debit cards

MasterCard Inc., the world's second- biggest payments network, said fourth-quarter profit climbed 24 percent as spending with credit and debit cards increased.

The trend reflects fierce competition for customers with high credit scores, and an effort by banks to push existing customers back to using credit cards instead of debit cards in the face of new regulations.

Moves by Bank of America and other banks to charge users a monthly fee are not surprising. But their customers don’t have to take it lying down.

Some banks are pouncing on Bank of America Corp.'s (BAC) plan to charge customers for using their debit cards by touting the fact that their debit cards will remain free.

Big banks have been fighting new federal rules that seek to limit consumer fees on debit cards and overdraft charges. But in the meantime, the banks have a plan B: More fees!

Social Security and welfare checks are being replaced by direct deposit and debit cards, which will change some rituals of inner-city life, like using federal benefit checks as collateral.

Fewer Americans are carrying cash every day, opting instead to swipe their plastic and ditch the risks of paper money. It seems credit and debit cards are

The market for prepaid cards is growing quickly. Used primarily by the poor, the cards carry Discover, Mastercard or Visa logos and can be used wherever those cards are accepted.

They can come with significant fees, yet aren't regulated to the same extent as credit and debit cards.

Most people have a love-hate relationship with the bills and coins in their wallets. On the one hand, paying with cash — once ubiquitous — can be cumbersome in today’s fast-paced environment.

No wonder that it’s becoming less and less commonly used as plastic in the form of credit and debit cards takes its place.

If some lawmakers have their way, brokers will have to show they're serving their customers' financial interests.

Debit cards could be cheaper to use. And homeowners would be less vulnerable to high-cost mortgages.