After conditioning consumers to use their debit cards for the past few years, some banks have a nasty surprise in store for us all. Some banks are waiting to see the fallout, but others have already jumped in. You may not know it, but your bank may be charging you a monthly fee for using your own debit card.

Bank of America has already started charging its debit card users $5 monthly fee since September while Wells Fargo & Co., J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. are also thinking of following suit.

Financial analysts explain the extra fee is designed to regain lost revenues due to new federal regulation, where it slashes half the amount of money banks gain from debit-swipe transactions.

The Dodd-Frank Financial Regulation Bill is only applicable to banks with assets exceeding $10 billion and the banks are estimated to lose $6.6 billion in revenues per year.

If you’re not too sure if you’re bank is charging hidden fees for debit card services, check with your local bank manager to find out.

If indeed your bank is charging you, analysts suggest looking for an alternative in smaller thrift banks that are not affected by the new federal regulation.  There are still smaller thrift banks that offer the services for free.

Debit cards have long been the alternative against drowning in debt with credit card usage.  But with this new scheme, it practically defeats the purpose, while adding more financial burden on your part.

Ohio veterans can get an “Armed Forces” designation stamped on their driver’s license or state ID the next time they renew/update their driver’s license.

The stamp, placed on the lower right of the license or ID, provides veterans with recognition of their military service. The stamp is provided at no additional cost when requested at the time a license or ID is renewed, but normal driver’s license fees still apply.

“The ‘Armed Forces’ designation on the Ohio driver’s license and/or ID card recognizes the service of our military men, women and veterans,” said Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Thomas Charles. “We are proud to offer this no-cost way of recognizing those who have served.”

One of the advantages of this program is that the specially labeled license may be honored by Ohio merchants who give military members or veterans a discount. Whether a discount is granted, however, is solely dependent upon each individual retailer’s policy.

A number of retailers in Ohio will offer a military or veterans discount, either periodically during major holidays, or at all times. Retailers generally require that some form of photo ID is produced to receive the discount, either a current military active duty or retired ID card, an ID from the National Guard or Reserve, or an ID showing enrollment in health care from the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs (VA). But veterans who served limited terms of service are generally not issued such documentation.

The “Armed Forces” stamp, which has been in existence since December 2009, enables these veterans to have a photo ID as a sign of their service. To be eligible to receive the stamp, at no extra cost, veterans must provide to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles a copy of their DD 214 or DD 215 when they renew their driver’s license or military ID. Other forms of identification acceptable to receive the stamp include a VA ID, a current military ID, a leave and earnings statement, or a copy of orders.”I strongly encourage all veterans to get the ‘Armed Forces’ stamp when they renew their license,” said Ohio Department of Veterans Services Director Tom Moe. “Our department’s principal goal is to connect veterans to their benefits, and this will help us identify our veterans while possibly providing them with a very helpful benefit.”

The Directors of Public Safety and Veterans Services emphasized that a military or veterans discount is not available from all retailers, or if so, perhaps not year-round. Whether or not a retailer provides a discount or accepts the “Armed Forces” stamp as proof of service to receive a discount is up to the policy for each individual retailer.

The minimal time and effort expended to obtain the “Armed Forces” stamp, at no additional cost, could add up to real money saved next time you shop.

By Tara Yap

Online banking with Citibank is now accessible in your own iPad.

The recent launching of Citibank for iPad has raised the benchmark for online banking with fast, reliable, and secured way of tracking and analyzing your finances.

With Citibank for iPad, gone are the days of the old-fashioned style of ledger banking. In this first-ever app of a major American bank, a visual and graphical interface of your finances is at your fingertips.

You can easily check your account balances, transfer money, control cash flow, pay bills, acquire rewards, or find the nearest Citibank branch and ATM booths.

What differentiates Citibank for iPad from other banking apps is that it maximizes the tablet interface of iPad with its fresh and visually striking graphics as well as an interactive approach to online banking.

Unlike other banking apps for iPad that mirror the PC or mobile phone interface, the Citibank app takes advantage of the unique tablet experience to provide users with a visually revealing, insightful interface along with a host of interactive new features.

Citibank for iPad is the by-product of Citibank listening to your online banking needs.

“We want this to be more engaging and dynamic—beyond the standard static tables you find with other iPad apps,” said Tracey Weber of serves as the chief of the Internet and Mobile Banking for North America Consumer Banking.

Citibank for iPad offers these unique features:

• Interactive chart of past and future cash outflows
• Auto-generated chart of personal spending habits
• Consumer databank for comparing personal spending habits by age and income brackets, location, and types of purchases

With Citibank for iPad, you also have access to exclusive services including Citi Personal Wealth Management and Women & Co. and real-time customer service.

Banking with Citibank has never been this easy.

The homeless, the hungry, and the poor in Ohio are safe from immediate risk, now that President Obama and Congress have raised the debt ceiling. The financial default may have been averted, but over the next few weeks and months, the poor will come under pressure from cuts in discretionary spending.

The organization Bread for the World, a collective Christian voice that urges decision makers to end hunger at home and around the world says trouble for the poor is looming.

The Food Stamps programs, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, plus the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and unemployment insurance will have no cuts immediately, but other programs are in danger of being cut. The discretionary budget currently funds many programs, such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Head Start, job-training programs, and international poverty-focused development assistance.

“Failure to raise the debt ceiling would have driven up interest rates and unemployment, causing tremendous harm to hungry and poor people–in this country and around the world. Any balanced deficit-reduction plan must also include increases in revenues, but programs that support the most vulnerable people should be protected.”
- Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World

The severity of cuts to these discretionary budget programs is as yet unclear. It is expected the next few weeks will offer clarification to questions surrounding them.

“Raising the debt ceiling was the first step. We must now ensure that the bipartisan committee protects the most vulnerable people from cuts to vital programs,” said Beckmann. “As this process unfolds, we must continue our work to create a circle of protection around programs that support hungry and poor people.”

The congressional deal also creates a bipartisan “super committee” tasked with reducing the deficit by an additional $1.5 trillion over 10 years. Each congressional leader from both houses and each party will appoint the 12 committee members, three from each party in each house. The committee must provide its recommendations to Congress, and Congress must vote by Dec. 23, 2011.

If Congress fails to produce recommendations, automatic across-the-board cuts would be triggered annually for nine years.

Bread for the World and other faith leaders are part of the Circle of Protection, a nonpartisan movement that insists budgets are moral documents and that poor and vulnerable people should be protected–not targeted–in efforts to reduce long-term deficits.

If you are an M&T account holder, you can access your credit score from Equifax, one of the three major credit bureaus, for only US$2.99 per month.

The score you are going to get is a FICO score.  A FICO score is the Equifax score a lender would see if you applied for credit.  It is made up of a three-digit score which range from 300 to 850.  It combines information about you such as your payment history, credit card balances and other important factors that would provide creditors see your credit worthiness.

M&T’s research found that its customers are very aware how important their credit scores are.  Not only will it put you in good credit standing, but it will also allow you to monitor your financial security considering threats of identity theft.  Your constant knowledge of your monthly credit standing will be protected assuming there are attempts to steal your personal information or when someone else applies for a credit card.

The scores are updated on a monthly basis and you can track developments of your score over time for a fee.  The fee is necessary because banks don’t have free access to your credit card scores and use it to pay credit card bureaus, and in the case of M&T, to pay Equifax for the scores.

One of the many advantages you can get through M&T is that you don’t have to worry about misleading offers that you usually get from other sites.  The difference?  Most of these sites would entice you with free scores only to charge you in the end.  They usually have hidden charges that go as high as US$15 per month.

The credit score option was one of a menu of fee-based services the bank was introducing to help set M&T apart from its competitors. Just last month, it made available a suite of personal finance and budgeting tools called FinanceWorks, offered at 99 cents a month. M&T has about 780 branches throughout the mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia.