The financial news that actually matters
Covers personal loans, auto loans, student loans, and credit lending systems. It explains interest rates, approval processes, repayment terms, and how borrowing affects long-term financial health.
For an older household buried under credit-card balances, an advertisement promising to slash the debt in half can sound like a lifeline. Debt-settlement companies pitch exactly that hope, offering to negotiate with creditors so a borrower pays back less than the full amount owed. Federal consumer regulators warn that the reality is often far messier…
An old debt that a collector can no longer sue over is not the same as a debt that has disappeared. Once the statute of limitations runs out, the balance becomes what the law calls time-barred, meaning a court will no longer force payment. What surprises many older Americans is how easily that protection can…
The offer usually arrives when money is tightest. A caller, text, or website guarantees a personal loan or a credit card regardless of credit history, then explains that a fee must be paid first to cover processing, insurance, or a good-faith deposit. For a retiree stretched between bills, the promise of guaranteed cash can be…
Companies that promise to erase credit-card balances for pennies on the dollar are a fixture of late-night television and the robocalls that flood retirees’ phones. What many of those pitches leave out is a basic legal fact that protects the very people they target. A for-profit debt-relief company that charges a fee before it has…
Repeated collection calls can turn an unpaid bill into a daily source of fear. Federal rules limit both the pressure tactics a collector may use and the frequency of telephone calls about a particular debt. Those limits do not erase a valid debt, but they give consumers room to verify the account, challenge errors, and…
Homeowners who tap their property’s equity for cash face a tax rule that trips up filers every spring: the IRS allows a deduction for interest on a home-equity loan or line of credit only when the borrowed funds pay for buying, building, or substantially improving the residence that secures the debt. That restriction, rooted in…
A new federal student-loan repayment plan opened for enrollment this month, and its headline feature is not the size of the monthly payment but the length of the road to forgiveness. Under the Repayment Assistance Plan, a remaining balance is not wiped out until a borrower has made payments for a full 30 years. That…
A growing share of the households carrying credit-card balances are not financing vacations or big-ticket splurges. They are borrowing to keep the lights on and the pantry stocked. In new survey data, most cardholders with debt say the balances they carry now go toward everyday necessities rather than anything discretionary — a shift that says…
The price of a car grabs the headlines, but the interest rate on the loan quietly decides how much that car really costs. Right now those rates are high enough to add thousands of dollars to a purchase, and they fall hardest on the buyers who can least afford it. New-car borrowers are paying around…
Federal student-loan borrowers who take out new loans starting this month face a longer road to debt relief than any previous income-driven repayment option offered. The Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP, requires 360 monthly payments spread over at least 30 years before any remaining balance is forgiven. That timeline is five to ten years longer…