Bank Accounts & Fees
Checking and savings accounts, bank fee changes, high-yield accounts, CD rates, neobanks, and policy changes that affect your money.
Latest in Bank Accounts & Fees
Credit-union accounts get $250,000 in federal insurance for each ownership category
A $250,000 balance is not the universal ceiling on federally protected money at a credit union. It is the standard limit applied to each member-owner...
$250,000 in FDIC insurance applies per depositor, per bank and ownership category
FDIC insurance does not attach a separate $250,000 shield to every checking account, savings account or certificate of deposit. The standard amount applies to one...
$6,725 is where federal rules let banks hold more of a check deposit longer
A large check can appear in an account balance long before all of it is available to spend. Under the current Regulation CC threshold, a...
Bank deposits are insured up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank.
The federal guarantee behind a bank account has a precise ceiling: $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each ownership category. That one sentence hides...
SunTrust customers charged old overdraft fees can claim $5 to $1,000 from a $240 million settlement by September 14.
Former SunTrust Bank customers who were charged overdraft fees under disputed practices can now file claims for payments ranging from $5 to $1,000 from a...
A fourth U.S. bank failed this year, but insured deposits stayed safe under FDIC coverage.
Four U.S. banks have now failed in 2026, and each time the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation stepped in to protect depositors holding balances within the...
Bank of America is mailing overdraft-fee refunds that look like postcards, and some customers are tossing the checks out as junk mail
Customers who were hit with repeated $35 fees on a single bounced transaction are owed money from Bank of America, but some of those refund...
Big banks have cut overdraft fees toward $5 and now need your okay before charging one, so that old $35 hit may be avoidable
Checking-account holders at the largest U.S. banks could soon see overdraft charges drop from roughly $35 to as little as $5, but only if they...
A payable-on-death beneficiary lets a bank account skip probate and reach heirs directly
Bank account holders who add a payable-on-death beneficiary to their deposit agreements create a direct transfer channel that bypasses probate court entirely. Three states, Massachusetts,...
Banks must make at least $225 of a deposited check available the next business day under federal rules
Anyone who deposits a check at a bank or credit union is protected by a federal floor that limits how long the institution can withhold...
The $35 overdraft fee is mostly gone at big banks, but small banks and credit unions still charge it
Consumers at the largest U.S. banks have seen the traditional $35 overdraft fee all but disappear after federal regulators rewrote the rules governing how those...
Top high-yield savings accounts now pay 4.50% while the national average sits at 0.38%
Savers who keep cash in a standard bank account are earning a fraction of what top-tier alternatives now pay. The gap between the best available...
Keeping deposits under $250,000 at each bank keeps every dollar covered by FDIC insurance
Anyone holding cash in a U.S. bank account faces a simple but high-stakes dividing line: deposits up to $250,000 per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank, per...
Your bank must refund an unauthorized debit-card charge, often within 10 business days
Anyone who has spotted a charge they did not authorize on a debit card knows the panic that follows: the money is already gone from...
$250,000 is FDIC-insured per bank, and using several banks covers more
Households holding more than $250,000 in deposits at a single bank risk losing the excess if that institution fails. Federal law caps deposit insurance at...
Cash App is mailing settlement checks automatically after a $175 million order, with nothing to sign up for
Millions of Cash App users who reported unauthorized transactions or account fraud are starting to see paper checks arrive in their mailboxes this year, tied...
Amazon is mailing new claim notices for Prime refunds of up to $51 under a $1.5 billion FTC settlement
A wave of official claim notices is landing in mailboxes and inboxes across the country, and many older Amazon customers are trying to work out...
Big banks’ overdraft fees are now capped at $5, a change expected to save households about $225 a year
Overdraft fees have long been one of the most resented lines on a bank statement. A single mistimed payment, a forgotten automatic withdrawal, or a...
A payable-on-death beneficiary on a bank account lets it skip probate and pass to heirs
Bank account holders across the United States can keep their deposits out of probate court by adding a payable-on-death beneficiary designation, a simple form that...
The CFPB is returning $140 million to bank customers hit by surprise overdraft fees
Bank customers who were charged fees on transactions they had enough money to cover are getting refunds. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s supervisory exams forced...