Skip to main content

The Money Overview

Banking & Credit Cards

How banks, credit cards, and payment systems work. Covers products, rates, fees, regulations, and what consumers need to know to navigate the banking system.

Latest in Banking & Credit Cards

Fraud & Scams

Eleven people have pleaded guilty in a $65 million ring that used overseas call centers to swindle thousands of older Americans

Eleven people have now admitted their roles in a $65 million fraud operation that used call centers based in India to steal from thousands of...

Fraud & Scams

AI voice-cloning scams that fake a grandchild’s voice have drained $2.3 billion from older Americans this year, and calling the family back is the one reliable check

Older Americans have lost roughly $2.3 billion to fraud so far this year, with AI-powered voice-cloning scams that imitate a grandchild in distress accounting for...

Fraud & Scams

Dohman data-breach victims can claim $50 in cash or up to $5,000 in losses by September 10

People whose protected health information was exposed in the Dohman, Akerlund and Eddy data breach face a September 10 deadline to file claims for a...

Loans & Lending

Nearly 4 in 10 homeowners over 65 are turned down for a home-equity line of credit

Older homeowners sitting on record levels of home equity are finding that wealth locked inside their walls does not guarantee access to credit. Nearly four...

Credit Cards & Rewards

Adding a spouse as an authorized user on an old, well-paid credit card can lift their credit score without opening a new account

Married couples trying to qualify for a mortgage or auto loan at competitive rates can hit a wall when one partner’s credit score lags behind...

Fraud & Scams

An 83-year-old wired $44,000 to a caller posing as his bank’s fraud team, money a wire transfer generally can’t claw back

An 83-year-old man wired $44,000 to a caller who claimed to be part of his bank’s fraud team, following instructions he believed would protect his...

Fraud & Scams

Six people are under arrest in a $2.8 million “gold bar” scam that pushed elderly Texans to hand their savings to couriers at the door

Six people face arrest in connection with a scheme that allegedly drained $2.8 million from elderly Texans by convincing them to convert their savings into...

Bank Accounts & Fees

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...

Fraud & Scams

A retired journalist lost $270,000 after an online romance turned into a fake gold-investment pitch that drained his life savings

A retired journalist watched $270,000 disappear after an online romance gradually shifted into what appeared to be a gold-investment opportunity. The scheme followed a pattern...

Bank Accounts & Fees

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...

Fraud & Scams

Federal prosecutors charged a man in a $149 million scam built on Bitcoin ATMs and bulk gold, the same playbook draining older Americans’ savings

A retiree lost $1.49 million in life savings after being tricked into feeding cash into Bitcoin ATMs and wiring funds to buy gold bars, according...

Fraud & Scams

A Connecticut man drew nine years in federal prison for a romance scam that drained victims nationwide, part of a widening crackdown

Naabanyin Aniagyei-Cobbold, a 30-year-old Connecticut man, was sentenced on March 5, 2026, to nine years in federal prison for wire fraud and money laundering tied...

Fraud & Scams

No $2,000 tariff-dividend check has been approved, and officials warn the texts promising one are a scam

Scammers are blasting text messages to phones across the country claiming that recipients qualify for $2,000 tariff rebate checks, and state and federal officials are...

Fraud & Scams

Federal prosecutors say a romance-scam ring drained up to $1.1 million each from more than 100 older Americans, then splurged on Lamborghinis and Cybertrucks

A Ghanaian national was extradited to the United States to face charges that he helped run a romance-fraud network responsible for stealing more than $8...

Fraud & Scams

An elderly Hawaii woman handed a courier nine gold bars worth $137,000 before scammers pushed her to drain $429,000 more, and one arrest followed

An elderly Hawaii woman handed nine gold bars worth $137,000 to a courier in Kaneohe after scammers posing as government officials directed her to liquidate...

Fraud & Scams

People swept into the Alta Resources data breach can claim up to $2,000, or $50 without proof, by August 17

People affected by the Alta Resources Corp. data breach have a narrow window to file claims worth up to $2,000 with documented losses or $50...

Fraud & Scams

Esse Health patients caught in a data breach can claim a $50 payment plus two years of credit monitoring by August 4

Patients of Esse Health, a primary care network based in the St. Louis metropolitan area, have until August 4 to file claims for a $50...

Fraud & Scams

No government agency will ever tell you to move your money into a “safe account” to protect it, the FTC warns

Scammers posing as federal employees are draining bank accounts by telling people to move their money into a “safe account,” and the Federal Trade Commission...

Fraud & Scams

An FBI program has warned nearly 9,000 cryptocurrency-fraud victims mid-scam, heading off about $562 million in losses

Nearly 9,000 people across the United States were contacted by the FBI while they were actively losing money to cryptocurrency-investment fraud, and roughly three out...

Fraud & Scams

People 60 and older lost $4.35 billion to cryptocurrency scams last year, more than a third of all such losses reported nationwide

Americans 60 and older lost $4.35 billion to cryptocurrency scams last year, accounting for more than a third of all such losses reported nationwide. Three...

1 12 13 14 15 16 39
Plain-English help keeping more of your money in retirement. Get the free newsletter.

Free from Retirement Shield. Unsubscribe anytime. We never ask for money.