When a consumer buys something with a credit card, the credit card company gets a cut of the transaction. Stores figure that cut into their pricing system, figuring that when they sell an item for $100, they don’t get all of that $100 if the purchaser uses plastic. If it’s a cash purchase, on the other hand, the store gets all of that $100.
banks
So Banks Really Want to Help Customers? Here’s What They Should Do
Last week, Bank of America and Chase announced some supposedly customer-friendly changes to the way they assessed debit card overdraft fees. The changes did not impress anyone.
Debit Cards vs. Credit Cards: Do You Prefer Debt, Fees, or Both?
Debit cards have been presented as the safer alternative to credit cards. A credit card is something of a temporary loan operation, allowing you to buy things with money you may or may not have, creating a situation in which it’s easy to get into debt. A debit card, by contrast, allows you to buy things using the funds sitting in your …
Now That You’re Saving Money, Where the Heck Do You Put It?
The recession has turned the U.S. into a nation of savers. After years of spending like it was a job—and in some ways it was a job to buy stuff and keep the economy pumping along—we are finally saving some money. The national savings rate was around 7 percent recently. But now that we’re saving, interest rates in a typical bank …
Watch Out! Bank Fees Are Bigger and Badder
Unless you’ve been locked in a vault, you know that the banking industry isn’t doing so hot. Faced with declining revenues, banks are creating or increasing all sorts of fees on its customers.
Banks Are Fun, Not Greedy Evil Money Sucks
A new slew of advertising campaigns clears things up the misunderstanding. (And that Bernie Madoff guy? What a prankster!)
