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 line on Verizon Wireless bills labeled the Regulatory Charge moves from 21 cents to 26 cents a month on November 1, 2026. The company states the change on its own surcharges page, and the amount is set per line rather than per account. Verizon lists the charge among surcharges it describes as its own,…
Two roof rail air bag modules come out of each affected pickup and two new ones go in, with the owner billed nothing, under a General Motors recall that federal records tie to 1,559 trucks. GM filed the campaign, numbered 26V611000, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on September 24, 2026. The remedy is…
Gobi Heat is offering buyers of its rechargeable hand warmers a choice between two remedies, and only one of them adds anything to the purchase price. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says the company will provide a full refund or a store credit, with the credit worth the purchase price plus 20 percent of…
The original January 2026 recall of Agrish adult portable bed rails covered about 5,000 units. The October 1 version covers 35,083, and the remedy for every one of them is a full refund from Agrish Direct, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says. The rails were sold on Amazon.com between April 2025 and May 2026…
The Postal Service has filed to add $9.10 to a retail Priority Mail package that weighs 26 to 70 pounds and travels to Zones 5 through 9, for items entered between October 4, 2026 and January 17, 2027. That figure is a single cell in a grid of weights, zones and products, and the grid…
A full refund on Cupcakes and Cashmere three-light floor lamps sold at HomeGoods comes with a condition: the buyer has to cut the cord and photograph the destroyed lamp before Designs Direct pays anything. The Kentucky-based importer will then issue the refund within 15 days, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recall notice…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on September 18, 2026 that Operation SNAP Back, a sweep of SNAP-authorized stores in New York City’s five boroughs, led to enforcement actions against 170 retailers. The operation targeted bodegas, convenience stores and grocery stores and rested on hundreds of undercover investigations. The 170 figure is a city count,…
Equifax has agreed to pay $100,000,000 into a non-reversionary settlement fund over a computer coding error that left some consumers’ credit scores and credit attributes different from what they should have been for about three weeks in spring 2022. The settlement administrator’s website sets the deadline to submit a claim at December 28, 2026. The…
Tyson Foods accounts for $85,000,000 of the $117.065 million in proposed pork price-fixing settlements, roughly 73 percent of the total. None of it is final: a federal judge in Minnesota holds a final approval hearing on December 11, 2026, and the money moves only if the deal stands. Consumers who bought pork at grocery stores…
The $2.5 billion Amazon Prime settlement is two different pots of money with two different destinations. The Federal Trade Commission’s order sets a $1 billion civil penalty, which goes to the government, and “up to $1.5 billion” in redress to consumers, a ceiling on what customers can receive rather than a fixed sum. Only the…