Chicagoland teenager Daniel Ganziano thought he was doing the right thing when he opened an account last year with TCF Bank near his Illinois home to learn how to handle money responsibly. Instead, Ganziano learned that bank fees can very quickly spiral out of control — in his case, to more than $229 in less than two weeks.
Banking
Bank Fee Bust: Turns Out Credit Unions Didn’t Cash In After All
When consumers threw a collective fit over fees charged by big banks for debit card use, credit unions were thought to be poised for a windfall. Customers were expected to defect in droves — and the initial data seemed to bear out this hunch: The Credit Union National Association announced in early November that 650,000 consumers had …
Occupy San Francisco Starts Its Own Credit Union
Occupy protesters as financiers? It’s strange but true: Some Occupy San Francisco members announced plans to create the People’s Reserve Credit Union. Are the occupiers ready to be bankers?
Would You Watch an Ad to Avoid an ATM Fee?
From e-mail to broadcast TV programming, search engines to roadside billboards, consumers are accustomed to being inundated with advertisements at every turn. Typically, the tradeoff for being subjected to ads is that consumers …
Survey: Americans Will Pull $185 Billion Out of Big Banks Next Year
A lot of Americans are ticked off at their banks, and a new survey puts some numbers to that sentiment. Consulting firm cg42 says big bank customers will collectively withdraw $185 billion in deposited funds in 2012, and a total …
Lawsuit Alleges Couple Was Arrested for Trying to Close A Bank Account
Dissatisfied customers or unruly protesters? That is the question. After being arrested in the wake of a protest at a New York City Citibank branch in October, Heather Carpenter and Julio Jose Jiminez-Artunduaga are now suing the city for false arrest.
Get Ready for Bank-Fee Whack-a-Mole
Bank of America and Chase have abandoned controversial fees that were under consideration. But now banks are quietly calculating which other fees can take their place
8 Money Habits That Separate Doers From Dreamers
When it comes to securing financial security, are you a doer or a dreamer? By definition, financial doers have a better shot at reaching their retirement goals. No real surprise, they also have a much better shot at raising …
Fighting Fees: 3 Ways to Negotiate With Your (Big) Bank
Bank fees are an annoyance, but is there an alternative besides either paying up or pulling up stakes and leaving? Maybe. If you want to keep your bank for other reasons — say, convenience — but the fees are pushing you out the …
How Much Basic Checking at a Big Bank Really Costs
There’s been a lot of media coverage lately about Americans switching from big banks to community banks, credit unions and online banks. That may be a good move for some people, but we’ll come right out and say it: Some consumers …
Bank Transfer Day: The Tally Is In
Americans fed up with their banks voted with their wallets last Saturday, and we finally have some numbers to go along with the anecdotal reports of people ditching their old bank for a better alternative. Credit unions around the country acquired 40,000 new members, and roughly 80 percent of credit unions added members, according to the …
Would You Bank at Walmart?
Americans fed up with big bank fees are closing their accounts and marching over to … Walmart? It’s true; the mega-retailer has been steadily growing its services for the unbanked, such as cashing checks and selling reloadable …