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Redbox is making an announcement about its prices today, and we want to make sure that you hear it from us first. Starting on Monday, October 31, the daily rental charge for DVDs will change to $1.20 a day.* The price change is due to rising operating expenses, including new increases in debit card fees. Daily rental charges for Blu-ray™ Discs and video games won't change.** Additional-day charges for DVDs rented before 10/31 won't be affected, either. In order to make the transition easier, Redbox will discount the first day of all online DVD rentals to $1.00 from 10/31 through...

Hold on to your wallet: The Durbin Amendment goes into effect Saturday. The once-obscure amendment to the Dodd-Frank financial-reform bill limits “interchange fees,” which banks charge to merchants for providing the service that allows stores to accept debit-card payments. The fees were cut by some 80 percent, which makes it less profitable for banks to offer debit-card services. So the banks have done the natural thing and begun to transfer the fee from merchants to their customers, with Bank of America announcing a new $5-per-month fee for debit-card users. Naturally, the amendment’s author, Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) is in...

Bank of America Corp plans to charge customers who use their debit cards to make purchases a $5 monthly fee beginning early next year, joining other banks scrambling for new sources of revenue. U.S. banks have been looking for ways to increase revenue as regulations introduced since the financial crisis limited the use of overdraft and other fees.

But perhaps the biggest wallet-buster I've been noticing lately is bank fees. From Wells Fargo to SunTrust, banks are imposing new or increased charges in the face of new regulations that take effect Oct. 1. The new legislation, called the Durbin Amendment, roughly cut the amount banks can charge retailers who swipe your debit card - known as an interchange fee - in half. That's great for retailers, who were paying an average of 44 cents per transaction, but bad for banks. In some ways, at least, it's bad for customers, too. Here's a look at what you can expect...

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve appeared likely to approve on Wednesday a staff recommendation to cut by 50 percent the fees that banks collect from retailers each time a customer makes a purchase with a debit card. The likely cap on the fees, to an average of about 21 cents per transaction, marks a small victory for banks because it is significantly higher than the initially proposed cap of 12 cents laid out by the Federal Reserve in December. Banks currently charge merchants an average of 44 cents per debit-card transaction. The final rule was subject to a vote by...

A week from today, one in 10 New Yorkers who use debit cards will be red-faced at a retail checkout counter when their cards are declined. That's because Aug. 15 is the kickoff day for new federal rules requiring existing bank and credit union customers to opt in for debit-card and ATM overdraft coverage -- a massive change in banking regulation that many consumers have ignored or failed to notice. The choice for customers is this: Opt in to overdraft coverage, meaning you can use your debit card even if you overdraw your account, but pay a $20-$30 penalty every...

NOTE The following text SNIPPET is a quote: International Hacker Arraigned After Extradition Elaborate Scheme Stole over $9.4 Million from Credit Card Processor ATLANTA, GA—SERGEI TŠURIKOV, 26, of Tallinn, Estonia, has been extradited to the United States. TŠURIKOV appeared today and was arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge E. Clayton Scofield III, on federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit computer fraud, computer fraud, and aggravated identity theft. TŠURIKOV was indicted by a federal grand jury on these charges on November 10, 2010, along with VIKTOR PLESHCHUK, 29, of St. Petersburg, Russia; OLEG COVELIN,...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/news2010/harrison.ind.htm JULY 9, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BLACK MARKET TRAVEL AGENTS 38 DEFENDANTS INDICTED IN MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR FRAUD LOCAL INVESTIGATION EXPOSES NATIONWIDE NETWORK THAT USED STOLEN IDENTITIES, CREDIT CARDS TO PURCHASE AIRLINE TICKETS KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that 38 defendants from across the United States have been charged in a series of indictments that allege an extensive network of black market travel agents who used the stolen identities of thousands of victims as part of a multi-million dollar fraud scheme...

Debit cards have different protections and uses. Sometimes they're not the best choice. Sometimes reaching for your wallet is like a multiple choice test: How do you really want to pay? While credit cards and debit cards may look almost identical, not all plastic is the same. "It's important that consumers understand the difference between a debit card and a credit card," says John Breyault, director of the Fraud Center for the National Consumers League, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group. "There's a difference in how the transactions are processed and the protections offered to consumers when they use them." While...

(03-09) 21:21 PST NEW YORK, (AP) -- Bank of America customers will soon be unable to spend more than they have in the accounts linked to their debit cards. It's a step that may become a common move ahead of new regulations limiting overdraft fees. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/03/09/financial/f190007S63.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0hkprqVVM

Note: The following text is a quote: Alleged International Hacker Indicted for Massive Attack on U.S. Retail and Banking Networks Data Related to More Than 130 Million Credit and Debit Cards Allegedly Stolen WASHINGTON – Albert Gonzales, 28, of Miami, Fla., was indicted today for conspiring to hack into computer networks supporting major American retail and financial organizations, and stealing data relating to more than 130 million credit and debit cards, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Ralph J. Marra Jr. and U.S. Secret Service Assistant...

One mistake could cost Trina Lee her Christmas. Things have been tight for the Arizona-based nursing assistant since she got laid off two years ago and suffered some medical problems that have kept her from working full-time. [...] Earlier this month, she was feeling temporarily flush because she has prepaid most of her bills and figured the rest of her December income from child support and a part-time job could be spent on Christmas gifts. So she splurged on a $65 meal with her mom and brother, knowing that it was possible that this one meal could overdraft her checking...

When Peter Means returned to graduate school after a career as a civil servant, he turned to a debit card to help him spend his money more carefully. So he was stunned when his bank charged him seven $34 fees to cover seven purchases when there was not enough cash in his account, notifying him only afterward. He paid $4.14 for a coffee at Starbucks — and a $34 fee. He got the $6.50 student discount at the movie theater — but no discount on the $34 fee. He paid $6.76 at Lowe’s for screws — and yet another $34...

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- A security breach at an East Coast supermarket chain exposed more than 4 million card numbers and led to 1,800 cases of fraud, the Hannaford Bros. grocery chain announced Monday. Hannaford said credit and debit card numbers were stolen during the card authorization process and about 4.2 million unique card numbers were exposed, placing the case among the largest data breaches ever. The breach affected all of its 165 stores in the Northeast, 106 Sweetbay stores in Florida and a smaller number of independent groceries that sell Hannaford products. The company is aware of about 1,800...

Every think twice about handing over a credit or debit card to your restaurant server when paying the check? Maybe you should. While most of the time the payment goes through just fine, when your card leaves your sight, nasty things can happen. Occasionally, crooks use devices called skimmers to steal account information that's embedded in a card's magnetic stripe, which they sell or use to make counterfeit cards to raid a bank account or run up fraudulent bills. It's estimated 70 percent of that type of card fraud, known as skimming, happens in restaurants, one of the last places...

Every morning on his way to the Concord, Calif., high school where he teaches physical education and health, John Nunan buys his breakfast. After he swipes his card through the reader, his bank debits the purchase from his account. He often repeats the process for lunch and dinner. The amounts are small. For example, his usual breakfast of coffee and a Western omelet bagel from a coffee shop comes to $5.35. He said he debits his bank account “pretty much for every meal that I eat out.” Mr. Nunan, 25, is part of a group that some major credit card...

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — Jose Manuel Aparicio had come up with all kinds of ways to stash his construction job wages: He slipped bills between pages of books hidden in his bedroom closet and stuffed money into an old sock in his laundry. ... Without a bank account, "somebody can steal it," said the 20-year-old, who came to the U.S. from Mexico three years ago. "That's it, my money is gone." Then three months ago, Aparicio applied for a special debit card created for immigrants who don't have Social Security numbers, which are required to open savings or checking accounts....

Cyber Heist Could Cost Consumers Consumer Groups Say Victims Need More Information About the Heist Thousands of consumers had their debit card information stolen in a recent cyber security breach. (AP Photo) April 21, 2006 — - After their banks quietly informed them their debit card and bank information may have been stolen, thousands of Americans could lose as much as $500 in money taken from their accounts. In possibly the biggest incident of debit card hacking theft, thousands of U.S. consumers have been told that their bank accounts may have been compromised by computer hackers who stole debit information...

The Houston Police Department is reporting that some recipients of FEMA Storm Relief Debit cards are getting relief in some unexpected ways; by frequenting local strip clubs. Read More... Craig DeLuz Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense... www.craigdeluz.com

On the heels of a report earlier this week that Atlanta area Katrina victims were using $2,000 debit cards to purchase luxury items like Louis Vuitton handbags, Houston police yesterday discovered the cards, provided by FEMA and the Red Cross, being used at local strip clubs. The Houston Police Department just formed a task force to investigate the abuse of the cards, which were distributed to thousands of Katrina hurricane victims to provide for necessities, such as food, clothing and toiletries. On the first day, the police found the cards being used to buy beer while ogling exotic dancers.