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
Majority of Americans Want Better Checking Account Disclosures
Earlier this year, the Pew Charitable Trusts published the results of a study of the nation’s 10 largest banks and found that the median length of checking account disclosures is a whopping 111 pages.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Why Your Checking Account is Getting More Expensive
Long the workhorse of the financial mainstream, the checking account has undergone a radical evolution in recent months. Banks are shifting to the business model embraced by airlines, unbundling a product and adding fees on an a la carte basis for services that used to be included.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
About That Checking Account
"The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created by Congress last year as part of financial reform, has broad authority to ban unfair or abusive practices in financial products and services. Protecting checking account holders from unreasonable fees and other costly traps should be one of the agency’s first priorities when it opens for business in July.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
The Case Against 111-Page Checking Account Disclosures
While you are opening that new checking account, don’t forget to read the accompanying 111 pages of legal fine print that go along with it.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Schumer Bill Targets Check Accounts
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for new regulations to require banks to clearly and briefly describe checking account fees now buried in applications that can be more than 100 pages long.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Schumer Wants Crackdown on Hidden Checking Fees
Senator Charles Schumer has proposed a crackdown on lengthy checking account applications that often hide or bury fees.
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- Media Coverage
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
111 Pages of Disclosures for the Typical Checking Account?!?
"According to a new study, checking accounts at the nation's ten largest banks come with a median length of 111 pages of disclosure documents. Getting to the bottom of all of your account's requirements, fee schedules, addendums, and other terms and conditions is like reading a short novel—a horrendously boring, annoyingly legalistic, and purposely confusing novel.
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