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
Nine on-time payments can pull a defaulted student loan out of default
Nine on-time monthly payments, spread across a ten-month window, can lift a federal student loan out of default and erase the record of that default...
Defaulting on a federal student loan can also seize a tax refund and wages, not just a check
The federal government has two tools that can take money directly from a borrower who defaults on a federal student loan: intercepting a tax refund...
Five U.S. banks have failed in 2026, yet insured deposits moved to new banks intact
Five federally insured banks have failed in the United States so far in 2026, the most recent a 153-year-old Philadelphia savings bank that closed its...
A checking account with no named beneficiary can sit frozen in probate for months
A checking account with no payable-on-death name, no joint owner and no listed beneficiary does not pass to the next of kin the moment its...
Adding a payable-on-death name to a bank account sends the balance straight to a loved one
A payable-on-death designation is one of the few estate-planning tools that costs nothing, takes minutes at a bank branch, and needs no attorney: an account...
Regulators are letting big banks keep charging more than $17 billion a year in credit-card late fees
Credit card issuers collected more than $17 billion in late fees in 2024, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s own December 2025 market report...
Banks that run Zelle now reimburse some victims of bank-imposter scams that spoof a bank’s number
Banks that operate the Zelle payment network must reimburse some customers hit by bank-imposter scams, a benefit that predates the current political fight over who...
A federal grand jury charged a man with draining more than $1 million from an elderly investor’s savings
A federal grand jury in Harrisburg indicted William D. Brenner, 62, on Aug. 5 on charges that he drained more than $1 million from an...
Taking more than $10,000 out of your bank triggers a federal report, and splitting it up is itself a crime
Withdraw or deposit more than $10,000 in cash at a bank in a single business day, and the bank does not ask permission first. It...
Federal prosecutors charged Jay Goswami with running a $7.5 million cash-and-gold scheme that drained nine older victims
Federal prosecutors in Buffalo have charged Jay Sunilbharthi Goswami, 21, with running a cash-and-gold fraud scheme that authorities say drained more than $7.5 million from...
A Flo Health privacy settlement of $59.5 million is open to app users through October 15
Flo Health, Google and Flurry have agreed to a combined $59.5 million settlement over claims that the popular period and ovulation tracking app shared users’...
Lands’ End shoppers can claim up to $60 in a settlement before the October 22 deadline
Lands’ End has agreed to settle claims over a December 2024 data breach that exposed a wider set of identity documents than most retail hacks...
Generic drugmakers will pay states $96 million over price-fixing; buyers can register now
Forty-eight states and territories have settled with generic drugmaker Glenmark Pharmaceuticals for $29.6 million over allegations it conspired with competitors to inflate generic drug prices,...
Pfizer’s $44 million Chantix settlement is paying eligible buyers who file by September 14
Pfizer has agreed to pay $44 million to resolve claims that its smoking-cessation drug Chantix was contaminated with a nitrosamine, a substance regulators classify as...
A True World breach settlement pays a no-proof $50 by September 8
True World Holdings is not a household name — it is a wholesale food distributor most people have never bought anything from directly — which...
A settlement is paying Farmers Insurance customers up to $160 over unwanted calls, with a September 14 deadline
Farmers Insurance customers who fielded repeated marketing calls or texts from the company’s agents can file for a payment of up to $160 under a...
The FTC warns of “recovery” scammers who target past fraud victims with a fake promise to get the money back
The Federal Trade Commission is warning that scammers are specifically targeting people who have already lost money to fraud once, promising to recover the stolen...
Banks must send a change-in-terms notice before raising a fee or rate, giving you time to move money
A bank cannot simply raise a checking account’s monthly fee or cut a savings account’s interest rate without warning. Federal rules require a depository institution...
A Missouri credit union failed this month; insured savings moved without loss
The National Credit Union Administration liquidated African Diaspora Federal Credit Union in Saint Ann, Missouri, on August 6, after examiners found the small institution insolvent...
Credit union deposits are federally insured up to $250,000, just like a bank
When a regional bank fails, federal deposit insurance kicks in automatically to make depositors whole up to a set limit. Fewer people realize the same...