Robin Sidel has details. Regulators in the past year have pushed through a raft of changes designed to rein in banks’ most abusive practices, from excessive overdraft fees to the way lenders raise interest rates when a credit-card payment is late.  The new rules are expected to slice billions from firms’ profits—and more if lawmakers move forward with a bill to limit how much financial institutions can charge merchants for debit-card transactions.

via The New Bank Fees: How to Fight Back – WSJ.com.

Turns out the number of unbanked and underbanked households in the U.S. is fairly large: Almost one in 10 households does not use a bank at all. Before this research, a significant gap existed in the data regarding unbanked and underbanked households, according to the FDIC.

via Nearly 8% of Americans Are Unbanked, 18% Are Underbanked | MyBankTracker.com.

This brief video does a good job of explaining the change mandated for all Banks for checking account customers.



Eastwood Bank.

If your checking account balance sometimes dips uncomfortably low, Aug. 15 could be an especially important day for you.That’s when a new rule by the Federal Reserve goes into effect requiring banks to decline a debit-card transaction if there’s not enough money in the account to cover it. The only exception is for bank customers who expressly “opt in” to an overdraft protection program.So it’s time to pay attention to those notices banks have been sending out lately, asking whether you want to do just that.The intent of the rule, part of last year’s consumer protection legislation, is to save bank customers from being hit with high overdraft fees. Banks racked up more than $20 billion in debit-card and ATM overdraft fees last year.

via Banks’ overdraft ‘opt-ins’ are not all alike | Teresa McUsic | Dallas Business, Texas Bu….

Next day you happen to log in to your bank account and OMG… it says minus $32. You thought you still had some cash in there. What the heck happened? Then you realize that the last trip to your grocery store was more than the bank account could bear. You thought that there were about 40 bucks left, but you forgot that you were charged late fees when you paid the utilities last week. Somehow your math was off.

via Payday Loans Sometimes Better Than Checking Account Overdraft | Damego.

via Seeking the Best Checking Account Rewards – Bucks Blog – NYTimes.com.

via Watch out for change in debit card and ATM overdraft fees: Money Matters | cleveland.com.

When Intuit last year announced its acquisition of Mint.com, the popular online money-management and budgeting tool, I opined here that Mint could benefit from adopting some features from Intuit's Quicken Online. Mint was sexier than Quicken Online—and a far less clunky than the original Quicken software. But, as noted in a Consumer Reports Money Adviser report on online budgeting tools, it lacked an important feature present in Quicken tools: the ability to account for yet-to-clear transactions. For anyone who wants to prevent a bounced check, this feature is a must.

via Consumer Reports Money & Shopping Blog: Review: Mint.com reveals what’s really left in your bank account.

An Atlanta couple has found themselves with their savings wiped out after their bank, Wells Fargo, cleared out their checking account in order to pay a piece of what bank officials maintain is an outstanding student loan “Suddenly, Bank Account Was Gone,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 1, 2010.After Hope and Matt Hughes had problems trying to make a purchase with their debit card last month, they discovered that Wells Fargo had cleaned them out, withdrawing $4,059.82 — everything they had — from their checking account. They were also hit with $385 in overdraft fees for debit-card purchases they had made on the day their checking account was emptied.

via Wells Fargo Empties Customer Checking Account to Pay Delinquent Student Loan : Student Loan Blog by NextStudent.

Historically, Mother’s Day is a holiday that gives a boost to businesses, even in hard times. Florists, spas, and gift shops traditionally reap the rewards, but with the economy still in “rebound mode” payday loan shops are also advertising Mother’s Day specials.

via Payday Loans One Source of Quick Cash for Mother’s Day | MyBankTracker.com.

via Banking-online-internat » Blog Archive » Internet Checking Account – No Waiting in Line Online.

A new report says new banking reforms going into affect this summer don’t go far enough in protecting consumers from excessive fees. The banks are being accused of using scare tactics to keep consumers in plans that can cost them plenty.

via Report: : Bank overdraft fees not beneficial for consumers – 4/20/10 – San Francisco News – abc7news.com.

Protection from Debit Overdraft Fees – 4/17/10 – Fresno News – abc30.com.

via Credit Risk Management Software » Blog Archive » What Bank Offers Second Chance Banking? 3 Tips.