The financial news that actually matters
Roughly 1 in 8 credit card accounts in the United States is now past due, a level of financial stress the country has not seen since the wreckage of the 2008 recession. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s latest reporting on credit card market trends puts the delinquency rate at 13.1%, surpassing pre-pandemic levels and reversing…
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…
Wall Street did not wait for Kevin Warsh to take the oath. On May 15, 2026, the day Jerome Powell’s four-year term as Federal Reserve chairman formally expired, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 537 points, the S&P 500 dropped nearly 93 points, and the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.5 percent. The dollar index…
Iran’s judiciary spokesperson Asghar Jahangir declared in late May 2026 that Tehran holds the “legal and judicial right” to seize oil tankers connected to the United States in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage between Iran and Oman that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil each day, according to a 2019 U.S….
A family filling up a 15-gallon tank once a week for five straight months would save about $35 under President Trump’s proposed federal gas tax holiday. That comes to roughly $1.70 per trip to the pump, less than the price of a large coffee, and it assumes the savings actually reach consumers in full. Economists…
If you paid a late-payment penalty on your 2020 or 2021 federal tax return, the IRS may owe you that money back. But you have until July 10, 2026, to ask for it. After that, your right to a refund disappears for good. In late 2023, the IRS announced it was wiping failure-to-pay penalties from…