After nearly 150 years of whiz-bang multibillion-dollar Wall Street investment banking, Goldman Sachs is, for the first time, wading into the humdrum world of savings and checking accounts, by (sort of) putting its name on a consumer banking platform. [More]
banking
There’s More Money Loaded On Starbucks Cards Than Customer Deposits At Several Banks
By 6.9.16
While we’re used to the idea of people keeping money in places other than bank accounts — preloaded debit cards, sock drawers, comic book collections — there’s one way consumers are storing their cash that’s more popular than several financial institutions: Starbucks cards. [More]
Wells Fargo Set To Launch Its Own Digital Wallet On Android Devices
By 5.24.16
Retailers, tech companies, wearable makers, and banks have been clamoring to create and launch digital wallets that allow consumers to make payments with the tap of a phone. Today, Wells Fargo is reportedly poised to throw its hat into this arena. [More]
Banks Attract New Customers, New Fee Income With Check-Cashing Services
By 4.14.16
Instead of imposing new fees on their existing customers, banks have an exciting new idea: attract new customers and charge them fees. Specifically, banks are looking to low-income and lower-middle-income people who might normally use check-cashing stores or check-cashing services in retail stores to gain immediate access to their money. These customers may not make large deposits, but what customers who want access to their cash right away do generate are lots of fees. [More]
Banks Turned Account Overdraft Fees Into $11.16B In Revenue Last Year
By 2.25.16
Banks with more than $1 billion in assets now need to report on how much revenue they bring in from overdraft fees and other charges. The first report on those numbers shows that banks made $11.6 billion last year from customers who overdrew their accounts.
[More]
The 3 Biggest Banks Extracted $6 Billion In ATM And Overdraft Fees From Us Last Year
By 1.14.16
Back in 1998, comedian Al Franken published a satirical novel where the fictional Al Franken ran a single-issue presidential campaign against ATM fees in 2000. A technical malfunction erased ATM deposits, making his single issue a crucial one, and Franken ended up in the White House. Today, he is a sitting U.S. senator, yet not involved in the 2016 presidential race where excessively high ATM fees are an actual issue being discussed. [More]
Wells Fargo’s High-Pressure Sales Strategy Probed By Federal Regulators
By 11.30.15 — Updated: 9.30.16
Six months after the Los Angeles City Attorney filed a lawsuit accusing Wells Fargo of a slew of unfair practices — like encouraging employees to open unauthorized consumer accounts and then charging those accounts phony fees to meet sales expectations — two other regulatory agencies have opened investigations into the bank’s behavior. [More]
Banks Ditching Online Security Images Some Experts Call “Worse Than Useless”
By 11.5.15
When you log into your bank account online, you might see an image of a birdhouse, or a teapot, or some other object you selected when you signed up. Those pictures are supposed to help keep a customer’s account safe, by assuring them that the web page they’re viewing is, in fact, the bank’s website and not a scammy fake. But as cybercriminals are catching on, banks are choosing to ditch the images in favor of other security measures. [More]
Consumers’ Changing Banking Habits Led To 1,400 Bank Of America Branches Shuttering, More Cuts To Come
By 7.16.15
Over the past several years, Bank of America has revamped the way it provides banking services in an effort to cut costs and respond to consumers’ changing banking habits. Those operation modifications have not only included shutting down some drive-thru windows, but the closure of nearly a fifth of the company’s branches. [More]
Lawmakers Introduce Legislation That Would Give Legal Marijuana Businesses Access To Banking Services
By 7.10.15
One of the biggest challenges facing the new legal marijuana industry comes down to money: now that businesses in certain states have gotten the go ahead to sell weed, many of them are stuck in a tough spot when it comes to actually dealing payments for their products, since the drug is still illegal under federal law. A group of senators is seeking to change that, introducing a bill that would take the heat off legal marijuana operations and give them access to banking services. [More]
Pew: With Nearly 23 Million Consumers Using Prepaid Cards, More Protections Are Needed
By 6.30.15
To the naked eye, general purpose reloadable prepaid cards function much like long-established credit and debit cards and have quickly gained traction with consumers, especially those who have been shut out from traditional banking options. In fact, about 23 million consumers use prepaid cards regularly. [More]
Fifth Third To Close 100 Branches To Focus On Mobile Banking
By 6.22.15
Customers of Fifth Third Bank will have fewer options when it comes to doing business at a physical location as the company plans to close or consolidate 100 branches and scrap plans to open 30 new locations. [More]
Does Postdating A Check Prevent Anyone From Depositing It Early?
By 6.3.15 — Updated: 5.24.17
Thanks to automated payments and online banking, many of us rarely (if ever) write checks, but millions of Americans still pull out their checkbooks every day to pay their bills. Because they might not always have enough money in their accounts on the day they write those checks, some folks will postdate their checks so that they aren’t deposited or cashed until after that date. Unfortunately, the fact is that there’s generally no actual obligation to honor the date on a check. [More]
9 Things We’re So Grateful Mom Taught Us About Money
By 5.10.15
Today is the day we pause to reflect on everything our mothers have given us, from kisses on scraped knees and comfortable laps to sit on, to financial wisdom that has the power to stick with us through adulthood. We asked you to share the personal finance tips your mother imparted to you, because hey, sharing is caring and she’d probably approve. [More]
Chase Raising Fees On Some Checking & Savings Accounts In 16 States
By 5.6.15
Chase customers in more than a dozen states will be seeing a slight change to some of their account statements next month, as the bank announced it would increase service charges for both checking and savings accounts. [More]
Report: Gang Of Criminals Hacking Bank ATMs Has Stolen Up To $1B
By 2.16.15
Some of the world’s banks likely had a crummy Valentine’s Day after a new report from a computer-security firm came out this weekend, saying that a group of criminals has stolen millions of dollars since late 2013 from financial institutions in Russia, Eastern Europe and the United States. And it doesn’t seem like they’re done yet. [More]
Prize-Linked Bank Accounts Combine Savings And Playing The Lottery
By 2.12.15
Would you pay to enter a sweepstakes that it’s impossible to lose? Late last year, our representatives in Congress and the President all agreed on something, a bill called the American Savings Promotion Act. It made prize-linked savings accounts, something that serves as a combination lottery and savings vehicle, legal for United States banks. [More]
Citigroup Quietly Cuts Back On Its Consumer Banking Business
By 1.13.15
Citigroup is about to become a slightly smaller group. Here in the United States, for example, the global bank once sought retail banking customers in fourteen cities. In cities where there are fewer Citibank branches, the company has been quietly selling their branches and leaving town. [More]
