Finance Globe

Some surprises are welcome: a surprise birthday present, a surprise engagement, a surprise job promotion. However, when it comes to your finances, surprises are typically not appreciated. Avoid many surprises by staying in the know with your own money. Read your mail. Banks and other businesses will typically send account notifications to you by mail. Sometimes notices are included with your regular billing statements or they may be mailed separately. Often, important notifications are sent in...

The money in your checking account is for paying your bills and covering everyday expenses. Mismanaging your account can be expensive, resulting in overdrafts, fees, and a myriad of other financial problems. You should keep at least enough money in the account to cover the expenses you have coming due before your next payday. It’s possible to have too much money in your checking account. Any money that you don’t need for bills and regular expenses...

It’s rare to find a good or service for which the price stays the same over a period of time. ATM fees are no exception. If you’ve ever used another bank’s ATM to withdraw cash from your checking or savings account, then you know you pay a surcharge, or fee, for that transaction. According to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office, the average ATM surcharge has increased by 20% over the last five years....

The Federal Trade Commission has released the results of its latest survey on fraud. Conducted in late 2011 and early 2012, the survey reveals there were 25.6 million victims of fraud. Here are the top 10 fraud categories: Weight-loss products, 5.1 million victimsFraudulent prize promotions, 2.4 million victimsUnauthorized billing for buyers’ club membership or internet services, 1.9 victimsWork-at-home programs, 1.8 million victimsCredit repair scam, 1.6 million victimsDebt relief, 1.5 million victimsCredit card insurance, 1.3 million victimsBusiness...

When you hear the term “CD” you might immediately think of the round, flat disc that you stick into a player to hear music. There’s another kind of CD you should know about, one that can help you earn a little bit of money. CD is an acronym for certificate of deposit. This is type of low-risk investment you can open at a bank or credit union. You agree to leave your money in the CD...

Whether you get a tax refund or you owe taxes after completing your tax return depends largely on how much you paid in taxes throughout the year. If you receive a refund, then you overpaid. On the other hand, owing taxes indicates that you underpaid taxes throughout the year. You probably know, from your paystub, that you have a certain amount of money deducted from your pay for Federal and state taxes. Your employer’s payroll department...

A recent survey from the NFCC reveals the top financial concerns of consumers: saving money, not having or affording health insurance, making debt obligations, credit score concerns, fear of job loss. There are definitely a lot of pieces that fit in the personal finance puzzle and fitting them together is key to completing your financial picture. It can be tough, but take it one step at a time, doing the best you can. How to Save...

The National Foundation of Credit Counseling and the Network Branded Prepaid Card Association surveyed American consumers about their financial concerns and 57% answered that they’re worried about their savings. Slightly more of respondents were worried about having an emergency fund than a retirement. Both are important, but the consequences of not having an adequate emergency fund are more imminent for many people than not having retirement savings. The survey results are on par with other studies...

Last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau began publishing summary data about consumer complaints in an online database. At first, the database only included details about credit card complaints. But, a few days ago, the bureau updated the database to include complaints on all categories taking the number of complaints from 19,000 to over 90,000. Consumers can view the complaints, create filters and reports on the data by going to ConsumerFinance.gov/ComplaintDatabase. Financial Products With the Most...

The Federal Trade Commission has long been warning consumers against advance fee loan scams where scammers trick consumers into wiring a fee to receive a loan. There are all kinds of variations of this scam, but you could generally spot the scams by the fact that you were being asked to wire money. Scammers have a new twist: they’re asking unsuspecting consumers to send money via Green Dot MoneyPaks. You can fund a Green Dot prepaid...