<human>: I don't feel like I'm that much of a noob when it comes to banking, but in researching what bank I'd like to switch to I'm having a hard time understanding some of the arguments (from people IRL and also from threads on here).

My current banking situation:

* Checking, savings, and credit card accounts with US Bank
* 401K (currently putting in 7%, matching another 3%, totalling 10%)
* I'm in the process of getting an account with Simple.

I'm not making a whole lot of surplus money right now, I'm working on building my emergency fund back up, but I'm only just coming out of my emergency state so it's taking a while.

I understand the importance of having a high interest rate for savings accounts, and the importance of having an actively growing 401K, but what I don't understand is why it's important to have a high interest rate for a checking account. Why would you hold onto money in your checking that would grow faster in a savings account (or some other kind of account?)?

So basically...

Could you distill the essence of the text into 1-3 sentences?
<bot>: Where should you be holding your emergency funds and surplus money when not in use? Why is it important to have a high interest rate for a checking account?