"How does your bank react when you ask for free checking?"

"Anybody that has any kind of balance already gets free checking anyway."

So might banks try to do away with free checking entirely?

But the most popular option seems to be to get retailers to pay for a big part of free checking, not bank customers.

Some are offering free checking or higher rates on money market accounts.

Bank of New York, for example, is offering free checking until 2003.

Some banks go even further by offering free checking to people who take out home or automobile loans.

The bank also said it was doubling the minimum balance required for free checking to $6,000.

Banks offered "free checking" to the masses as a result.

Most banks offer free checking if requirements for a minimum balance are met.