Will the Unbanked Ever Become Bankable? With the rise of pre-paid debit cards, payday loans and pawn shops, we learn more about a large segment of the population that lurks in the shadows of the financial system in 
our country called the “unbanked.” These are people from a variety of backgrounds and for any number of reasons simply don’t show up on the radar of the banking system or they have been denied access to checking and savings accounts.
They somehow manage to conduct their financial transactions using alternative “financial services” such as check-cashing services and non-bank money orders in the banking underground. Who exactl
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Become Bankable, Ever Become, Ever Become Bankable, Unbanked
There’s a new dance in town, one that’s earning a few crafty frequent fliers more bonus miles than they can handle. It’s called “churning” in reference to the process of making butter, and though it takes some time to memorize the steps, once you know the routine you can reap thousands of sweet, morally ambiguous bonus miles for absolutely free. Here’s how to do it.
1) Pick a partner. Like any dance, churning always works better with a partner. You can still do it by yourself, but teaming up with your spouse or significant other will double your total earnings and allow both of you to fly together.
2) Make sure your credit ratings are high. When you start churning credit cards, you are going to be putting a LOT of little dings onto your credit score. Because you will
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Churning
On his first full day as director of the federal consumer financial watchdog agency, Richard Cordray announced the start of closer scrutiny of nonbank financial services providers such as payday lenders, check cashing stores, credit bureaus and debt collectors.
“Holding banks and nonbanks accountable to consumer financial laws will help create a fairer, more transparent market for consumers,” Cordray said Thursday. He announced that his agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will launch a program to oversee an array of financial services companies that previously have not undergone extensive federal examination of their operations.
Cordray made the announcement during a speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., a day after President Obama made a controversial recess appointment making Cordray director.
“The installation of Mr. Cordray as director means that consumers can now be protected against a full array of financial practices,” notes U.S.
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Watchdog, Watchdog Begins
If you plan to buy your loved ones, friends and co-workers iTunes gift certificates this holiday season you might want to avoid e-mail offers for the cards. A group of 11 specialists are warning buyers of fake certificates that offer no monetary value while placing malware on the users computer.
The emails, which read “iTunes Gift Certiicate” provide readers with a 50% off option that will then give them a code that can be used for music downloads. Onc
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Gift, Gift Certificates, Itunes Gift, Itunes Gift Certificates
For much of the last couple of years, most of us have paid little attention to the brewing financial problems of Europe, not because they weren’t that significant, but primarily because we have our own problems here at home. Although we are still neck deep in debt, deficit and recession worries, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the incessant headlines of the impending European debt crisis of the Eurozone, and the “contagion” 
of bank failures that some predict will soon reach our shores. Now that it has our attention, more of us are beginning to wonder what effect it might have on our own personal finances. With our credit system still in a fragile state, many consumers are wondering how it could impact such things as our credit card rates.
Nothing good is expected to come out of the European debt crisis and the ultimate collapse of sovereign debt in Greece, or Italy, or Spain, and on and on. In addit
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In the 29th edition of our Best of the Best Blogger series, we sat down with Ken Tumin of Deposit Accounts.
Ken originally started with another blog in 2005, called BankDeals because of a real shortage of quality bank information online. BankDeals was merged back in 2009 into what we now know as Deposit Accounts.
What makes Deposit Accounts unique is its unbiased nature. Considered the most comprehensive index of bank deposit information online, the site does not allow its advertising relationships to affect or influence the rate disclosures that they provide. In fact, the site documents that [we] receive no compensation for over 99% of the banks we list. The site doesnt require registration and all of the bank data is instantly available and easily sortable by rate and by region. You can search for a bank by name and get all of the relevant information that you need right at your fingertips instantly.
Deposit Accounts tracks and displays over 275,000 different account deposit rates from various banks and credit unions in the US, including regional and local credit unions and banks, which typically provide the very best deals and rates for consumers. The site also provides health rating information about FDIC or NCUA insured banks to provide visibility on the financial health of each depository institution that it tracks, yet another highly useful resource.
The site has been featured on CBS MoneyWatch, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, CNN Money and Consumer Reports, among others.
We sat down with Ken recently to talk about the mortgage mess, historically low interest rates and what it really means to be too-big-to-fail.
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