What You Need to Open a Bank Account in Pennsylvania

Take two pieces of identification to the branch: one with your photo on it and one that doesn't need one. Take something with your address on it, your Social Security number or the tax number that stands in for one, and twenty-five dollars or less.

If a bank closed an account on you, or you have no driver's license or Social Security number, there's a way through each one, and knowing which is yours before you go is most of the work. Then pick your branch from the banks and credit unions with Berks County branches.

What to take with you to open a bank account.

Before a bank or credit union opens an account, federal law makes it write down four things: your name, your date of birth, a street address, and an identification number, usually a Social Security number. Those four are a minimum, so expect to be asked for more. At a branch that means two pieces of identification, and often a separate paper in your own name showing where you live: a utility bill, a lease, a school enrollment statement or a property deed. Online it can be less: Wells Fargo's form asks for no documents, just the number, an address and a phone. But one bank here takes online applications only from US citizens and permanent residents.

If you have no street address of your own, the rule allows a military post office box, or the street address of a next of kin or another contact person, so say so at the counter. All of this is for an account in your own name; for a business, start with what a business account takes here instead.

What counts as identification, and what if you don't have a driver's license.

A driver's license is the easy answer, and nowhere near the only one; a Pennsylvania identification card works. Wells Fargo takes any of these as the piece with your photo on it: a driver's license or identification card from any state or US territory, a passport, a permanent resident card, an employment authorization card, a US Armed Forces identification, a Border Crossing Card, a tribal identification, a consular card from Colombia, Guatemala or Mexico, El Salvador's Documento Unico de Identidad card, or a Canadian license or identification card issued in English, though not one issued in Quebec.

That's one bank's list, so ask where you're headed. The second piece doesn't need a photo: the same list works, and so does an ATM, credit or debit card, an employee or student identification, a signed Social Security card, an identification from a recognized business, school or government agency here or abroad, or, for a minor, a birth certificate.

Some banks don't need a document. They check what you told them against a consumer reporting agency, a public database or references at other financial institutions, and one that works that way has to plan for the person with no unexpired government photo identification. If your documents are thin, ask whether the branch can verify you another way. If you'd rather do this in Spanish, see Spanish-language services in Berks County.

What if you don't have a Social Security number?

A taxpayer identification number satisfies the rule for anybody. If you can't get a Social Security number, that means an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, which the Internal Revenue Service gives people in that spot. If you're a resident alien, a nonresident alien or the spouse or dependent of one, you can apply regardless of immigration status, on Form W-7.

If you aren't a US citizen, three more routes are open: a passport number with its issuing country, an alien identification card number, or the number and issuing country of another government document showing your nationality or residence and bearing a photograph or similar safeguard.

An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number doesn't serve as identification outside the federal tax system, so it answers the bank's question about your number while a photo document answers whether you're you. Wells Fargo and Santander each take it in place of a Social Security number.

How much money do you need to open a bank account?

Three things get called a minimum, and only the minimum to open is money you hand over on day one. A minimum daily balance is what you keep sitting in the account, and a third figure is the balance that waives a monthly fee. M&T's EZChoice checking has no monthly fee, no minimum balance, and twenty-five dollars to open, as of 2026. Every amount in the table below is a deposit rather than a charge: it goes in as the account's balance, not to the bank.

Here's what the cheapest checking account costs to open at eight banks with Berks County branches: one account each, not every account and not every bank.

Bank	Account	Amount to open
Citizens	EverValue Checking	Any amount
First National Bank of Pennsylvania	eStyle Account	$0 at a branch, $25 online
M&T Bank	EZChoice Checking	$25
Santander Bank	Essential Checking	$10
Tompkins Bank & Trust	Smart Spend Checking	$0 at a branch, $25 online
Truist	Confidence Account	$25
Wells Fargo	Clear Access Banking	$25
Woodforest National Bank	WBank Account	$25

One low-cost checking account at eight banks with Berks County branches, with the amount each publishes to open it, read in September 2026. Where a bank publishes one amount at a branch and another online, both are shown. Listed alphabetically.

Several of those can't charge you an overdraft fee. And the amount to open isn't the whole cost: some carry a monthly fee and some don't, and a fee that can't be waived outruns a small opening deposit inside a year. So ask what the monthly fee is and how it comes off.

At a credit union the entry cost isn't the checking account. It's a small deposit into a savings account that makes you a member, five dollars at Discovery Federal Credit Union and First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union, once you qualify to join, and each sets its own membership rules.

ChexSystems, and what to do if a bank closed your account before.

ChexSystems is a company banks and credit unions report closed checking and savings accounts to, and it isn't the only one they use. They read its reports when they decide whether to open an account for you, and which kind. Your file holds accounts closed on you, returned checks, inquiries about you and the check orders you've placed. An account you closed yourself, with no mishandling behind it, isn't in there.

Disputing something wrong in it costs nothing, and a reinvestigation is usually done within thirty days. ChexSystems isn't a collection agency and will never ask you for a payment. No outfit that charges to clean up a file is connected to it.

Paying what you owe doesn't erase the record. Whoever reported it doesn't have to remove an accurate report, but does have to mark the status paid in full or settled in full. A record runs about five years, and can come off sooner if whoever reported it asks. Federal law's outer limit for most negative information is seven years.

You don't have to wait that out. If you don't know whether you still owe the old bank anything, start with your file: it's free, it comes online, by mail or by phone at 800.428.9623, and it shows what a bank will see. Then call the branch, because some require old unpaid charges and fees paid before they'll open a new account and others don't. Ask two things: does this balance have to be settled before I can open an account here, and what's the whole number I'll owe on the day, counting any set-up charge and the first month's fee?

Then ask for the right account by name. Accounts built so you can't overdraw are treated as less risky, so many institutions may lean on those reports less for them, and you may qualify even if another bank said no.

Banks and credit unions here publish them, several on the table above: Wells Fargo's Clear Access Banking, Citizens' EverValue Checking, Santander's Essential Checking, Truist's Confidence Account, First National Bank's eStyle Account, M&T's MyWay Banking, Tompkins' Smart Spend Checking and Woodforest National Bank's WBank Account, among others. Others are built for somebody rebuilding, among them Woodforest's Second Chance Checking, Discovery Federal Credit Union's Opportunity Plus Checking and First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union's Fresh Start Checking. A rebuilding account runs about ten dollars a month at the two that publish a fee, and there can be a one-time set-up charge that pushes the day-one total past twenty-five dollars.

Discovery's account is open to members and non-members, and it asks that you don't already qualify for one of its regular checking accounts. If another financial institution closed an account of yours and wrote off what you owed, your record can show one of those and no more, five hundred dollars or less, and not a fraud case. A current member qualifies once a charged-off account is paid. Keep it in good order for a year and you can open a regular checking account with no monthly fee, which you have to ask for yourself, and that same five dollars stays in basic savings.

So put your identification, proof of address and number in an envelope with your opening deposit, pick your branch from the banks and credit unions in the county, and ask for it by name.

Common questions about opening a bank account in Pennsylvania.

Can a bank turn you down for a checking account?

It can, and when a report of your old accounts is the reason, you get a notice naming the company whose report it used, which gets you a free copy. Things that put an entry in that file: an unpaid negative balance from an overdraft on an account the bank closed, suspected fraud or a history of bad checks, and a joint account with somebody else who had those problems.

How do I find out if a closed account is still on my record?

Ask ChexSystems for your file. It's free however you ask, at least once every twelve months.

Do I have to pay the old bank before I can open a new account?

Sometimes. Some banks require it paid first and others don't, so ask on the phone.

How much does it cost to open a bank account?

Plan on twenty-five dollars or less to open, and that figure is a deposit, not a charge.

Sources

• eCFR, 31 CFR § 1020.220, "Customer identification program requirements for banks": the four things a bank has to collect and that they are a minimum rather than the whole ask, the street-address rule and its alternatives including a next of kin or another contact individual, the identification number a U.S. person gives and the four alternatives open to somebody who is not a U.S. person, and the procedure a bank verifying identity without documents must have for a customer with no unexpired government photo identification. Credit unions sit inside the same rule through 31 CFR § 1010.100(d)(6).
• Internal Revenue Service, "Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)": what the number is, who can apply and how, Form W-7 and that it does not serve as identification outside the federal tax system.
• Wells Fargo, identification required to open a Clear Access Banking account: its requirement of two forms of identification, a primary and a secondary, for opening at a branch, against an online application that asks for no identification document at all; what it accepts as each, including the Quebec exclusion on its Canadian entry and the minors-only limit on a birth certificate; that a separate proof of address in your name may also be required, with its examples; and that it will take an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. Its Clear Access Banking page carries the $25 to open and that the account has no overdraft services.
• Santander Bank, "Essential Checking": its own statement that opening at a branch takes two forms of identification, a primary and a secondary, with its examples of each; the $10 to open; that it has no overdrafts or overdraft fees; and its statement about applying without a Social Security number.
• Mid Penn Bank, opening an account online: that its online application is open only to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, which is narrower than the federal rule.
• Citizens, “EverValue Checking” account guide: that any amount opens the account, that it will not charge an overdraft fee on it, and its monthly maintenance fee and the note that the fee cannot be waived.
• Tompkins Bank & Trust, personal checking: that the minimum balance to open an account in a branch is $0 and online is $25. Its Smart Spend Checking page carries its own description of the account as built for somebody taking steps toward financial wellness, and its statement that an overdrawn account will not be charged an overdraft fee.
• First National Bank of Pennsylvania, "eStyle Account": nothing to open at a branch and $25 online, its Bank On certification, and its statement that you will not be charged an overdraft fee.
• M&T Bank, compare checking accounts: an account with no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirement that still takes $25 to open, and that overdraft fees are not charged on its MyWay Banking account.
• Truist, "Truist Confidence Account": the $25 to open, and that Truist does not charge overdraft related fees on the product.
• Woodforest National Bank, "WBank Account": the $25 to open and that it carries no overdraft fees. Its Second Chance Checking page carries an account built for somebody who has had account trouble before, its monthly fee with and without a direct deposit, its one-time set-up charge, and that it is opened at a branch.
• Discovery Federal Credit Union, "Opportunity Plus Checking": that it is open to members and non-members, the published limit of one non-fraud charge-off of $500 or less, its monthly fee, the $5 kept in basic savings, that an applicant must not already qualify for one of its regular checking accounts, that a current member whose account was charged off qualifies once it is paid, and that handling the account well for a year lets you move to a regular checking account with no monthly fee if you ask for the change yourself.
• Discovery Federal Credit Union, membership disclosures and agreement: the $5 share that makes somebody a credit union member, and that the share has to be on deposit before any other account can be opened.
• First Commonwealth Federal Credit Union, “Membership”: that an initial $5 deposit into a savings account establishes membership, and the service areas its own page lists. Its Fresh Start Checking page carries the account built for somebody who has had financial trouble before.
• ChexSystems, "Answers to Frequently Asked Questions": what it is and what its clients report to it, what a file holds and what it does not, that a voluntarily closed account with no mishandling is excluded, the retention period as it words it in two places, that paying the balance does not remove an accurate record while the status is updated, that a record may come off early if the source asks for its removal, and that it is not a collection agency and will never ask a consumer for a payment.
• ChexSystems, "About ChexSystems": that it is not a collection agency, that it will never ask a consumer for a payment, and that it has no connection to any outfit charging a fee to remove information from a file.
• ChexSystems, "Consumer Disclosure": the free report, the entitlement to one at least once every twelve months, and the ways to request it including the telephone number. Its dispute page carries the right to dispute an incomplete or inaccurate item and the usual thirty days for a reinvestigation.
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, "Why was I denied a checking account?": that banks and credit unions use these reports to decide whether to offer an account and which kind, that several companies compile them, federal law's outer limit of seven years for most negative information, that some institutions require old unpaid charges settled before opening a new account, that accounts designed to prevent overdrafts are treated as less risky so institutions may lean on the reports less for them, and that a bank turning somebody down on a report has to give a notice naming the company it used, which entitles them to a free copy.
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, "Checklist for opening a bank or credit union account": that the amount to open is an initial deposit, money to open the account, and that it is a different thing from the minimum balance a bank asks you to keep.
• eCFR, 12 CFR § 1030.4, “Account disclosures”: that the amount required to open an account is filed under balance information rather than under fees, which is what makes it a deposit and not a charge.