The financial news that actually matters
A general consumer finance category covering everyday money decisions, budgeting, saving, debt management, credit behavior, and personal financial improvement strategies.
A 72-year-old man from Mexico who used the identity of a dead U.S. citizen was sentenced to 24 months in prison after collecting $95,811 in Social Security benefits and $24,269 in food stamps. The man, Simon Flores-Torres, was caught in September 2024 when he applied for a U.S. passport using the stolen identity. Affiliate links…
Investors who bought Becton Dickinson common stock between February 5, 2019 and February 5, 2020 have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern on December 13, 2026 to file for a share of a $175 million fair fund created by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The money comes from a civil penalty the SEC imposed on the medical…
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has allocated another $117,058,683.11 for a second round of payments to people harmed by Lexington Law and CreditRepair.com, according to the administrator site the bureau points to for the case. The second checks started mailing in late September and will keep going out through October 2026. Each check is valid…
The Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General is running a featured alert on its home page about impostors who pose as employees of the agency and of the inspector general’s own office. The OIG names counterfeit mail alongside the more familiar channels, which means a letter that looks official is no longer proof…
Nobody has to file anything to receive an Amazon Prime refund, and that single design choice decides how the money arrives, who sends it and what can go wrong along the way. The Federal Trade Commission’s September 17, 2026 announcement describes a payment process with no application at all: the agency says the money is…
Some states will soon owe the federal government a share of the food stamp bill. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on June 24, 2026 that states whose payment errors run above a 6 percent threshold will have to cover 5, 10 or 15 percent of benefit costs, with implementation expected by October 1, 2027….
Glenmark, Lannett, Bausch, Apotex, Heritage and Emcure have agreed to pay about $96.5 million to resolve claims that they took part in a generic drug price-fixing conspiracy, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office. The money is a separate pool from the one Sandoz is paying, and it comes from a case brought by…
A $162 million wage-and-hour settlement covering roughly 200,000 personal assistants who worked in New York’s Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program is headed for its last court test on November 10, 2026. The money would go to aides paid through Public Partnerships LLC, the statewide fiscal intermediary that processes pay for CDPAP, in a case that…
The Federal Trade Commission has raised the ceiling on Amazon Prime redress from $51 to $200 per consumer, and the new room is a supplemental payment of up to $149 that is not guaranteed to anyone. Whether it goes out depends on a threshold check in February 2027, with any supplemental payments starting in April…
Consumers who bought certain generic prescription drugs between May 2009 and December 2019 have until March 8, 2027 to file under settlements that 48 attorneys general reached with generic drug manufacturers. The deal stems from allegations that manufacturers fixed prices and rigged bids on more than 100 generic drugs, with some prices rising as much…