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…

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 continue to face a variety of risks: some are familiar and have been publicly scrutinized, while others are less predictable and lurk in plain sight. The banking landscape is only getting more complex, with the introduction of new technologies, including gen AI, heightened regulatory pressure and more sophisticated bad actors and security threats. Banks’ risk teams get little public credit when they effectively manage risk, but when something goes wrong, you can bet that it will quickly become front-page news that could cause significant reputational and financial damage. While it’s impossible to create an exhaustive list of risks that…

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

Businesses lose billions of dollars to fraud each year, with smaller companies being often the most vulnerable. While technology dominates discussions around security, traditional methods are still dangerous and frequently overlooked. From check fraud to social engineering, these threats persist even as cybercrime evolves. In fact, this past week, over 1,200 bankers gathered at the American Bankers Association National Convention, where CEO Rob Nichols highlighted the increasing prevalence of fraud facing Americans today. He went on to say, “The scale of fraud taking place every day is a massive burden for our country, and for the millions of hardworking women…

I’ve worked as a personal finance writer for seven years, and I’ve picked up some best practices along the way. These lessons come from conversations I’ve had with expert sources, countless hours spent giving star ratings to dozens of banking products and the experiences that readers have shared with me over email. Here are five lessons that I’d like to share with you from my work as a consumer banking writer.1. The best bank accounts have high interest rates, no fees and creative perksThe two things that I always recommend when shopping for a new bank account are to look…

It is no great secret that the auto insurance industry has faced considerable profitability concerns over the past few years, especially dating back to 2022. As more drivers returned to the roads in 2021, troubling trends began to emerge. First, claims severities have been a major challenge, registering six consecutive quarters of at least 5% growth through the first six months of 2023, according to the LexisNexis® Insurance Demand Meter. Second, the availability of automobiles took a major hit coming out of the pandemic, with the annual run rate on newly created vehicles falling from 18 million in March of…