Tagged: personal finance

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it's looking to overhaul rules on overdraft fees. The new agency will be seeking data from banks about how they handle overdrawn accounts, and how they assess fees. The agency plans to use this information to help consumers limit their exposure to these costly charges.

The CFPB estimates that last year, banks made between $15 billion and $22 billion from overdraft fees.

Richard Cordray, the director of the CFPB, says the overdraft cash cow is being fed by a relatively small handful of checking account users.

"The numbers are pretty stark," he says. "Nine percent of the people incur about 84 percent of the overdraft fees."

One of the key consequences of the economic collapse a few years ago was the passage of a massive piece of legislation called the "Dodd-Frank Act." The bill was co-sponsored by (now-retired) Democratic Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut and (soon-to-be-retired) Democratic Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank. In a nutshell, their idea was to prevent another massive financial crisis by more heavily regulating key players in the financial industry.

In their books, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner use the tools of economics to explore real-world behavior. As boring as that may sound, what they really do is tell stories — about cheating schoolteachers, self-dealing real-estate agents, and crack-selling mama's boys. Those Freakonomics stories — and plenty of new ones — are now coming to the radio, with Dubner as host. Just like the books, Freakonomics Radio explores “the hidden side of everything.” It will tell you things you always thought you knew but didn't, and things you never thought you wanted to know, but do.  Information is available at http://www.freakonomics.com/radio/

Is a 'No-Lose Lottery' the Answer to America's Savings Problem?

Peer to peer lending is making a comeback...and might soon use some surprising measures of credit-worthiness.

EarthTalk®
E - The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: I've heard of the slow food movement, but what is “slow money” all about?
                                                                                                                    -- Phil Nimkoff, New York, NY

The phrase “first in the nation” is the shorthand we use for talking about the New Hampshire presidential primary coming before any other.

New Hampshire is first among states in other ways, too. Some are good – like having the lowest rate of child poverty among states. Some are not so good – like having the highest student debt load in America.