President Obama nominated Richard Cordray, the former attorney general of Ohio, to officially have your back. If and when Cordray is confirmed, he’ll run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the agency created last summer to …
Banking
Debit Card Rewards Aren’t Dead
Most banks have been killing off or scaling back their debit card reward programs. JP Morgan Chase, for instance, is scheduled to end its programs for nearly all debit card customers next week, with interchange swipe fee changes cited as a main reason for the debit reward demise. Just as the typical brick-and-mortar-based bank’s perks …
Free Movie Tickets Used to Push Prepaid Plastic
The push is on: Financial institutions are doing their darnedest to get consumers into the habit of using reloadable prepaid cards—which can be used similarly to credit cards or standard debit cards tied to bank accounts, but …
Government Pushes Online Investing: Savings Bonds Will No Longer Be Sold at Banks
The vast majority of U.S. Savings Bonds are now sold through banks and credit unions. But come 2012, the only way to buy these staid, safe-but-underwhelming products is via the Internet. The move is expected to save the …
Why Free Things Can Cost A Lot (And Make Your Brain Freeze)
News that Slurpee sales spike on days when 7-Eleven gives Slurpees away got us wondering why — well, it got our editors wondering why — and we think we have an answer. So, in this Mind Over Money post, we’ll explain how …
Why Consumers Will Pay a Premium to Get Less Product
With the super-sizing of meals, restaurants found easy profits from consumers willing to pay a little extra to get what seemed like a lot more. Now, to appeal to health-conscious consumers who’d happily pass along the …
J.P. Morgan Chase Tight-Lipped About Credit Card Debt Lawsuit Dismissals
Mortgage lenders are under scrutiny for their foreclosure practices and record-keeping, including abuses like so-called “robosigning” and trying to foreclose on homes without proper documentation. Bank of America agreed to pay …
Bank Branches Are Closing; People Using Nearby ATMs Don’t Notice
The typical town’s main drag seems to have a bank in every third or fourth storefront, often with branches from the same institution within a few blocks of each other. But do consumers really need banks to be as ubiquitous as …
Fed Ticks Off Retailers With Debit Interchange Ruling
The Federal Reserve Board isn’t really known for being shocking, but banks and retailers were shocked — and fighting mad — when the agency delivered its verdict on the contentious battle over debit interchange fees, capping fees at 21 cents per swipe — roughly half of the 44 cents banks currently collect every time a consumer uses …
Bank of America Mortgage Settlement: Big Banks Could Be Forced to Repay $45 Billion
Eight months ago, when approached by investors to repay a portion of their losses in mortgage bonds, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said no way. He said that his firm had followed the rules and that he was going to fight this …
“It’s an example of the worst type of financial company that exists to completely screw over their customers with outrageous fees, deceptive benefits, and absurd teaser rates.”
Is Dodd-Frank Reviving the Shadow Banks?
They’re back.
In the past few months, it appears, shadow banks (financial firms that make loans but aren’t actual banks) seem to be making a comeback. In case you’ve forgotten about these things already, shadow banks are like …