Banking Blog

It seems like the worst fears of the banks are being confirmed: Two months after new rules went into effect requiring banks to get customers permission to enroll them in their lucrative overdraft protection programs, only about 1 in 5 have done so: The (Consumer Reports National Research Center) poll found that 22 percent have

Fake checks are nothing new, but too many consumers are still faked out, i.e., victimized, by these scams. That’s why the Consumer Federation of America, or CFA, and a lengthy list of government agencies and financial institutions in Tennessee recently announced plans to offer a consumer brochure to any customer who deposits or withdraws more

Hope you JP Morgan Chase customers out there weren’t too attached to your debit rewards cards. From American Banker this week: Chase last month stopped giving bonuses to bankers and branch managers for signing up debit card customers. Beginning in February, it will no longer issue debit rewards cards to new customers, Charlie Scharf, JPMorgan

143 That’s the total number of U.S. banks that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has sold off, wound up or closed so far this year. The most recent additions to the list of failed banks, announced Nov. 5, were: • K Bank (assets: $538 million) in Randallstown, Md. • Pierce Commercial Bank ($221 million) Tacoma,

Would you pay $2.50 to borrow $20 for one day? A week? A month? Perhaps if you were desperate enough, you would. But do the math and you’ll figure out that a $2.50 fee on a $20 loan for 30 days works out to an annual percentage rate, or APR, of about 150 percent. Cut the term

If everyone was a credit union member, would we be be toasting the new economic recovery instead of wallowing in the same malaise we’ve been mired in since 2009? A recent survey shows consumers who bank at credit unions have a more positive view of their personal finances than those who don’t: According to credit

Halloween 2010 may be over, but financial institutions might still be scared if they’ve been reading the recent remarks of Elizabeth Warren, the former Harvard University law professor who is helping to “stand up,” to use her term, the new federal consumer protection bureau. Warren has unfolded a picture of an agency that’s little like

Do banking customers opt in to overdraft protection on debit card charges because they want this high-priced service or because they’ve been tricked into saying yes by aggressive or deceptive marketing? The Center for Responsible Lending, or CRL, a nonprofit organization that seeks to protect homeownership and family wealth by working to eliminate abusive financial

This week Bankrate released its 2010 Checking Study, and it turns out a number of banks are phasing out free checking by introducing minimum balances or monthly maintenance fees. This shift away from free checking may be due in part to new Fed rules requiring customers to opt in for overdraft protection on debit cards

Say goodbye to five more banks, closed so far this month by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.: Premier Bank, $1.2 billion in assets, in Missouri. Security Savings Bank, $508 million, in Kansas. Wakulla Bank, $424 million, in Florida. Shoreline Bank, $104 million, in Washington State. Westbridge Bank and Trust Co., $91.5 million, also in Missouri.