The financial news that actually matters
If you’re one of the roughly 8 million people whose federal student loans have been frozen on the SAVE repayment plan since courts blocked it in mid-2024, the pause is about to end. Starting July 1, 2026, loan servicers will begin mailing notices that give each borrower 90 days to choose a different repayment plan….
For nearly one in four Americans who financed a new car in early 2026, the payoff date is sometime in 2033. Loans stretching 84 months or longer accounted for 22.9% of all financed new-vehicle purchases in the first quarter, according to preliminary data from Edmunds, the automotive research firm. That is roughly double the share…
Starting July 1, about 7.5 million federal student loan borrowers enrolled in the SAVE repayment plan will begin receiving letters from their loan servicers with a blunt message: the plan they signed up for no longer exists, and they have 90 days to choose a replacement. Anyone who doesn’t respond will be automatically placed on…
If you are one of the roughly 8 million people still enrolled in the now-blocked SAVE repayment plan, your loan servicer is about to send you a notice that starts a 90-day countdown. Miss it, and the U.S. Department of Education will place you into a fixed-payment plan that could cost you thousands of dollars…
A borrower with $35,000 in federal student loans who has been paying nothing per month under the SAVE repayment plan could soon owe $350 or more. Starting July 1, loan servicers will begin sending notices to roughly 7.5 million people still enrolled in SAVE, informing them the plan is finished and giving them 90 days…
The average American who financed a new car in the first quarter of 2026 committed to a monthly payment of $773. The average amount financed hit a record $43,899. And nearly one in four of those buyers signed a loan lasting 84 months or longer. That last figure, 22.9% of all financed new-car deals, comes…
A borrower earning $45,000 a year with $35,000 in federal student loan debt could pay roughly $350 to $400 a month under the government’s default repayment schedule. Under an income-driven plan, that same borrower might owe closer to $150 to $200. The difference is real, and it kicks in on July 1, 2025, when the…
A borrower earning $35,000 a year and carrying $40,000 in federal student loans could see their monthly payment leap from under $100 to roughly $424 if they don’t act before July 1, 2026. That is the difference between an income-driven formula and the standard repayment plan the Department of Education will assign by default to…
The average monthly payment on a new car loan in the United States has reached $773, according to Edmunds’ quarterly auto financing data. In 2018, that figure was $506. The 53% jump did not happen because Americans suddenly developed a taste for gold-plated bumpers. It happened because vehicle prices climbed, interest rates roughly doubled, and…
The clock is ticking for millions of federal student loan borrowers, and the math is unforgiving. If you are among the estimated 8 million people who enrolled in the SAVE repayment plan, that plan is being shut down. Starting July 1, 2025, loan servicers will begin sending notices giving each borrower 90 days to choose…