% discount on one Safe Deposit Box with an additional 10% discount for auto debit
• Relationship rates on most CDs for customers who meet the Relationship requirements
• Ability to earn rewards through the Regions Cashback Rewards program with your Regions Visa CheckCard and Online Banking

Although there is a monthly fee that comes with this account, you can get it waived by meeting one or more of these requirements:

1. Maintain a $5,000 average monthly statement balance in your account
2. Maintain a $25,000 combined minimum deposit balance between all of your Regions checking, savings, money markets, CDs and IRAs
3. Have certain qualifying first-lien home mortgage loans in good standing, or 
4. Have a combined ^$25,000 minimum outstanding loan balance between all of your Regions personal installment loans, lines of credit, equity lines of credit, equity loans, direct loans and credit cards in good standing

We've highlighted some of the main fees of this account:

Regions Bank LifeGreen Preferred Checking Account

How It Compares

The checking account is the most popular type of bank account in the United States.

Most banks offer more than one type. That means that consumers have a huge variety of accounts to choose from. Take advantage of that fact to shop around for a good deal.

When you’re comparing checking accounts, the number one thing to consider is the account’s fee-structure. You want to avoid monthly fees if at all possible.

Also, make sure you won’t be charged fees to use the ATMs in the areas you frequent.

Other things to consider when comparing accounts are:

• Minimum deposit requirements
• Fee waiver requirements
• Interest rates
• ATM access
• Convenience features

The Final Verdict

The Regions Bank LifeGreen Checking Account is an adequate checking account, but it fails to offer any features exciting enough to differentiate it from the competition.

You’ll probably be better off with an online checking account.

They rarely charge monthly fees and often give you ATM fee waivers so you can use any ATM in the country for free.