Pew's Safe Checking in the Electronic Age Project raises awareness, builds partnerships with industry, and advocates for policies that reduce risks and allow Americans to responsibly manage their checking accounts. It provides the public with information about policies that promote a competitive marketplace in the age of electronic banking and foster a level playing field among financial institutions.
Why Safe Checking Matters
Nine out of 10 Americans have a checking account, making it the most widely used financial services product in the United States. These accounts provide a secure way for consumers to collect earnings and make payments, and for many, they serve as the entry point to the financial mainstream.
How We Conduct Our Work
The initiative educates the public and policy makers by analyzing current overdraft and deposit practices and disclosure provisions, as well as uncovering the hidden costs associated with many checking accounts. The project supports solutions that require depository institutions to:
- provide customers information about checking account terms, conditions, and fees in a concise, easy-to-read, one-page format;
- provide accountholders with clear, comprehensive pricing information for all available overdraft options;
- make overdraft penalty fees reasonable and proportional to the bank’s costs in providing the overdraft loan; and
- post deposits and withdrawals in a fully disclosed, objective, and neutral manner that does not maximize overdraft fees.
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The LATEST from the Project
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- Press Release
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Citibank Adopts Pew’s Summary of Checking Account Terms & Fees
Citibank is the third major bank to announce it will voluntarily adopt Pew’s simple overview for checking accounts.
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- Press Release
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Pew's Comments: Impact of Overdraft Programs
Letter to Monica Jackson, Office of the Executive Secretary at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, from Susan K. Weinstock, Project Director of Pew Center on the States' Safe Checking in the Electronic Age Project, regarding the Impact of Overdraft Programs.
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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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- Press Release
- Safe Checking in the Electronic Age
Pew Finds Consumers Subject to Unclear Policies, Leading to Unnecessary Costs When Navigating Checking Accounts
The Pew Safe Checking in the Electronic Age Project released Still Risky: An Update on the Safety and Transparency of Checking Accounts today, a report that examines the many financial risks consumers face when they open a checking account. more
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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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