“I’d take the $3.95 any day over the $35 overdrafting or for some other fees.”
This statement, from a focus group participant, neatly sums up America’s evolving attitude prepaid debit cards. We don’t like the fees, but we like banks even less — and trust providers of prepaid cards more than we trust mainstream banks, according to …
“Ignore them and they’ll go away” is great advice for some of life’s annoyances. Unfortunately, it doesn’t apply to taxes. While the IRS has taken great pains to rehab its scary image (and is actually pretty decent to deal with), it still can and will go after people who blow off their taxes and deliver some pretty expensive consequences.
For the past 12 years, the top category of consumer complaints fielded by the Federal Trade Commission has been identity theft. In 2011, this category made up 15% of all complaints. Crooks have many ways of stealing your personal …
The deadline to file your income taxes is right around the corner, but if you’re forgetful or just a dedicated procrastinator, don’t start hyperventilating just yet. Since April 15 falls on a Sunday, and the 16th is a local …
Even after lawmakers made it harder for banks to give college kids credit cards, credit card debt is still a big problem on U.S. campuses. A new study pinpoints the simple, frustrating reason why: Students don’t know anything …
Most people know that they get tax breaks on their kids and on the mortgage interest they pay on their homes, but experts say many taxpayers leave a slew of other deductions and credits on the table that could potentially save …
“Even I wouldn’t make a loan to me.” That kind of admission from a borrower ought to be a tip-off that banks shouldn’t be showering him or her with car financing and credit card offers, but lenders hungry to raise revenue are …
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking aim at the mortgage industry again, this time focusing on making mortgage servicers provide customers with better and more transparent information about their home loans. The CFPB is unveiling a series of proposed rules for the industry, which it will formalize this summer and implement …
Tax preparers toil in obscurity for most of the year, trying to keep track of the ever-changing kaleidoscope that is our federal tax code. But when crunch time comes for taxpayers to get their returns filed to the Internal …
While just the prospect of an audit is enough to strike fear in taxpayers’ hearts, the truth is that less than 2% of taxpayers get audited a year. The IRS is tight-lipped about exactly what gets your tax return selected for extra …
In the U.S. pizza is casual, feet-on-the-coffee-table grub, but Japanese diners are dropping $50 on pies from Domino’s, following a big marketing push by the American pizza chain to rebrand the collegiate staple as haute holiday fare. For fifty bucks, diners aren’t just getting a plain — or even pepperoni — pie: They’re getting pizza …
