Consumerist

personal finance

How To Avoid Record-High Bank Fees

By Ben Popken 11.3.08

Bank fees are increasingly disproportionate to the cost of business they’re supposed to cover, as shown inBankrate’s latest annual survey of consumer banking costs.

Average NSF (non sufficient fund) fee: $28.95, a 2.5% increase from last year
Average ATM surcharge is $1.97, up 1%
The minimum balance required to avoid fees on interest checking accounts at a brick and mortar bank: $3,461.84, up 4%
The average minimum required to open an online checking account: $650.81, up $517.48

Fees are designed to take advantage of your inattention. To avoid getting tripped up…

mortgages

Chase To Fix 400,000 Option-ARM Mortgages

By Ben Popken 11.3.08

Chase will turn 400,000 high-interest option-ARM mortgages into lower-cost fixed ones, the bank announced this Friday. Foreclosure processes on the loans will be stopped for 90 days while the procedure gets set up. Banks mainly have latitude to adjust the mortgages they themselves own. The complexities of modifying a loan that may have been sold and repackaged into a security are intricate. For one, hedge funds have threatened to sue banks if they modify the loans underlying their bonds. So hooray for the lucky 400,000. Only a few more million to go. If you’re a homeowner facing foreclosure and you’re unable to get your lender to work with you, try contacting the HOPE NOW hotline at 1-888-995-HOPE for free advice from a home preservation counselor.

computers

500,000+ Banking Passwords Stolen By Sinowal Trojan Horse, So Far

By Ben Popken 11.1.08

Security researchers uncovered over half a million bank account logins stolen via a sophisticated trojan horse known as Sinowal. The data goes back to 2006, an unusual longevity for a trojan horse. Not mentioned in the news reports: who’s to say this is the only cache? [NYT] (Photo: Darcy McCarty)

economy

This Is Going To Be A Bad Recession

By Ben Popken 10.31.08

GDP fell .3% in the 3rd quarter of 2008, compared to 2.8% gain in the second quarter. While a recession is technically defined as two consecutive quarters of negative GDP, everyone can see the party is cashed. Marketwatch wrote, “Economists expect the economy to contract in the final three months of this year and the first three months of 2009, with the nation’s unemployment rate pegged to rise near the 8% mark.” Housing bust + oil shock + financial crisis + rising unemployment + high levels of personal debt and low saving rates = sad America. This can mean only one thing. Now is the time to enact my plan for WPA-style moon-farming programs.

fico

A World Where A 340 FICO Is "Excellent"

By Ben Popken 10.31.08

At first glance, this ad for CreditReportAmerica seems to have the credit score system reversed, with 350-619 listed as “excellent” and 750-840 listed as “poor”…but then you realize it’s actually a graphical depiction of the system shady mortgage brokers used to get when whoring up the sub-prime mortgage orgy. Travel blogger Mark Ashley says he spotted the ad on the frontpage of Yahoo Finance. At the bottom, the ad says the service does not include credit scores. Remember folks, the place to get a free credit report is annualcreditreport.com.

readers

Credit Blemished Over Imaginary Credit Card

By Ben Popken 10.30.08

The NES collection agency is coming after Nancy for a debt on an account number she’s never owned. She’s trying to beseech BoA billing for a resolution and to fix her credit history. That may be completely the wrong way to go about it. Here’s her story:

roundups

Personal Finance Roundup

By Ben Popken 10.30.08

Trick and treat ’em: Halloween decorations [Bankrate] “Throw a frightfully wicked Halloween shindig that will spook your guests, not your wallet.”

fico

Paying Cards Off Doesn't Mean Reported Balances Are Zero

By Ben Popken 10.30.08

Personal finance columnist Liz Pulliam Weston saw Rebekah’s story yesterday, “Is It OK To Use Credit Cards For Everything, If You Pay Them Off Every Month?” and wanted to clarify something important. If you pay off the cards in full, the balances reported to the credit bureaus will not be zero. More likely, it will be the balance from your last statement. Liz writes:

money

The Great Depression Diaries, Part 2

By Ben Popken 10.29.08

Aug. 5, 1931. I went to the fruit market house this evening. It was almost deserted. The farmers cannot sell their produce because men are not working and it has become fashionable for each family to have its own vegetable garden.

money

Beware The Equity Index Annuity

By Ben Popken 10.28.08

With the stock market so scary right now, investors are looking for a sure thing, especially those approaching or in retirement. Enter the equity index annuity, which promises you’ll never lose money but if the index it’s tracked to, like the S&P 500, gains, you’ll get some of that. Though your maximum upside is capped and you have to agree to keep your money in there for a fixed term or suffer stiff early-withdrawal penalties. Annuities are infamous for being extremely complicated and festooned with bizarre fees, but, that aside, NYT Your Money reporter Ron Lieber analyzed a typical equity index annuity and found it was a bad bet. Here’s how the numbers played out…

economy

At Least I Have A F****** Dollar

By Ben Popken 10.28.08

Spotted woodendesigner’s “My “At Least I Have A Fucking Dollar” Dollar” photo in The Consumerist Flickr pool. Here’s the backstory: “I got this dollar as change but did not notice until a few days later. I laughed because it really just sums up everything that has been going on with the stock market and in a way everything that I have been going through lately. I have been very hesitant to spend it and now after shooting it for you people to enjoy I have decided that I am going to save it….. Even though they also dated it on the back ( 9-20-07) so it was actually written a year ago.”

credit cards

Capital One Explains Minimum Balance Calculation Changes

By Ben Popken 10.28.08

Capital One wrote to explain why they were changing lowering the minimum balance calculations, as we posted about yesterday. Pam Girardo in Capital One External Communications wrote:

outsourcing

How Outsourced Call Centers Are Costing Millions In Identity Theft

By Ben Popken 10.27.08

A former Chase call center rep tells the story about this one thief who was able to rip off one customer for over $40,000, thanks to his constant outwitting out the internationally out-sourced security department. It wasn’t that hard. Over and over again, he was able to commit credit card fraud just knowing the guy’s name, social, and mother’s maiden name.

readers

Capital One Changes Minimum Balance Calculations

By Ben Popken 10.27.08

UPDATE: Capital One Explains Minimum Balance Calculation Changes

california

Collector Threatens Jailtime Over Dead Debt

By Ben Popken 10.24.08

Reader R. kinda messed up his credit years ago. He’s a good boy now and his credit score is 700+, but now RSI Claims Process Services is hassling him about a 12-year-old credit card debt. They scared him into thinking they’re going to send him to jail and managed to squeeze a $100 “good-faith” payment out of him, but now he’s got second thoughts. And with good reason: the statute of limitations on the debt has well passed and threatening to send a debtor to jail is a violation of Federal law. Here’s his story and our advice…

economy

Save Money by Bartering

By Ben Popken 10.24.08

barter for goods and services instead of buying them. Yep, bartering, the age-old method of economic exchange, is making a big comeback — though now it’s a high-tech operation that doesn’t limit you to your own set of acquaintances. We wrote about this back in July, but an economic practice that has survived from the beginning of our society deserves more than one post. Smart Money has 5 new tips it says will help you save by trading goods and skills you already have:

money

Understand The Financial Crisis In 3 Minutes

By Ben Popken 10.24.08

If you or someone you know still scratches their head when trying to understand how the financial crisis began and played out, the Washington Post has a 3-minute slideshow with voiceover by business reporter Frank Ahrens that clearly and succinctly explains how it all happened. The pictures are pretty, too.

money

Stocks Are Still Sad

By Ben Popken 10.24.08

Monday’s brief hope of a better week for stocks was exactly that as the market continued its downward spiral through Friday and international indexes suffered body blows. [WSJ]

Welcome to the Consumerist Archives

personal finance