Did you know your savings account has a limit on the amount of withdrawals you can make in a statement cycle (usually 4 weeks)? This often hidden fact can be a surprise to some when they reach their 7th withdrawal in a month and get dinged with a $10 fee and a tisk-tisk e-mail from [...]
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How Does Ally Bank Make Money?
Banks often get a lot of crap for poor judgment, a lack of customer service, and thoughtless business moves but we often forget that a majority of people use banks for free. There is no fee for a majority of the checking and savings accounts out there. These banks host our money, insure it up [...]
Online Banks vs. Brick & Mortar Banks
Sorry to the FF Fanatics about the lack of a podcast yesterday. I’m in between scheduled interviews and couldn’t get one posted so check back next Sunday for a new episode. On to the post! It’s a big change for people to move their money from a brick and mortar bank (your typical local big [...]
Ally Bank Review
I switched online banks in May and now that I’ve had a couple of months with my new bank, Ally, I feel like I’ve experienced enough to write a well-rounded and informative review. Ally is everything you need out of an online bank. They do everything adequately and there aren’t any huge misses in their [...]
The FF Podcast Ep. 5: Perk Street Financial’s Rewards Checking with CEO Dan O’Malley
On this week’s episode of The Foreigner’s Finances Podcast I talk with PerkStreet Financial CEO Dan O’Malley about their checking account and rewards debit card. PerkStreet is leading the pack in rewards offering 2% back on all purchases in the form of gift cards to popular shopping spots like iTunes or Target if you have [...]
The Pros & Cons of Credit Unions
Have you ever read a Yahoo! article about personal finance and looked at the comments? There’s usually one crazy person who swears off everything about banking or investing and claims the world is ending so they’ve strapped their life savings to the floorboards in their kitchen. Banks that are FDIC insured provide security up to [...]
Why Don’t Online Banks Accept International Wire Transfers?
Last week I wrote about my experience getting denied by an online bank with an international wire transfer. I talked about the importance of figuring out if your bank allows these wires because if you need them in a dire situation, it’s going to be too late and your loan is going to go unpaid [...]
Does Your Bank Accept International Wire Transfers?
I finally sent money back to America last month after building up savings in Japan for 9 months. I built up the courage and figured out the process one afternoon. Corinne and I combined our money and sent it home together, splitting the ¥2,500 ($27) fee. We sent the transfer to her ING Direct account since [...]
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Hi, my name's Austin Morgan. I teach English in Japan and write about money for twenty-somethings. Feel free to contact me with any questions and I hope you enjoy the site!
