The financial news that actually matters
Sometime in July, roughly 7.5 million Americans will receive a letter or email from their federal student loan servicer that amounts to a countdown clock. The message: the administrative forbearance that has shielded borrowers enrolled in the SAVE repayment plan since mid-2024 is ending. Each borrower will have 90 days from the date of that…
The price gap between a used electric vehicle and a used gas car has shrunk to just $1,102. According to industry pricing data from Cox Automotive, the average used EV transaction price fell 6.1 percent to $34,653 in early 2026, while the average used gasoline vehicle held near $33,551. At the same time, the national…
A 74-year-old grandmother in Ohio wired $12,000 to a stranger after hearing what sounded exactly like her grandson sobbing on the phone, begging for bail money. A retired teacher in Florida drained her savings account because a caller who mimicked her daughter’s voice said she had been in a car accident. Neither emergency was real….
The interest charge arrives every month like clockwork. For the roughly 50 million American households carrying a revolving credit card balance, that charge now reflects an average annual percentage rate of about 21.5%, according to the Federal Reserve’s G.19 Consumer Credit release, the most authoritative public measure of what card borrowers actually pay. Applied to…
Cerebras Systems, the AI chipmaker behind the world’s largest computer chip, saw its stock drop roughly 10% on its second day of public trading, closing near $280 on May 15, 2026. The pullback followed a first-day surge that carried shares to an intraday high of approximately $385, according to market data, before they settled around…
A Florida homeowner renewing their policy in 2026 can expect to pay roughly $10,240 a year for coverage, according to industry estimates. That figure sits 189 percent above the national average and marks the fifth consecutive year of increases, a streak that has turned property insurance into one of the most destabilizing costs of owning…
The extra $56 that appeared in January’s Social Security deposit was supposed to help. For the roughly 68 million people who rely on benefits, the 2.8 percent cost-of-living adjustment was designed to keep pace with rising prices. Five months into 2026, it is already falling short. Consumer prices have been climbing faster than that raise….
The price of a new refrigerator has climbed roughly 8% since last spring. A standard residential construction bid in the Midwest now includes a steel surcharge that did not exist 18 months ago. And a bottle of imported European wine that once cleared U.S. Customs for a few cents in duty briefly carried a tariff…
For nearly two years, about 7.5 million Americans have not made a single student loan payment. Not because they refused, but because a federal court killed the repayment plan they were on, and the government put their accounts on ice while it figured out what to do next. That limbo is about to end. Starting…
If you owe $45,000 in federal student loans and were paying around $150 a month under the now-defunct SAVE repayment plan, your next bill could land closer to $500. That jump hits unless you actively choose a different repayment plan before your loan servicer’s deadline passes, and the clock is already running. Starting as early…