Checking Accounts

Rethinking the debit card: Will checking account rewards disappear this year?

January 11, 2011

Those checking account rewards you've come to enjoy could go the way of free checking this year as banks brace themselves for a new federal rule that will limit how much money they can make on debit card fees paid by retailers. In December, 2010, the Federal Reserve released a proposal that would cap debit card [...]

Ask the expert: Making sense of checking account fees

January 11, 2011

Checking account fee schedules can be confusing, but focusing on a few major categories of fees can help simplify comparisons.

Customer satisfaction with banks improves slightly

January 4, 2011

Customer satisfaction with bank services, such as checking accounts, savings accounts and personal loans, rose slightly in the last year, but has yet to return to levels reached before the financial crisis exploded, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index annual report for financial services released in December. The index, founded by the University of Michigan's [...]

Americans get richer in the third quarter

December 14, 2010

Despite the dismal housing market, Americans are making progress in rebuilding their wealth. U.S. household net worth rose 2.2 percent to $54.9 trillion, a gain of $1.2 trillion, in the third quarter, according to recently released statistics by the Federal Reserve. The uptick follows a decline in the spring, but continues a rebound since first quarter of [...]

FDIC issues further guidance on how banks handle overdrafts

November 30, 2010

Starting in July 2011, state-chartered banks will have to take an extra step to ensure their automated overdraft protection programs don't take advantage of customers who can least afford to pay the fees. Under final new guidelines issued Nov. 24 by the Federal Insurance Deposit Corp., banks will have to contact customers enrolled in the [...]

Ask the expert: How should I pay for the holidays?

November 18, 2010

Choosing a method of payment for holiday shopping depends on your spending and banking habits.

Most say 'no thanks' to debit-card overdraft protection, poll says

November 16, 2010

About one-fifth of consumers say they've signed up for their banks' overdraft protection programs for ATM and debit-card transactions, according to poll results released Nov. 16 by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. The survey was conducted about six weeks after new federal regulations went into effect Aug. 15 requiring banks to get [...]

Ask the expert: Bank procedures for posting transactions

October 26, 2010

Find out how posting procedures at your bank could cause you unnecessary overdraft fees.

Online savings accounts and checking accounts grow in popularity

October 11, 2010

A growing number of bank customers prefer to manage their checking and savings accounts online, according to a new survey by the American Bankers Association. For the second year in a row, more customers would rather bank online compared to any other method. This year, 36 percent of survey respondents said they preferred online banking, [...]