Banking & Accounts
Checking accounts, overdraft rules, deposit insurance and the everyday mechanics banks would rather you did not read closely — including what to do when an account is frozen and which transfers can never be reversed.
How to Choose a Checking Account
Six contract terms separate one checking account from another, and five of them are ways to lose money quietly. What to compare, what to ignore, and what "free checking" really costs.
How to Stop Paying Overdraft Fees
Overdraft coverage on debit card and ATM transactions is opt-in under federal rules, and most people paying for it do not remember agreeing. How to turn it off, and how to get past fees reversed.
Credit Union vs. Bank: How They Actually Differ
Credit unions beat banks on borrowing by a wide margin. On the plain savings account most people actually use, the regulator's own data says banks paid more.
Online Banks vs. Branch Banks
The yield gap is worth hundreds of dollars a year on an ordinary emergency fund. The catch is cash deposits, certified checks, and the counter services you forgot existed.
FDIC and NCUA Insurance, Explained
The limit is $250,000 per depositor, per institution, per ownership category. That last phrase is how a household insures $2.5 million at one bank, and how two accounts leave a $100,000 hole.
Second Chance Bank Accounts and ChexSystems
Being turned down for a checking account usually traces to one unpaid balance in a database you have never seen. How to read it, dispute it, and get banked again.
The Risks of Joint Bank Accounts
Any co-owner can take all of it, their creditors can reach it, and it overrides your will. For most of the situations people use them for, there is a better instrument.
Switching Banks: A Step-by-Step Checklist
The work is about ninety minutes. The timing is ninety days. Almost everyone who gets burned did the right steps in the wrong order and closed the old account too early.
Wire, ACH, and Zelle: What's Different
Four systems move money out of your checking account and they look identical inside the app. They differ on speed, on price, and on whether the money can ever come back.
Bank Accounts for Kids and Teens
Joint, custodial, or a branded teen account. Two of the three are reversible and one is a permanent gift you cannot take back. That difference matters more than the app.
Your Bank Account Is Frozen: What to Do
Three different things freeze a bank account, and two of them come with rights you can use this week, including automatic protection for two months of direct-deposited federal benefits.
Is a Safe Deposit Box Worth It?
A safe deposit box is rented floor space in a very good building. Nobody insures what is inside unless you arrange it, and several common items should never go in one.