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
The FTC is refunding nearly $3 million to homeowners scammed by a mortgage-relief company
More than 1,800 homeowners who paid a mortgage-relief company for help that never came are now receiving refund checks from the Federal Trade Commission. The...
Scammers posing as the court are calling about “missed jury duty” and threatening arrest unless you pay — the FTC says hang up
Scammers are calling Americans, claiming to be court officials or U.S. Marshals, and demanding immediate payment for supposedly missed jury duty. The threat is always...
The Education Department is again pausing wage garnishment for borrowers in default on their federal student loans
For the roughly 5 million Americans whose federal student loans are in default, the money that was about to disappear from their paychecks and tax...
Pay your full credit card statement balance by the due date and you owe no interest at all
Credit card holders who pay every dollar of their statement balance before the printed due date owe zero interest on those purchases. That protection, written...
The FBI says scammers posing as banks and federal agents are increasingly sending couriers to pick up victims’ cash and gold
Scammers posing as bank officials and federal agents are dispatching couriers directly to victims’ homes to collect cash and gold bars, a tactic that has...
Naming a payable-on-death beneficiary on a bank account lets it skip probate and pay out within days
Families who lose a loved one often face weeks or months of probate court proceedings before they can access a single dollar in the deceased’s...
Turning on real-time transaction alerts in your bank’s app catches fraud in seconds, not on next month’s statement
Bank customers who wait for a monthly statement to spot unauthorized charges face a legal clock that can cost them hundreds or even thousands of...
Most cardholders who call and ask get their interest rate lowered, yet almost no one with a 21% rate picks up the phone
Credit card holders paying rates above 20% are leaving real money on the table by not making a single phone call. Survey data collected over...
Federal law gives you 60 days to dispute a credit card billing error and withhold payment on it
Credit card holders across the United States have a strict 60-day window to challenge billing errors and legally withhold payment while their card issuer investigates....
Pawn America will send breach victims at least $30, with up to $5,000 for documented losses, on claims filed by July 6
More than three years after hackers compromised systems at Pawn America, the pawn-and-retail chain is paying up. Under a proposed class action settlement, customers whose...
Three men are charged with stealing $8 million from older Americans who were told to turn their savings into gold bars for fake government couriers
Five people now face federal charges for allegedly running a tech-support fraud operation that drained at least $8 million from elderly victims across at least...
Complete Payroll Solutions will pay up to $5,000 to workers caught in its 2024 data breach, with claims due June 18
Workers whose personal data was exposed in the 2024 Complete Payroll Solutions breach face a June 18 deadline to file claims worth up to $5,000....
Scammers are sending fake graduation and party invites that ask you to “log in,” then steal your email password
Scammers have timed a new credential-theft campaign to graduation season, sending fake digital invitations that ask recipients to enter their email address and password before...
Yahoo just began a second round of data-breach payouts to people who filed claims years ago
People who filed claims against Yahoo years ago for one of the largest data breaches in history are now receiving a second wave of settlement...
Report an unauthorized debit charge and your bank usually has 10 business days to put the money back
Anyone who spots a charge they did not authorize on a debit card or bank account faces an immediate problem: the money is already gone....
Federal rules make the first $225 of a check deposit available the next day
Anyone who has deposited a paycheck and needed the money right away knows the frustration: the bank says the funds are “pending,” and bills are...
Government and nonprofit workers can have their federal student loans erased after 120 payments
Millions of teachers, firefighters, social workers, and federal employees carry student loan debt while earning less than their private-sector counterparts. For those borrowers, the Public...
Report a lost debit card within two days and federal law caps your loss at $50 — wait longer and it can climb to $500
Consumers who lose a debit card face a ticking clock that directly determines how much money they can be held responsible for. Federal rules tie...
Your bank doesn’t have to refund a Zelle transfer you were tricked into sending
Consumers who send money through Zelle after being deceived by a scammer face a hard legal reality: their bank is not required to give the...
Labcorp will pay $35 million over a 2019 data breach, with patients able to claim $50 or up to $5,000 in losses by September 3
Patients whose personal and medical data were exposed in the 2019 breach at American Medical Collection Agency can now file claims for automatic payments of...