Project News
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- Press Release
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
More Than Half of Top 12 U.S. Banks Now Use Pew’s Model Checking Disclosures
SunTrust voluntarily adopted The Pew Charitable Trusts’ disclosure summary for checking accounts today, becoming the seventh of the 12 largest banks in the country now using the simple disclosure box. Currently, this consumer-friendly information is available to over 40 percent of the US market, by deposit volume. more
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December 3, 2012
Paying for the Holidays
As the holiday shopping season takes off, consumers are turning to a variety of financial management tools. View our slideshow and learn more about Pew’s research on hidden bank fees, the growing use of prepaid debit cards, and the actual duration of payday loans that are marketed as two-week products.
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- Press Release
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Pew Report: Most Banks Limit Consumer Options for Dispute Resolution in Checking Accounts
The Pew Safe Checking in the Electronic Age Project today released Banking on Arbitration: Big Banks, Consumers, and Checking Account Dispute Resolution, a report that examines the 100 largest financial institutions’ dispute resolution clauses as well as consumer attitudes about these procedures. more
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- Press Release
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Five of the Top 12 Biggest Banks Adopt Pew’s Consumer-Friendly Summary of Checking Terms & Fees
Bank of America is among the latest banks to announce they will voluntarily adopt Pew’s disclosure summary for checking accounts. With these additions, five of the top 12 banks in America—representing over one-quarter (27 percent) of total deposit volume in the country—have adopted Pew’s recommendation.
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August 24, 2012
Safe Checking: Policy Recommendations
Checking accounts are critical to the financial well-being of American families, but many bear hidden risks. Susan Weinstock, director of the Safe Checking in the Electronic Age project, offers four policy recommendations to make accounts more transparent and fair for consumers. more
Media Coverage
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
New York Times: Drawbacks to Banking Accounts for Seniors
The Pew Charitable Trust, as part of a project titled “Still Risky: An Update on the Safety and Transparency of Checking Accounts,” has looked into so-called senior checking accounts at four of the largest United States banks and one large credit union.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
American Banker: What's Driving the Sudden Shift Toward Simpler Disclosures?
Banks have been talking for years about using plain language in their disclosure notices, but only recently have they started to take action.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
10 Annoying Bank Fees and How to Avoid Them
Do you know what bank fees you're paying? Many banks charge fees for behaviors that customers don't realize are costing them money. Among them are foreign transaction fees and, perhaps most surprisingly, fees for receiving paper statements.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Report: Bank Fees Put Consumers at Financial Risk
Consumer alert for anyone with a checking account. According to a new report many banks are charging Americans excessive and confusing fees. Senior investigative correspondent Lisa Myers has details on this story
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Finding Hidden Banking Fees
Now to a story about your money and maybe your bank. Some of the new regulations on banks have been eating into their profits so they're finding new ways to make money from the people who put their money in the bank.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
More Debit Card Follies and Abuses
The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau needs to bring transparency to debit card banking. The Federal Reserve made a good regulatory start in 2010, when it required banks to get account holders’ consent before enrolling them in overdraft “protection” programs that could cost them $35 each time they used a debit card and overdrew their account—the cards provide no warning of insufficient funds. more
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Bank Overdraft Fees Creeping Up Again, Consumer Monitors Say
Even as the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau weighs whether to address bank overdraft fees that cost U.S. consumers nearly $30 billion last year, some of those fees continue to inch up, according to new reports by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Consumer Federation of America.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Checking Accounts Still Too Confusing and Expensive, Study Finds
Despite some recent improvements by the nation's largest banks, checking accounts are still too confusing for consumers and overdraft fees are too high, according to new findings by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Checking Accounts: High Fees, 69-page Disclosures
Consumers are still getting hit with unexpected fees and aren't receiving clear information about the costs involved with their accounts, according to a report by the Pew Safe Checking in the Electronic Age Project. The study examined the information on 274 checking accounts offered by the nation's 12 biggest banks and credit unions.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Overdraft Fees Rising Despite Regulatory Efforts, Groups Find
Checking account overdraft fees have jumped during the past two years, despite an effort by regulators to rein in aggressive practices by banks, according to new reports by two nonprofit groups.
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