There’s no question anymore: Prepaid debit cards have shifted from the fringe to the mainstream. The tipping point was Tuesday, when JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced a pilot program to launch a prepaid debit card called Liquid. It’s currently in 200 branches in two markets and will be available everywhere else this summer.
Updated: 6:15 p.m., March 1 Bank fees are in the spotlight again. The Wall Street Journal reported that Bank of America is planning to roll out new checking-account fees, and the news stirred up negative sentiment in the social mediaverse almost immediately, with consumers reacting angrily to the idea. Chase, meanwhile, wants to charge customers even [...]
Ever since the Federal Reserve approved Capital One’s takeover of ING Direct, customers have feared that their beloved bright-orange online bank would change. Turns out they were right to be scared, as a recent notice is circulating announcing that the “ING Direct” name will disappear, probably next year. What else is going to change?
This year was a tumultuous one for banking: Occupy Wall Street protests around the country focused Americans’ anger against the financial industry, while widespread outrage over banks’ attempts to charge fees for debit card use culminated in a call for Americans to pull their money out of big banks last month on what was dubbed “Bank Transfer Day.” But whether your checking account is at a big national bank, small community bank, online bank or credit union, 2012 is a chance to begin afresh.
For years, many Americans have been stuck below the poverty line, unable to build the kind of assets needed to propel themselves up the economic ladder. This systemic problem brought together authors, government officials and financial experts in New York City last week at an event called Opportunity Nation, hosted at Columbia University.
Weeks after stirring up consumer outrage with a proposed $5 monthly fee for debit card usage, Bank of America is now following its big bank colleagues by abandoning plans for the fee. Throughout the debit card fee saga, smaller financial institutions have seized the opportunity to attract new customers by comparing themselves in a favorable [...]
Some Wells Fargo customers who opened their accounts in Florida or South Carolina are getting an unpleasant surprise when they open the monthly statement they receive in the mail: At least some of the statement pages inside don’t belong to them. What’s more, it turns that some of their own potentially sensitive account information has [...]
One reason people give for sticking with their bank even as it adds absurd debit card fees is that soon, all financial institutions are likely to charge for these services. So why bother going through the hassle of switching banks at all? Small banks, online banks, and credit unions understand that the absence of fees [...]
Hidden bank fees are pushing the working poor out of mainstream banking and into riskier, more expensive alternatives to managing their personal finances. A new study released by the Pew Charitable Trusts provides a stark snapshot of how banks’ embrace of sneaky fees hurt the most vulnerable consumers. One advocate says this illustrates a broader [...]
The growing anger directed at U.S. banks coalesced this weekend into a Facebook-driven campaign urging Americans to close their accounts and move their money to credit unions.
Just when you thought every bank in the country was tacking on as many fees as possible comes a Texas credit union that pays 15 cents every time its members make a debit card purchase.
