Now it's time to bid a fond (or not-so-fond) farewell to your old account. Ware recommends doing this in person, if possible. That way you'll walk away with proof your account is closed and the bank won't attempt to tack on charges later or report you to ChexSystems for unpaid items.
You'll want to be sure all checks written from the account have cleared before taking out the last of your cash, Ware says.
If your account is closed when those checks attempt to clear, they'll bounce, potentially damaging your relationship with whomever the check was written for or incurring late-payment fees.
"Everyone is inconvenienced, both the check writer and the check recipient," Ware says.
To find out whether your checks have cleared, you can compare your check register against your online statement. Alternatively, Ware says you can call the parties you wrote checks to in order to verify they've cashed them.
To put the finishing touches on your checking account transition, shred all the checks and debit cards that came with your old account to prevent them from being used by identity thieves, Ware says.