Bad news for Walmart MSers as American Express changes the Bluebird fee structure

American Express has changed the fee structure for its popular prepaid debit card, Bluebird. Starting on March 30, 2023, Bluebird will no longer charge a fee for loading money onto the card at Family Dollar stores. This is great news for customers who frequently use Family Dollar to load their Bluebird cards. But for a lot of customers who load the card at Walmart, the fee structure may be bad news as free Walmart loads are no longer possible. Bluebird customers loading their card at Walmart will now be charged a fee of $3.74 per load. …

Crypto entrepreneur and celebrities face SEC charges for fraud and illegal promotion of crypto

Justin Sun and his three fully-owned companies: Tron Foundation Limited, BitTorrent Foundation Ltd., and Rainberry Inc. (formerly known as BitTorrent) are facing charges from the SEC for selling crypto assets Tronix (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT) without registering them as securities as required by law. The SEC also claims that Sun and his companies cheated by artificially boosting the trading activity of TRX by buying and selling TRX to accounts that they controlled or had influence over, without actually transferring the ownership of TRX to someone else. Specifically, Sun is being accused of telling his employees to …

Tips on using Experian’s CreditWorks Premium trial that can give you free FICO scores for years

Experian is notorious for offering what seems like a never-ending trial of its credit monitoring service. Although Experian entices consumers with a 7-day trial of its CreditWorks Premium credit monitoring service, you can renew the trial for years. Even better, Experian retains your credit reports and scores that you viewed during your trial, making this an excellent tool for anyone looking to track trends in their credit. The below guide offers tips on signing up for Experian CreditWorks Premium, using the service, and managing your membership. (1) Signing up Sign up for a 7-day trial …

How to get free Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion FICO scores

There are countless sites offering you free access to your credit scores. The companies that do offer continued free access to your scores are undoubtedly just providing you with your Vantage scores, which differ from FICO scores in their calculation methods and, consequently, the resulting scores. Most importantly, FICO scores are what most lenders (roughly 90%) use. It’s not uncommon for financial institutions to provide customers with access to certain FICO scores. They will usually provide access to the FICO score that they use. While most banks and credit unions provide you with your FICO score on …

The risks of not reviewing your credit reports each month

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, consumers have the right to obtain a free copy of their credit report from each of the three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) once every 12 months. But, this shouldn’t be the only time that you’re reviewing your credit reports. Inaccurate information in your credit reports not only directly affects your credit score. The price that you pay for credit could be affected. This means that you could pay higher interest rates without even knowing it. You could also be denied credit or service because of information in your …

What to do if your application for an account at a bank or credit union is being manually reviewed

A few things could happen after submitting your online application for an account with a bank or credit union. The preferred outcome is that you’re congratulated on opening your new account.On the other end of the spectrum is the outright denial. Somewhere in the middle is a notification that certain pieces of information are needed in order to continue with the account opening. The only outcome worse than a denial is the dreaded message that reads something along the lines like, “Your application is being reviewed. We’ll contact you.” Though it’s not an outright denial, it’s vague, …

The financial benefits of Daylight Saving Time

As spring arrives and the days get longer and warmer, many countries have set their clocks forward by one hour to mark the start of daylight saving time (DST). Though it was first introduced to conserve energy, daylight saving time is associated with several other financial benefits. A study by JPMorgan Chase Institute found that when we switch back to standard time, spending drops between 2.2% and 4.9%. This suggests that when DST is in effect, we tend to spend more money. And, it makes sense. With more daylight, consumers may be more likely to shop and …

How to quickly find a card when using Google Pay

Once you’ve added a payment method to Google Pay, you can easily fill in your credit or debit card details on a website by selecting the saved card. Google will automatically enter all of the card’s information for you. This feature was likely built with the average person in mind, someone with just a few credit and debit cards. Those consumers would have just a few payment methods saved in Google. They can probably look at the list of cards that Google displays and know which one they want to use. But, then there are those …

Negotiate your margin rates and fees with your investment broker

You may think that you’re stuck with your investment brokerage’s advertised margin rates, commissions, and other fees. But, you’re not. Some investment firms allow customers to negotiate certain terms like margin rates and options contract commission rates. The process for requesting special rates is fairly easy and not as intimidating as you may think. You’d simply make the request and answer a few questions about your trading activity. Your account will be reviewed and a decision is made, usually within a few business days. Below are some typical questions that you can be prepared to answer …