In banking, a minimum daily balance is the minimum balance that a banking institution requires account holders to have in their accounts each day in order to waive maintenance fees.^[1] This is not to be confused with the average daily balance, which is computed as the sum of daily balances in a billing period divided by the number of days.^[2]

This is how most checking account balances are measured. An account balance may drop below the required amount throughout a given day as long as the balance requirement is met at the end of the business day.^[3] For example: Joan has a checking account with a "$1,600 minimum daily balance." One day she makes purchases that drop her balance down to $1,300 but then deposits a $400 paycheck before the end of the day. The bank won’t charge her the service fee because her final balance that day is $1,700.

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