The financial news that actually matters
A checking account at one of America’s biggest banks now costs $15.45 a month if you don’t jump through the right hoop. That is the average monthly maintenance fee on non-interest checking accounts at the largest U.S. institutions, a record high according to Bankrate’s most recent checking account survey. Over a year, the charge totals…
If you run a restaurant and watch your card-processing bill climb every month, here is the part that stings: you are paying a swipe fee on the sales tax you collect for the state and on the tip your customer leaves for the server. Illinois passed a law to stop that. On June 30, 2026,…
In 2024, Utah’s state treasurer cut checks totaling $37.4 million to residents who had no idea the money existed. The funds came from forgotten bank accounts, final paychecks never picked up, and utility deposits left behind after a move. One mid-sized state, one fiscal year, $37.4 million returned. Now multiply that across all 50 states….
In fiscal year 2022-23, the most recent year for which the state has published results, North Carolina’s treasurer office mailed thousands of checks totaling more than $108 million to residents who had searched the state’s NCCash.com portal and discovered money they had no idea existed. Old utility deposits. Insurance refunds that bounced back. Final paychecks…
A borrower with a 750 credit score can lock in a 30-year fixed mortgage near 6.5 percent. Knock 100 points off that score and the same lender may quote closer to 7.8 percent, according to loan-level price adjustment matrices published by Fannie Mae. On a $350,000 loan, the gap works out to roughly $300 more…
Order an $80 dinner in Chicago, and the final credit card charge might hit $104 after tax and a 20 percent tip. The bank that issued the card collects an interchange fee on every dollar of that total, including the portion headed to the city treasury and the portion headed to the server. Illinois lawmakers…
Roughly 8 million federal student loan borrowers, according to a Department of Education estimate from early 2026 (actual enrollment may have shifted since then), are still parked in the SAVE repayment plan, and in about five weeks, the government is going to start moving them out. The U.S. Department of Education has confirmed that loan…
When a licensed firearms dealer in Mississippi lost his business checking account in 2014, the bank told him only that the relationship had been “terminated.” No fraud allegation. No compliance violation. Just a letter and a locked-out login. He was one of dozens of gun retailers, payday lenders, and tobacco sellers who told the Department…
Book a hotel room advertised at $250 a night, and by the time you reached checkout, the total had often crept to $310 or more. A “resort fee” here, a “destination amenity charge” there. Concert tickets pulled the same trick: a $95 seat ballooned past $130 once “service” and “convenience” fees appeared in the cart….
Every time you tap, dip, or swipe a card at checkout, the merchant pays an interchange fee that averages roughly 2.2 percent on credit transactions and about half a percent on regulated debit, according to Nilson Report data. Retailers fold most of that cost into shelf prices, so you pay it whether you use plastic,…