Question

You need to open a checking account and decide to shop around for a bank. Sunstate bank has an account with a $10 monthly charge plus $0.25 per check. Farmers Bank will charge you $12 per month, with a $0.20 charge per check. How many checks would you need to write each month to make Farmers Bank the better deal?

a) 25 checks

b) 40 checks

c) 50 checks

d) 60 checks

Answer 1

To make Farmers Bank the better deal, you would need to write more than 40 checks a month since the total cost at Farmers Bank becomes less than at Sunstate Bank after 40 checks. The closest answer is option (b) 40 checks.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how many checks need to be written each month to make Farmers Bank the better deal, we can set up an equation comparing the total monthly costs of both banks. Sunstate Bank charges $10 plus $0.25 per check, so their total monthly cost is 10 + 0.25c, where c is the number of checks. Farmers Bank charges $12 plus $0.20 per check, making their total cost 12 + 0.20c.The point at which Farmers Bank becomes the better deal is when the cost for Farmers is less than the cost for Sunstate. Therefore, we need to solve 12 + 0.20c < 10 + 0.25c. Subtracting 0.20c from both sides, we have 12 < 10 + 0.05c. Next, subtract 10 from both sides to get 2 < 0.05c. Dividing both sides by 0.05, we get 40 < c, meaning you need to write more than 40 checks for Farmers Bank to be the better deal. The smallest whole number greater than 40 is 41.Thus, the main answer is that you would need to write more than 40 checks to make Farmers Bank the better deal. The conclusion is option (b) is the nearest choice to the calculated number, so if writing more than 40 checks per month, one would opt for Farmers Bank to minimize monthly banking costs.