The financial news that actually matters
A parent in Michigan who borrowed $40,000 in federal PLUS loans to put a child through college could be paying around $500 a month on a standard repayment schedule. Consolidate that same balance into a Direct Consolidation Loan before June 30, 2026, and an income-driven plan could cut the bill to $200 or less, depending…
A parent who borrowed $60,000 in federal PLUS loans to cover four years at a state university is staring down monthly payments north of $700 under a standard repayment schedule this fall, with interest rates on new PLUS disbursements now sitting at 9.07%. That same parent, by consolidating into a federal Direct Consolidation Loan and…
If you signed up for the SAVE repayment plan and have been waiting months for clarity on your federal student loans, your window to act is about to open and close fast. Starting July 1, 2026, loan servicers will begin sending notices to millions of affected borrowers telling them to choose a new repayment plan….
A tow truck backs up to a driveway at 3 a.m., hooks a sedan with 54 payments still on the books, and hauls it to an auction lot where it will sell for thousands less than the borrower owes. That scene played out roughly 1.73 million times in 2024, according to Cox Automotive data reported…
Seven years is a long time to pay for a car. It is long enough to watch a child go from kindergarten through sixth grade, or to cycle through two presidential elections. Yet in the first quarter of 2025, nearly one in four new-car buyers who financed their purchase chose exactly that timeline, signing 84-month…
Picture a borrower in her mid-30s who has not made a student loan payment since 2020. She earns $3,200 a month after taxes. If the federal government garnishes 15% of her disposable pay, roughly $480 disappears from every paycheck before she can spend a dime on rent, groceries, or child care. No court order is…
Roughly 8 million federal student loan borrowers were enrolled in the SAVE repayment plan when courts froze it in mid-2024. Most of them have been in limbo ever since, making no payments and receiving little guidance. That changes on July 1, 2026, when loan servicers will begin sending notices requiring those borrowers to choose a…
A parent who borrowed $35,000 in federal PLUS loans to help a child finish college could be locked out of the only repayment plan that ties monthly bills to actual earnings. The deadline is June 30, 2026. After that date, the door closes permanently. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law as…
College students borrowing federal loans for the first time this fall will pay more for the privilege than almost any freshman class in the past decade. Starting July 1, new Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized undergraduate loans will carry a fixed interest rate of 6.52%, the steepest rate offered to incoming borrowers since the 2024-2025 award…
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…