The newly established Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a wide-ranging mandate and broad powers for investigating and regulating things like checking accounts, credit cards, and education and home loans.

WSJ: New Consumer Bureau: a To-Do List

It took years for me to agree to have a joint checking account with my current husband, and I still have my own checking and savings accounts, as well as credit cards in my own name.

FORBES: How My Abusive Marriage Left Me $100,000 In Debt

Banks are typically eager to establish relationships with college kids because they have bright futures as well as the potential to become lifetime customers, engaging in bank offerings from credit cards to checking accounts to investment and retirement portfolios.

FORBES: The Best Credit Cards For College Students

Bank computer systems were developed around products, not around customers, so getting a view of a customer across car loans, mortgages, credit cards, checking accounts, savings, and CDs is difficult.

FORBES: Tech and Geography Beat Too Big To Fail at Wells Fargo