The financial news that actually matters
A checking account at one of America’s biggest banks now costs $15.45 a month if you don’t jump through the right hoop. That is the average monthly maintenance fee on non-interest checking accounts at the largest U.S. institutions, a record high according to Bankrate’s most recent checking account survey. Over a year, the charge totals…
If you run a restaurant and watch your card-processing bill climb every month, here is the part that stings: you are paying a swipe fee on the sales tax you collect for the state and on the tip your customer leaves for the server. Illinois passed a law to stop that. On June 30, 2026,…
Order an $80 dinner in Chicago, and the final credit card charge might hit $104 after tax and a 20 percent tip. The bank that issued the card collects an interchange fee on every dollar of that total, including the portion headed to the city treasury and the portion headed to the server. Illinois lawmakers…
When a licensed firearms dealer in Mississippi lost his business checking account in 2014, the bank told him only that the relationship had been “terminated.” No fraud allegation. No compliance violation. Just a letter and a locked-out login. He was one of dozens of gun retailers, payday lenders, and tobacco sellers who told the Department…
Book a hotel room advertised at $250 a night, and by the time you reached checkout, the total had often crept to $310 or more. A “resort fee” here, a “destination amenity charge” there. Concert tickets pulled the same trick: a $95 seat ballooned past $130 once “service” and “convenience” fees appeared in the cart….
Every time you tap, dip, or swipe a card at checkout, the merchant pays an interchange fee that averages roughly 2.2 percent on credit transactions and about half a percent on regulated debit, according to Nilson Report data. Retailers fold most of that cost into shelf prices, so you pay it whether you use plastic,…
The monthly fee on a standard checking account at a U.S. bank has never been higher. In 2024, the average maintenance charge on a non-interest checking account hit $15.45, according to Bankrate’s annual checking account survey, which has tracked bank pricing since 1998. That works out to $185.40 a year for customers who don’t meet…
Every time you tap your card at a grocery store, a gas pump, or a coffee counter, a slice of what you pay goes not to the merchant but to the bank that issued your card. In Illinois, a new state law was supposed to start shrinking that slice on July 1, 2026. With 39…
For years, business owners in legal but politically sensitive industries have described the same experience: a phone call or a letter from their bank, sometimes with little explanation, informing them that their accounts were being closed. Firearms dealers, cryptocurrency startups, adult entertainers, and advocacy groups on both ends of the political spectrum have reported being…
A server at a Chicago restaurant earns a $20 tip on a credit card. Before that money reaches her, the bank that issued the customer’s card skims a percentage off the top as an interchange fee. Starting July 1, 2026, Illinois law was supposed to stop banks from collecting that cut on tips and sales…