The financial news that actually matters
Millions of Americans who earn a paycheck face federal tax rates that can reach 37%, while the profits they collect from selling stocks or real estate held for more than a year are typically taxed at just 15%. The IRS confirmed this gap again when it published inflation-adjusted ordinary income brackets for tax year 2026,…
The FBI recorded more than one million online crime complaints last year, with total losses reaching $20.9 billion, a figure that dwarfs the prior year’s tally of more than $16 billion. The jump of roughly 149,000 additional complaints, from 859,532 to 1,008,597, raises a pointed question: are Americans actually being victimized at a faster rate,…
Homebuyers and refinance candidates caught a modest break this week as the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate slipped to 6.43%, its lowest reading in seven weeks. The decline, recorded in Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey, arrives while housing affordability remains stretched and prospective sellers sit on the sidelines guarding lower locked-in rates. Whether this…
Anyone who opened a new checking account to grab a $200 or $300 cash bonus this year should expect a tax form in the mail. The IRS treats those payments as taxable interest, and financial institutions are required to report amounts of $10 or more on Form 1099-INT, whether the customer thinks of the money…
Consumers who answer a call from someone claiming to be an “FTC agent” with a badge number are talking to a scammer. The Federal Trade Commission issued a direct warning that it does not employ agents, does not assign badge numbers, and will never call anyone to move money or connect them to a refund….
Bank customers who overdraw their checking accounts are once again facing fees that have crept back toward pre-reform levels, with many institutions charging close to $27 per incident. That upward drift follows President Trump’s signing of a congressional resolution that overturned the Biden-era overdraft fee cap, removing a key federal price constraint. Yet a separate,…
Hundreds of thousands of gig workers who delivered groceries and packages through Walmart’s Spark Driver app will share up to $79 million after the company agreed to a $100 million judgment resolving federal and state charges that it inflated the pay figures drivers saw before accepting delivery offers. The settlement, entered on March 3, 2026,…
More Americans are missing credit-card payments than at any point since the aftermath of the Great Recession. Federal Reserve data for the first quarter of 2026 show the delinquency rate on credit-card loans at commercial banks climbed to 3.82 percent, the highest reading in roughly 15 years. The figure caps a steady rise from pandemic-era…
Two federally insured banks have shut down in the first four months of 2026, both closed by state regulators and handed to the FDIC as receiver. Metropolitan Capital Bank and Trust of Chicago failed on January 30, and Community Bank and Trust of West Georgia in LaGrange closed on May 1. Together the two institutions…
More than half of American credit-card holders are now charging groceries, utilities, and other basic costs they once paid for with cash or debit, according to a 2026 survey conducted by Achieve. The finding, which puts the share at 53%, signals that years of elevated prices have pushed routine spending onto revolving plastic for a…