The financial news that actually matters
Buy now, pay later has moved well beyond being a niche checkout option for online shoppers. What started as a way to split up a sneaker purchase or holiday gift is becoming a routine payment method for millions of Americans, including many who are already carrying balances elsewhere. That growth matters for more than retail….
American consumers are carrying more credit card debt than ever, and the cost of carrying that debt remains punishingly high. Credit card balances have pushed past $1.2 trillion, while the average annual percentage rate on card plans has stayed near 21%, leaving many households with less room to absorb higher housing, food, insurance, and transportation…
American drivers are paying more than ever to keep their cars insured, with the average full-coverage premium now running about $2,638 a year nationwide. The increase is smaller than the sharp run-up seen a year earlier, but it still adds another expensive monthly bill for households already trying to absorb higher costs for housing, groceries,…
The federal government’s beneficial ownership reporting system was once poised to reach a huge share of the American small-business economy. Under the original framework, millions of corporations, LLCs, and similar entities were expected to disclose the real people behind them to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN. That is no longer the…
The average U.S. credit score remains in solid territory nationally, but the broader picture is less reassuring than a single headline number might suggest. While many borrowers are still managing to stay current on their bills, the national average has not been climbing steadily. Instead, recent data points to a market that is holding up…
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has been putting more energy into a message that sounds simple but still trips up many Americans: most bank deposits are protected, but only up to specific limits and only under specific rules. That matters because confusion about deposit insurance tends to surge whenever the banking sector looks shaky, and…
Berkshire Hathaway has amassed so much cash that even by the standards of corporate America, the number now looks extraordinary. By the end of the third quarter, the conglomerate’s balance sheet showed roughly $381.7 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term U.S. Treasury bills, a new high for the company and one of the clearest…
A broken furnace in winter. A sudden dental bill. A car repair that cannot wait until next payday. In many households, that kind of expense is not just inconvenient. It is destabilizing. New Federal Reserve survey data show why. Asked the largest emergency expense they could handle right now using only savings, a majority of…
Millions of federal student loan borrowers are now officially in default, marking a sharp and painful turn in the long aftermath of the pandemic payment pause. After years of suspended bills, shifting servicers, temporary protections, and administrative delays, the federal system is once again sorting borrowers into the statuses that carry real consequences. For a…
The future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s attempt to curb overdraft charges is no longer just a fight over one banking rule. It has become an early measure of how far the new administration is willing to go in pulling back consumer regulations that were finalized at the end of the Biden era.For bank…