American Consumers Continue to Rack Up Debt American consumers are continuing to rack up debt: Overall consumer credit increased at an annual rate of 2.1%, according to the latest tally from the Federal Reserve. Even after the Fed’s long-awaited rate cut, high interest rates on those credit cards have barely budged. That could be troubling as we head into the holiday shopping season. American consumers made a big dent in our collective debt early in the pandemic. Then, around mid-2021, we started running the tab right back up, to a record $1.14 trillion in credit card debt by the second…

Best free checking accountsSoFi Checking and SavingsSoFi Bank, N.A.SoFi Checking and SavingsNerdWallet Rating  NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formulas take into account multiple data points for each financial product and service.Why we like it: SoFi’s online Checking and Savings account offers competitive interest rates on both checking and savings, and customers have access to a large, free ATM network. ProsLarge, free, nationwide ATM network. Checking account pays interest once requirements are met. Chime®Chime Checking AccountNerdWallet Rating  NerdWallet’s ratings are determined by our editorial team. The scoring formulas take into account multiple data points for each financial product…

You’ve probably heard of the “Three Body Problem”, the outstanding Chinese future fiction novel by Liu Cixin (or the perhaps the Netflix series based on it). The three body problem in the title is a real problem in physics: the motion of two bodies can be calculated with precision but adding a third body introduces unpredictable chaos. With the arrival of non-human financial services customers just around the corner, I think we are about to see similar chaos in the universe of retail financial services. We cannot predict the trajectory of products and services when we have not three bodies…

The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.Rates on savings accounts and certificates of deposit remain higher than they’ve been for most of the past decade. But what exactly impacts the interest rate of your bank account?Let’s break down a few factors.A high Fed rate keeps savings rates upFrom March 2022 to July 2023, the Federal Reserve steadily increased its federal funds rate, or Fed rate, from nearly zero to…

There should no longer be a question in anyone’s mind that bitcoin is here to stay. What may be a little less clear is, why? The answer is fairly simple: Wall Street found the money. The last sentence should be amusing to those who are supporters of bitcoin or are immersed in the digital asset class. Bitcoin Bitcoin , after all, was created to be money. On October 31, 2008, the mysterious unknown developer of bitcoin who goes under the what is widely believed to be a pseudonymous name, Satoshi Nakamoto, described a digital cryptocurrency in a white paper titled,…

Twenty years ago, or so, consumers had limited options for checking accounts: there was the choice between chartered banks or credit unions. Fast forward to today and consumers have a dizzying assortment of choices for transaction accounts. The traditional banks and credit unions are still the main options, and an entire industry of non-bank financial technology (fintech) providers has arisen. The heyday of fintech has likely come to an end, as I covered in a previous article published earlier this month, and on balance, that is probably best for consumers. Time for fintech to change. Fintech companies require partner banks…

The investing information provided on this page is for educational purposes only. NerdWallet, Inc. does not offer advisory or brokerage services, nor does it recommend or advise investors to buy or sell particular stocks, securities or other investments.If you’re working toward a savings goal, you have many options for where to put your cash. Savings accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), money market accounts, cash management accounts and investment accounts are all possibilities. Which should you choose? That depends on how far away your goal is, how much you hope to earn on your cash and how often you want to…

The news media has extensively covered the crash and burn trajectories of some of the leading crypto companies since FTX led the way into bankruptcy in November 2022. Soon to follow were BlockFi, Celsuis, Voyager, and many others that were not as high profile. Crypto companies were highly criticized, and in some instances deservedly so, but what about the failures on financial technology firms providing traditional products? Customers are at much higher risk from the non-crypto providers because in many cases the customers do not recognize the risks and underestimate the consequences of failure. Financial technology (fintech) companies that provide…

NerdWallet’s overall ratings for banks and credit unions are weighted averages of several categories: checking, savings, certificates of deposit or credit union share certificates, banking experience and overdraft fees. Factors we consider, depending on the category, include rates and fees, ATM and branch access, account features and limits, user-facing technology, customer service and innovation. The stars represent ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars). Ratings are rounded to the nearest half-star. Read the full article here

Banks Are Finally Going to Have to Compete for Your Money It’s about to get harder for banks to hold onto unsatisfied customers, and their money. It has long been a challenge for people to ditch the banks where they keep their checking accounts. But the first so-called open banking rules in the U.S. aims to change that. New rules finalized by the CFPB on Tuesday will require banks to simplify how customers transfer their data from one bank to another without losing their transaction and bill history. The aim of the regulations, formally known as 1033, is to empower…