Banking

Payday Loans Scam

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Payday loans are a bad deal for borrowers. The negatives that are inherent to this type of loan are quickly exacerbated by people making poor choices, or just as often people with no choices. Payday loans are named for the way this lending method got its start. Originally, the way a payday loan worked, was that you borrowed month, until payday and then you paid the loan back. The idea was that this could be bridge to your next paycheck if you had unexpected expenses or other issues that busted your budget and left you no options. In the years since this type of loan has morphed into no-win situation for people with no other options. Why Take a Payday Loan To understand how a payday loan works, and how they cause such so many problems, it is instructive to look at just how people use payday loans, and why. As is often the case, and example can be particularly instructive. Let’s consider James. James gets paid once a month. On May 15th, his car has trouble. The mechanic says it will cost $300 to get it repaired, but James does not have $300 in his checking account and he …

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Good Enough Checking From Your Bank or Brokerage

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I was going through my stack of mail to look at (separate from the stack that has things that actually need taken care of) and came across an offer for Fidelity’s mySmart Cash Account.  Intrigued, I decided to take a look at the Fidelity checking account that they were so proud of that they included a glossy little flier to advertise it.  The result?  What the—? Regular Bank Checking Sucks This Bad? The Fidelity myCash account boasts exactly two features that do not count as minimum basic features for a checking account.  First, it pays interest.  How much interest?  Well, this is where Fidelity gets a little weasel-ish.  The flyer says that I will “Earn three times the national average…”  Um, OK.  How much is that?  Folks, it isn’t even in the fine print, that’s how much the rate must be worth! A visit to Fidelity’s website reveals the depressing answer.  A balance of less than $5,000 in a myCash checking account will earn a whopping 0.20% APR.  Whoo hoo!  But wait!  Maybe if you have over $5,000 it is worthwhile?  Survey says? 0.20% again.  Yes, go through all of the steps and take the time to open a Fidelity …

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Bank Mortgage Scams Continue

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Think that after a multimillion dollar lawsuit and settlement that the big banks would start playing by the rules and treating their customers right? If so, the bridge salesman convention would LOVE to have you drop by. Get ready for the next mortgage scam by the banks. Single Point of Contact Scam One of the things that the big mortgage banks were supposed to do to help their customers and stop mortgage foreclosure fraud was provide a single point of contact for borrowers to deal with on issues like mortgage modification, refinance or foreclosure avoidance. Before, borrowers were forced to call some 1-800 number where a faceless phone drone would do the standard dance. The borrower provided all of his or her information, and then the person on the phone would tell them what they needed to do. Unfortunately, customers found that they had to start over every time they called. One mortgage modification specialist would say that they needed certain documents, then another one would say that they needed additional, or different documents, until finally, one day, a foreclosure notice showed up in the mail because the borrower had “failed” to comply with the necessary procedures. By having a …

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Bank of America Cancels Debit Card Fee

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After facing the biggest customer backlash in recent memory over its decision to implement a $5 per month use fee for customers using a Bank of America debit card, the banking giant has reversed course and announced that it will not charge the $5 debit card fee starting next year. This news comes on the heels of news from several other major banks, like Chase and Wells Fargo, announcing that they would not charge a monthly debit card fee. More recently, several regional banks, including SunTrust and Regions, that had already been charging a monthly fee to use a debit card had to abandon the fee once it was popularized by the media in the wake of Bank of America’s decision to implement the fee. One can only wonder how their customers reacted prior to BoA implementing the fee. The lesson from all of this is that customers need to be very watchful of banking fees and charges. Do not just throw away those notices you get from your bank that are full of fine print, and carefully scrutinize your statements each month to ensure that no new fees are draining money from your accounts. As a long-term solution, consider …

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Some Banks Not Charging Monthly Debit Card Fee

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It turns out that not all of the big national banks will be using overt money grabbing fees to boost their revenues like Bank of America is by charging a $5 fee to use your debit card even once per month. Wells Fargo and Chase Bank have both announced that they will not be gouging their customers by charging a $5, or even $3, monthly fee for customers using their debit cards. It seems that even Bank of America, home of the screw-our-customers mentality to profits, is blinking a little bit by offering the dolts who are still its customers more ways to dodge the fee, but will still gladly yank $5 per month out of your account if you dare to use your debit card without meeting one of the bank’s other conditions. Banks are trying to find more ways to charge higher fees to their customers because they are no longer capable of actually making money on banking and lending, which is bad news for investors and customers. If you are sick and tired of all your bank’s fees and charges, the answer is pretty simple. Just find a credit union in your area and join. For a …

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Free Credit Score at My Credit Union

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Several years ago when I was a wild-eyed, fresh out of college, computer guy, I got my first “real” job with a local company. The company had around a 100 employees or so which meant that the HR person was the Office Manager. On my first day, the Office Manager went through all the basics with me: payday, W-4 forms, copies of my Social Security Card (or passport), and so on. We also went over my “Benefits.” Now, at the time, I didn’t much understand what benefits were or why I cared (other than insurance and vacation time) but, I understood what the word benefit meant, so I nodded along and paid close attention. One of my benefits was the right to join a credit union. Back in those days credit unions were a little bit tighter in their membership requirements, still it wasn’t too hard to join one. But, since it was one of my benefits, I marched down right away and opened an account. It wouldn’t be until years later that I would understand that the reason my company offered me this benefit was because the credit union offered me another benefit which was the ability to have …

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