The financial news that actually matters
On June 9, 2026, federal bank examiners will lose one of their most controversial tools: the ability to pressure banks into closing your account because your politics, religion, or legal business activities make someone uncomfortable. A joint final rule from the FDIC and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, published in the Federal…
A parent who took out $30,000 in federal PLUS loans to cover a child’s tuition can, right now, consolidate that debt into a Direct Consolidation Loan and enroll in Income-Contingent Repayment, dropping monthly payments to as little as $50. That door closes permanently on July 1, 2026. Under a final rule the Department of Education…
When Maria Gonzalez rings up a $48 lunch tab at her taqueria on Chicago’s West Side, roughly $1.20 disappears before she can count the drawer. That cut, called an interchange fee, goes to the bank that issued the customer’s credit card. “I budget for rent, I budget for produce, but I can’t budget for a…
On March 30, 2025, a set of federal protections took effect that were supposed to stop payday lenders from draining borrowers’ bank accounts through repeated, failed withdrawal attempts. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau had spent years writing the rules. Lenders had spent months retooling their payment systems to comply. Then, days before the deadline, the…
A family borrowing $30,000 through the federal Parent PLUS program this fall will pay roughly $3,400 more in interest over a standard 10-year repayment than a family that took out the same loan last year. The reason: starting July 1, 2025, new Parent PLUS loans carry a fixed rate of 9.07%, up from 8.05% the…
If you are one of the roughly 8 million borrowers still enrolled in the federal SAVE repayment plan, according to the U.S. Department of Education, a clock is already ticking. On July 1, loan servicers will begin sending notices that the program is officially dead and that every SAVE enrollee must choose a replacement plan….
A gun shop owner who loses his business checking account. A religious nonprofit that gets a terse closure letter with no explanation. A crypto startup that watches three banking partners walk away in a single quarter. For years, these stories have circulated through industries that sit on the political margins of American finance, always with…
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…
The next time you tap your credit card at a coffee shop, the owner on the other side of the counter will hand somewhere between 1.5% and 3.5% of your purchase to the bank that issued your card. Multiply that slice across every card transaction in the country and the total is staggering: U.S. merchants…