Banking Blog

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, plans to streamline a number of regulations it “inherited” as part of its inception from seven other agencies. And it’s asking the public for advice on how to tackle the job. Raj Date, special adviser to the Treasury on the CFPB, said in a statement the goal is

It looks like banks are still struggling to figure out how to make checking accounts profitable in the wake of the Durbin amendment and other new regulations. Via Andrew Dunn at the Charlotte Observer, Wells Fargo chief executive John Stumpf was asked how his bank is adapting to the new regulatory landscape at an annual

How well does your bank protect you from ID theft? A better question might be, what does your bank do to help you protect yourself? Javelin examined that question in a report released today, in which researchers looked at the tools the nation’s biggest banks give their customers to fight ID fraud, scoring them according

Parents looking for smart ways to educate their children about holiday shopping can turn to some new tips from Wells Fargo bank. The tips aim to help parents and grandparents prepare their children for the holiday-shopping season and teach them good financial habits before they start shopping themselves. Here’s the list. Make a budget. Review your

As banks work to deliver new tools for account holders, a survey shows that the future of mobile banking may be bigger than a smartphone. In a survey conducted by Oracle Communications, more than 3,000 mobile users indicated there is a very bright future for tablet computers. The majority of people have jumped on the

It looks like consumers aren’t the only ones downgrading their opinions of big banks. After revising its criteria for assigning credit ratings to financial institutions, Standard & Poor’s released a new round of ratings that includes some bad news for a few of the biggest members of the banking industry. Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells

Bank clinginess is an underrated factor in why a lot of people stay with banks they don’t like. Between the difficulty of transferring bill pay and other services, and banks’ fussy rules on how exactly an account can be closed, banks tend to get all “Fatal Attraction” (or “Fear,” if you prefer your psychotic paramours

This week The New York Times published an editorial advocating some customer-centric reforms to debit cards just in time for the holiday season: A 2009 law shields consumers from the worst predations of the credit card companies. It requires card issuers to give a 45-day notice before raising interest rates, says late charges and other

Consumers who thought the battle over so-called swipe fees on debit card transactions was over might be surprised at the latest development: The retailers are suing the federal government, claiming the Federal Reserve didn’t properly apply the law when it adopted a cap on these fees. According to a recent press statement, the National Retail

For those that hate ATM fees, it’s been a tough couple of decades. Since we started our annual Checking Study in the fall of 1998, the percentage of ATMs charging a fee rose from 68.4 percent to 98.7 percent. During that time, the average ATM fee has risen from 89 cents to $2.40. But a