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
A “pig butchering” crypto-investment scam has drained retirees of six-figure savings, the FBI warns
Federal investigators have a blunt name for one of the costliest frauds now aimed at older Americans: “pig butchering,” a scheme in which a stranger...
Scammers now pose as your own bank’s fraud department to talk you into moving money
The Federal Trade Commission warns that a fast-growing con now opens with a phone call or a text from what looks like a bank’s own...
Freezing your credit is free and does not lower your credit score
The single most effective defense against having a loan or credit card opened in someone else’s name is also one of the least used, and...
A bank must give provisional credit while it investigates an unauthorized charge you reported in time
When an unauthorized charge drains a checking account, the immediate crisis is not who is at fault but how long the money stays gone. Federal...
Credit unions often pay higher savings rates and charge lower fees than big banks
The gap between what a savings account pays and what a bank charges to keep it can quietly cost a saver hundreds of dollars a...
A credit “lock” lets you block and unblock new-account access from your phone in seconds
Identity thieves make their money by opening accounts in someone else’s name, and the most direct way to stop them is to cut off access...
Setting account alerts and a daily-withdrawal limit can blunt the damage from a drained account
When a thief gets into a bank account, the money that leaves in the first hours is rarely the whole story. What determines how much...
A CD ladder spreads savings across terms so cash frees up regularly while locking in yields
Certificates of deposit are paying some of their most competitive yields in years, but every dollar locked into one is a dollar a saver cannot...
Older Americans reported losing billions to fraud last year, with investment scams draining the most
Older Americans reported losing about $2.4 billion to fraud in the most recent year the government tallied, a figure that has quadrupled since 2020, and...
Comcast is paying Xfinity customers $50 with no proof over a data breach, with a September 14 deadline
Current and former Xfinity customers have until September 14 to claim a flat $50 payment, with no documentation required, from Comcast’s $117.5 million settlement over...
Adding a joint owner to a bank account can override your will and cut out other heirs
Adding an adult child to a bank account for help with bills is one of the most common financial moves older Americans make, and one...
Applying for a mortgage can unleash a flood of calls from lenders who bought your data
Filing a mortgage application can set off a barrage of phone calls, texts, and mailers from lenders the applicant never contacted, sometimes within hours of...
New FDIC trust rules can insure up to $1.25 million at a single bank
A single depositor can now protect as much as $1.25 million at one insured bank by holding the money in a trust account and naming...
Banks rarely refund a Zelle payment you were tricked into sending yourself
When a scammer tricks someone into sending money through Zelle, the bank usually keeps the customer on the hook, because federal law draws a hard...
Anyone demanding payment in gift cards is a scammer, and that money is almost never recovered
Once the numbers on the back of a gift card are read aloud to a stranger, the money is almost always gone for good —...
Tift Regional Health System data-breach victims can claim about $75 with no proof by October 15
People whose information was exposed in the 2022 data breach at Tift Regional Health System can claim an estimated $75 in cash without submitting any...
Doxim data-breach victims can claim $100 with no proof before October 13
A $5.5 million settlement over a data breach at Doxim, a technology vendor that prepares account statements and tax forms for credit unions, lets eligible...
Opting out of pre-approved credit offers is a free way to cut fraud risk
The stack of “you’re pre-approved” envelopes that arrives each week is easy to dismiss as harmless clutter. It is also a quiet security hole. Each...
Banks must refund money for unauthorized electronic transfers you report in time
When a stranger drains money through a debit card, a stolen card number, or a hacked online-banking login, the loss is not necessarily the account...
Scammers value a Medicare number because they can bill fake claims against it
A Medicare number is worth more to a thief than a credit-card number, because it opens a channel to bill the federal government for care...