Banking Blog

It’s no accident that moving your checking account can be kind of a pain. As I’ve pointed out on this blog before, banks promote direct deposit and bill pay in part because it makes switching banks much more difficult. Would-be bank switchers have to coordinate moving over their various direct deposits and automatic bill payments

Last week I wrote about the Fed’s delayed decision on whether to approve Capital One’s purchase of saver favorite ING Direct. Well, it turns out it was more foot-dragging than it was a real sign of trouble for the deal. Yesterday the Federal Reserve agreed to give its blessing to the deal. As I noted

A majority of U.S. consumers who are struggling with their personal finances might have overlooked a nice opportunity to set aside a little extra in savings last year. That’s one conclusion that could be drawn from a recent online survey of nearly 1,800 people by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, or NFCC, a national

If you’re a regular reader, you may remember an earlier post about the rise of ATM lawsuits and the consumers who have been waging a war against some financial institutions for failure to post signs about out-of-network fees. Well, banks and credit unions have joined forces with the Electronic Funds Transfer Association to fight back.

Even before Suze Orman released her “Approved Card,” John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education at SmartCredit.com, was a fierce critic of prepaid debit cards. But having a high-profile personal finance personality like Orman endorse prepaid cards as an alternative to traditional checking accounts and credit cards touched off a barrage of criticism from Ulzheimer and

Todd Schnitt of The MJ Morning Show told listeners Thursday morning he was targeted in a “smishing” (SMS  phishing) scam. The host of the Tampa, Fla., radio show says he received a text message (also known as an SMS or short message service) Wednesday from an unverified sender with a 917 area code. It contained an

Despite the migration toward credit unions over the past few months, big banks are still beating their nonprofit competitors in one crucial category: technology. In a recent Credit Union Times article, Robert McGarvey cites a Javelin Strategy & Research report to highlight the mobile banking gap between account holders at big banks and those at

Savers upset about the sale of ING Direct to Capital One may have reason to hope. The Federal Reserve Board was supposed to hold a vote on whether to approve the sale today, but the vote was delayed, suggesting there might be some dissent among the Fed governors on how to proceed. For its part,

If your bank closed or sold some of its branches last year, you weren’t alone. In fact, the total number of bank branches in the U.S. declined in 2011, after years during which the number of bank locations expanded. Still, the drop in branch locations didn’t stop some banks from expanding their reach or adding

JPMorgan Chase became the latest bank to settle a nationwide suit concerning the infamous “courtesy” overdraft fees. From Jonathan Stempel of Reuters: JPMorgan Chase & Co has agreed to pay $110 million to settle consumer litigation accusing it of charging excessive overdraft fees. The largest U.S. bank by assets joined Bank of America Corp and