Money, Credit and Debt Advice – Get Out of Debt Guy Question: My Student Loans Leave Me Hopeless Dear Steve, I can’t believe how much student loan debt I have. It feels like I can barely get by each month and there is no way for me to ever get out from under these loans. I have both federal and ... Read More »

The new Next Step MasterCard has a special purpose, it’s supposed to make it harder for addicts to partake of their vice and use their debit card as the needle. The debit card restricts use at locations that people might be tempted to unload their debit card to feed their habit. Places like liquor stores, bars, gambling places, ATMs, tattoo ... Read More »

When my grandma, god bless her soul, hears about a new scam, fraud or any form of financial trickery she immediately calls me up and warns me to stop whatever I’m doing and take notes. To her knowledge I don’t belong to more than one social media network, I don’t buy items online, I don’t apply for credit cards and ... Read More »

It was announced today that a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) action has banned a payment processor from using a new payment method to debit accounts after allegedly debiting millions from consumers’ bank accounts without their consent. Payment processors provide merchants with the ability to obtain customer payments for products and services via electronic banking. According to the FTC’s complaint against ... Read More »

Three defendants have been sentenced to federal prison on charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft; one man committing fraud from prison. According to United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, the charges and other information presented in court: In late January 2011, Samantha Johnson stole the wallet of a 93-year-old woman while she was shopping at a retail establishment ... Read More »

The state of South Carolina and Bank of America have teamed up together to administer unemployment benefits to South Carolina residents. Unemployment benefits used to come in the form of a check but are now being issued in the form of a Bank of America prepaid debit card. Bank of America claims that it’s good deal for everyone from taxpayers ... Read More »

Just one month ago I wrote about the implementation of debit card fees coming into play for big banks such as Chase, Wells Fargo and most notably Bank of America. Due to the change in a new government regulation that caps what banks can charge merchants for debit transactions they announced plans to implement a monthly debit card fee to ... Read More »

After being convicted on July 5, 2011, Vicente Bilora Mbenga of Maryland, has been sentenced to six years in prison, three years supervised release after and an owed restitution of $27,218.06 for committing bank fraud and running an identity theft scheme. According to court documents and evidence presented at Mbenga’s trial, he participated in a scheme in which co-conspirators contacted ... Read More »

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before but I, Amanda Miller, am a Bank of America customer. Although, not a thrilled and loyal customer, I’m a customer nevertheless. In fact, this bank has done some things over the years I’m not very happy about but I continue to bank with them because I love their mobile application (Yes, I ... Read More »

When I was 8 years old my dad took me into Citibank to open my very first savings account. He said it would teach me the value of a dollar and the importance of saving. I don’t remember how much I started my account with and if I deposited on a regular basis but I do remember being the talk ... Read More »

For years people continue to try and convince me that debit cards are better than credit cards. Those arguments just won’t fly because there is no getting around the basic fundamental problem of debt cards, they are a direct link into your bank account. Time and time again I’ve heard or read stories of people that have had transaction go ... Read More »

by Marian Wang, ProPublica It’s April 21, and another Dodd-Frank deadline has come and gone. Today was the day the Fed’s regulations on debit card transaction fees, also known as interchange fees, were supposed to be finalized. Hasn’t happened. Controversy over the regulations caused the Fed to postpone finalizing the rules. But that win alone wasn’t enough for the banks, ... Read More »

by Marian Wang, ProPublica The banking industry has been busy fighting to defeat or delay a proposal that would cap the interchange fees they collect from merchants when customers pay with debit cards. As we’ve noted, they’ve lobbied extensively, and some banks have warned that they’ll end free checking, end some debit rewards, or place limits on the size of ... Read More »

Chase Bank is talking about significantly reining in debt card transaction limits to $50 or $100. The reason, so the can make more money. Recent legislation capped the amount the bank can charge retailers per transaction for using a debit card. Currently it is 44 cents per debit card transaction but soon it will be limited to 12 cents. I ... Read More »

Commercial Name: Western Union MoneyWise Prepaid Debit Card Record Date: 11-07-2010 Network/Channel: BET Description: Western Union MoneyWise debit card with no monthly maintenance fees, no transaction fees, no overdraft fees, but it does come with other fees mentioned only in the small print. While the commercial presents the card in glowing terms without many fees or restrictions, once you read ... Read More »