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We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
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At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Our banking reporters and editors focus on the points consumers care about most — the best banks, latest rates, different types of accounts, money-saving tips and more — so you can feel confident as you’re managing your money. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Here is a list of our . Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Glitches and internal errors have recently left customers of some of the biggest banks in a bind. Angry Wells Fargo customers took to social media Thursday and Friday to complain about issues with their debit card transactions. Some noted the appearance of duplicate charges. Others reported that their cards had been declined. Credit card and ATM transactions were not affected, although a spokesperson noted that there were problems with pre-paid and ATM cards at the point of sale. Wells Fargo Thursday evening and said the bank was “working on resolution.” At this point, the problem has been resolved. “We apologize for any inconvenience this caused, and will work with impacted customers affected by the issue,” says a statement from the bank. Earlier this year, customers found themselves with following an internal processing error that caused some online bill payments to be processed twice. And over the summer, from Amazon on their bank accounts. The latest incident comes on the heels of numerous scandals that have led the bank to try and , including ones involving auto loan customers charged for unneeded insurance and customers with bogus accounts opened without consent. Technical issues this year have affected customers of multiple large and mid-sized financial institutions, including , BB&T and SunTrust banks. Banks behaving badly
When a bank accidentally processes an online bill payment or debit card transaction more than once, it’s their responsibility to make you whole. Consumers, however, need to report errors in a timely fashion. Under the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (EFTA), consumers have 60 days from the date that appears on their periodic account statement to notify their bank about unauthorized activity. If you contact your bank within that time frame, it triggers an investigation and your financial institution must correct the error, says Lauren Saunders, associate director at the . Banks are also responsible when customers end up with fees and charges related to a mistake the institution made. “Under the EFTA, a financial institution is liable to a consumer for all damages caused by its failure to make an electronic fund transfer in the correct amount when properly instructed to do so by the consumer,” Saunders says. Getting your bank to make you whole
If your bank won’t fix its errors, contact your financial institution and work your way up the leadership chain until the problem is resolved, says Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. If your bank won’t cooperate, consider filing a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and your state’s attorney general. Even if your bank is willing to cover any fees you’ve been charged, you may decide you deserve additional compensation, particularly if an error had an impact on your credit or your ability to qualify for a good mortgage rate. If taking legal action against your bank seems necessary, it may be difficult, especially if there’s an in a contract preventing you from teaming up with other customers and suing the financial institution. A recent attempt to make it easier for consumers to take financial providers to court was thwarted. Consider consulting an attorney to discuss your options. Next steps for consumers
It may be up to a bank to fix any problems it causes, but there are steps consumers should take to protect themselves. Keep an eye on your bank accounts. Reviewing them at least every couple of weeks is a good rule of thumb, says Mark Wilson, president of MILE Wealth Management in Irvine, California. You should also consider setting up account alerts, Wilson says. That way you’ll receive a notification whenever your balance is low or there’s another issue with your account. While you’re waiting for your bank to correct an error on your account, you may need access to more cash. That’s why having accounts at multiple banks could be a good idea. It’s also wise to have an emergency fund in a that you can tap into if necessary. Time for a new bank
If your bank has made several mistakes in the past, it may be time to consider closing your account. If you shop around, you may find an institution with better customer service or better , money market accounts and other products. “Consumers need to be much more willing to simply walk away from a bank,” Rheingold says. “They need to be comfortable with that. They need to take control of that banking relationship.” Instead of switching banks, you could also limit your bank’s ability to pay bills on your behalf or opt out of other services. Just consider how the bank handled situations when errors were made. “You really have to think about, what’s the policy of the organization? What’s the policy of the provider that you’re using for this particular service and how will they react if something like that does happen at some point?” asks Justin Jackson, vice president of product management for electronic payments at Fiserv. SHARE: Amanda Dixon Related Articles