Companies can send out low balance alerts, information on sales and discounts or other important information.

For customers with low balances, a switch to the free account means forgoing interest, which is now just 0.2 percent, annualized.

Other lower income families managed to maintain bank accounts, but with very low balances at the end of a pay period.

Keep a low balance - generally less than one-third of your total credit limit.

Many checking account holders paid monthly or other fees, particularly if they had a low balance.

For customers with lower balances who don't need branches, 3 percent interest on a rewards checking account won't mean much.

Even those who started with a low six-figure balance could have doubled their total savings in the last 10 years.

So my feeling is if you know that there's a steady flow, you're going to run a lower, rather than a higher, balance.

If grown in too hot a climate the resulting wine will have a high alcohol level and low balance.

Chase Manhattan tried the idea earlier this year, then switched to a flat monthly charge of $10 for customers with low balances.