After being misled and provided incorrect information about her purchase, Nicole says Best Buy then managed to charge her debit card twice. Now she’s stuck waiting for a refund and there’s not much anyone can do about it. [More]
debit cards
No One At Buffalo Wings & Rings Knows How To Give A Refund
By 8.23.12
Michael had a gift card to Buffalo Wings & Rings to use up. His balance was less than a dollar under what he spent on his meal, but he put the remainder on a debit card anyway. Sure, handing over a dollar would have saved him some time in the end, but he had no way to know in advance that the employees of this particular outpost of the chain were all incompetent. When the waitress accidentally ran the entire balance on a credit card, she shrugged and made it Michael’s problem. She didn’t know how to reverse a charge. Guess he’d have to come back and use the gift card another time. [More]
Look, Don’t Post Instagram Photos Of Your Credit Card
By 7.3.12
If you’ve found your way to this site, you’re probably savvy enough to know that it’s a very, very poor idea to snap cell phone pics of your debit card and post them to the public photo-sharing service Instagram. We would have thought that would be common sense for anyone intelligent enough to own both money and a functioning smartphone. We were wrong. You see, the NeedADebitCard Twitter bot retweets photos that people post publicly online of their credit and debit cards, often with the numbers in full view. It always seems to have fresh material, but those featured do often take their photos down. The rest remain, with names and numbers in full view. [More]
Citizens Bank Manages To Make Debit Card Number Breach Even More Unpleasant
By 6.6.12
Mobile apps that can pay for things are pretty neat, but lead to a huge headache if your phone is lost or stolen. Especially if you don’t have a credit card, and use your debit card number instead. When Megan’s iPhone was stolen, she was ready to deal with the annoyance of getting a new debit card and changing her information on each app. She didn’t expect a cascade of incompetence and obnoxiousness from Citizens Bank. [More]
My Employer Will Only Pay Me By Prepaid Debit Card. Is That OK?
By 6.6.12
Everyone (except consumer advocates like us) seems to love prepaid debit cards. You can get student loan fundage on them, unemployment benefits, and even federal and state tax refunds. And now they’re handling your paycheck. Christopher just took a job as a pizza delivery driver for a major chain, and he has only one option for receiving his pay (other than tips): a prepaid debit card. He doesn’t like it. [More]
Lawmakers Suddenly Care About Those Fee-Laden College Cards That Are Now In The News
By 5.30.12
Earlier today, we told you about the U.S. Public Interest Research Group report on how the growing number of ethically questionable partnerships between U.S. colleges and financial institutions was resulting in millions of college students being pushed toward receiving their financial aid payments on cards costing hundreds of millions of dollars in fees to users each year. The study appears to have gotten the attention of some folks in Washington. [More]
Why Did Chase Teller Hand Over $6,500 Of My Cash To Wallet Thief?
By 4.9.12
It’s not uncommon for someone to steal your credit card and ring up some huge charges on the account. This is why there are such strict limits on liabilities for fraudulent transactions. The protections are not as stiff for debit cards, but they do exist. Regardless, a thief shouldn’t be able to walk into a bank and walk out with $6,500 of a customer’s cash after the debit card associated with that account has been reported stolen. [More]
Consumers Getting Mixed Messages On Debit Cards In Wake Of Swipe Reform
By 1.24.12
Last year, banks and financial regulators on Capitol Hill went head-to-head over swipes fees, the amount of money banks charge businesses each time they accept a debit card purchase. While swipe fees did end up being reduced by only a fraction of what had initially been proposed, banks are still whining about the pennies they are no longer bringing in. Thus, shoppers are receiving mixed messages from retailers and financial institutions about whether to use their debit card, credit card, or cash. [More]
Don't Bother Getting A Kindle Fire Unless You Have A Credit Card
By 1.13.12
Heather really likes her new Kindle Fire, once she got it working, but she’s sending it back. Why would she do that? Because the Fire isn’t a very fun device without Amazon Prime, and you need to have a credit card to sign up for Prime. She doesn’t have any credit cards, and she doesn’t want any. So back the Kindle goes. [More]
Suze Orman's Pre-Paid Debit Card Labeled "Cream Of The Crap"
By 1.10.12
Yesterday, we told you about personal finance personality Suze Orman’s decision to get behind a pre-paid debit card that she hoped would be of help to consumers who either couldn’t get a line of credit or wanted to avoid using credit cards. But now that people have had a chance to look at the specifics on Suze’s card, the reaction from some is a bit of a shrug. [More]
Suze Orman Launches Her Own Pre-Paid Debit Card
By 1.9.12
Really wish I’d know about this when I chatted with personal finance personality Suze Orman back in December. The TV host/author/owner of the whitest smile on Earth is set to announce her own pre-paid debit card, which she promises won’t be a pile of fee-laden crud like the one the Kardashian sisters slapped their name on in 2010. [More]
The New Sneaky Fees Banks Are Adding
By 11.14.11
Just because the monthly debit card fee battle has been won doesn’t mean banks are gonna stop trying to squeeze more profit off basic checking accounts. Here’s a bunch of the recent fees banks have invented: [More]
BofA Reaps Fees From Unemployment Benefits Loaded On Debit Cards
By 11.10.11
While Bank of America’s now-abandoned plan to charge debit card users $5 a month has received a halogen spotlight recently, far less attention has been paid to how it collects fees off the unemployed. In some states, unemployment benefits are issued via Bank of America debit cards. States save money by not using paper checks, but the unemployed lose out from all the fees hiding in the cards. [More]
McDonald's Exec: Swipe Fee Reform May End Up Hurting Our Bottom Line
By 11.4.11
A number of the new or increased banking fees, including Bank of America’s scrapped attempt to charge debit card users $5/month, that have popped up recently have been financial institutions’ reactions to recently enacted regulations that cap swipe fees — the amount banks charge retailers each time a debit card is used to make a purchase. While the goal is to put billions back into retailers’ coffers, some of the nation’s biggest chains say it may end up hurting them. [More]
BofA Ending $5 Debit Card Fee
By 11.1.11
Bank of America is calling off its plan to charge debit-card users $5 a month, the WSJ reports. [More]
Chase Drops Plan For $3 Debit Card Fee
By 10.28.11
Chase joins U.S. Bancorp, Citigroup, PNC, KeyCorp and other large banks that have recently moved away from the plan to charge consumers a monthly fee when they use their debit cards to make purchases, reports the Wall Street Journal. The bank recently tested the fee in both Washington and Georgia. [More]
Behold The Amazing Disappearing Prepaid Debit Card
By 10.14.11
It seemed like a good idea at the time. When Jim’s wife received a bonus at her job in the form of a prepaid debit card from the First National Bank of Omaha, they chose to put it away for an emergency. What they didn’t realize is that prepaid debit cards combine all of the arbitrary fees of banks with all of the general crappiness of a gift card, only worse. Much worse. By the time the couple went to use the card, the entire balance had been gobbled up by fees. Fees levied for not using the card. [More]
Bankers Association Defends Checking Rate Hikes: "We Don't Expect To Pay Nothing To Ride The Train"
By 10.7.11
Bankers are sure trotting out the appealing straight talk to defend the recent increase in rates on various consumer banking services. First it was Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan telling folks that adding a $5 monthly fee for debit cards was okay because they “have the right to make a profit.” Now an American Bankers Association has an interesting turn of phrase to defend the jackup in checking account costs, most recently done by Citibank. [More]
