Consumerist

Posts Tagged “

Banking

flood insurance

Help! Chase Suddenly Wants Me To Buy Tons Of Flood Insurance!

Reader Nate and his wife recently bought their dream home, which they admit is more modest than most people's dream homes, for $60,000. During closing, they wrote in their offer "that if the home was found to be in a flood plane we withdrew our offer," but were happy to find out that the house was, in fact, not in a flood plain. That is, until Chase, decided that their house was in a flood plain after all and is requiring $185,000 in flood insurance. More »

fdic

If Enough Banks Fail, The FDIC Could Run Out Of Money

Everyone knows that your money is safe in an FDIC insured bank because if the bank fails (Hello, IndyMac!) the FDIC will step in and repay your money (generally, up to $100,000.) But what if the FDIC runs out of money? It doesn't have an unlimited supply and enough bank failures could completely drain its fund, says ABCNews:
More »

worst company in america

Homeowners Sue Countrywide!

Who isn't suing Countrywide lately? Phuong Cat Le from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says that a group of homeowners are now suing Countrywide, alleging that the lender steered them toward high-risk loans without disclosing the inherent risks. More »

whoops

Computer Glitch Renders Thousands Of HSBC Accounts Inaccessible

HSBC's core banking system has been hosed for almost a week, preventing thousands of customers from knowing how much money is stashed in their accounts. The widespread problem is limiting access to HSBCDirect accounts, and at least 8,000 Catholic Health System employees up in Buffalo are still waiting for their direct deposit payments to materialize. More »

your money

Use Your Bank Accounts Every Three Years Or They Will Go To The State

Each year banks give states $4.7 billion belonging to people who failed to "initiate a transaction or communicate with the financial institution" in the past three years. The money isn't lost forever, but getting it back can be a bureaucratic hassle full of forms and headaches. More »

identity theft

WHH Ranch Company Uses Shredded Checks As Package Cushioning

A Texas cannery has been using shredded checks from the local bank as packing materials for the past twenty years. The WHH Ranch Company claims that Michelle McBride of Kansas is the only customer to ever complain about the checks, which plainly displayed routing and account numbers for hospitals, medicare, schools, businesses, and personal accounts. More »

overdraft fees

Watch Out For These 5 Overdraft Traps

Banks need your money. They're not doing too well on their own, and you're not screwing up enough to generate the fees they need to make their shareholders happy. That's why they've set up sneaky ways to maximize your every mistake—or in some cases, ways to change the rules so that you make new mistakes where you didn't before—in order to penalize you. Here are five things SmartMoney says to watch out for. More »

tightwad bank

Yes, "Tightwad Bank" Is A Real Bank, And It's FDIC Insured

Tightwad, Missouri, population 63, doesn't have much, but it does have a bank. A bank where the most common question people ask isn't "Do you have free checking?" It's: "Is this actually a real bank?" Well, the answer is "yes." More »

bank of america

Bank Of America: Exploding Dye Packs Aren't Just For Heist Movies Anymore

A Bank of America customer got a nasty surprise after withdrawing cash to pay her employees — a dye pack exploded in her car. When she went back to the bank to complain she says she didn't even get an apology. More »

citibank

Citibank's Website Glitch Tricks Man Into Overpaying $755, But They Won't Issue Refund

Citibank's website isn't reliable, at least according to them. Matt assumed that a website from a bank could be trustworthy, and that if there was no scheduled payment showing up, then he must have forgotten to arrange it. He scheduled a second payment, but then both payments went through one day apart. Now Citibank refuses to give him a refund: he should have called or emailed before rescheduling, they've told him, and not trusted what the website was telling him. More »

fdic

Your Bank Is Dead. Quick, Call The Hypnotist!

Gramps could go any minute, but banks only fail on Fridays, giving the FDIC carcass crew plenty of time to line up potential buyers, scrap outdated letterhead, and hire hypnotists to help bank employees remember vault codes... More »

fannie mae

Not Good: Fannie Mae Loses $2.3 Billion

Fannie Mae is the nation's largest mortgage finance company and it's just not doing too well, says the AP. Increasing losses from foreclosures are wiping out Fannie's revenue. More »

washington mutual

WaMu Online Banking Treats You Like A Criminal

With all the focus on the girl rocketing across the desert in a supersonic purple dildo, Washington Mutual forgot to mention one thing. When you sign up for a new account with them online instead of in person, be prepared to be treated like a criminal at every turn. Here's Brett's story of why he and his partner don't bank with WaMu, and never will again... More »

mortage meltdown

The Subprime Meltdown Will Be Nothing Compared To The Prime Meltdown

James Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, is not optimistic about the mortgage market. He told investors that he expects the losses mortgages given to people with good or excellent credit to be “terrible.” According to the New York Times, "The first wave of Americans to default on their home mortgages appears to be cresting, but a second, far larger one is quickly building." How can this be? More »

economy

So, How Much Money Are Banks Borrowing Thanks To The Mortgage Meltdown?

Here's a graph from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis that shows, historically, how much money banks have borrowed from the Federal Reserve. More »

Subprime Meltdown

Two More Banks Fail, Including The Largest Arizona-Based Bank

Yesterday the FDIC shuttered the 28 branches of the First National Bank of Nevada and the First Heritage Bank. Federal regulators will perform a nifty little magic trick over the weekend, and on Monday, the branches will reopen as Mutual of Omaha Bank. Aren't bank failures fun?! More »

recession watch

Wachovia: We Just Lost $8.9 Billion!

Wachovia just lost $8.9 billion dollars, and will cut 6,350 workers as the credit crisis keeps on truckin', says the Associated Press. This is um, a lot more than Wall Street had been expecting. Earlier this month, Wachovia had projected a $2.6 billion loss. More »

mortgage meltdown

What It Takes To Qualify For A Mortgage In A World With Standards

The party is over. If you want a mortgage you're going to have to be able to afford it. Oh no! Now what are you going to do? Kiplinger's has an article that explains how mortgage lending works when there are "standards" involved. How quickly we all forget... More »