Banks, the thinking goes, have never met a fee they didn’t like. Yet one credit card charge that has been standard for years—the “foreign transaction” or “foreign currency” fee, which tacks on an extra 3% or so to every hotel stay, meal, or tchotchke purchased outside the U.S.—is slowly but surely being dropped by more and more card issuers. Why?
Faced with the prospect of hundreds of dollars in taxes for what they thought were free miles, angry consumers are fighting back with a lawsuit against Citibank.
Customers who used Citibank’s mobile app for the iPad tablet probably assumed they were on the cutting edge of technology. Here’s what they weren’t expecting: a technical glitch that charged some of them twice when they paid bills.
We’ve written before about how taxes and fees can turn a “free” flight into one that costs several hundred dollars, but there’s another way your frequent flier miles could cost you: You might have to pay federal income taxes on them.
We’ll come right out and say it: Some consumers need a big bank. Maybe you travel a lot for work and need to bank at a place that has branches around the country. Or maybe you have a kid in college and want to be able to put money into an on-campus account or monitor spending. The question is, which big bank is right for you? For many people these days, the answer to that question comes down to fees.
*What’s the asterisk for? Well, while several big banks say they won’t start charging monthly fees for debit cards a la Bank of America, in most cases they are adding other fees or changing account requirements to increase revenues anyway.
Falling diaper sales and the mess at Netflix point up the risks that big banks are taking by boosting fees in a recessionary environment.
No one likes to pay for something they’re accustomed to getting for free. So, quite predictably, Bank of America customers are angry that using a debit card will soon cost them $5 a month. While consumers are outraged with the idea of adding a monthly fee for a service that they’ve come to expect for [...]
Two of the nation’s biggest banks are extending a helping hand to people who have been upended by Hurricane Irene.
While the Credit CARD Act cut down on a lot of the shady marketing practices credit card issuers used to target college students, there are still a plethora of cards out there for the campus crowd, and wading through them can be a chore. We identify some of the cards that offer the best value for students.
I never thought it would happen. I’ve been throwing away credit card offers addressed to my daughter for years. But now that she’s 21, I figured it was time for her to experience plastic.
