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.
Kobayashi Consumer Products, LLC is offering a full refund on about 77,000 HotHands rechargeable hand warmers after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall on October 1, 2026. The agency says the lithium-ion battery and electrical components can overheat and ignite, posing a risk of serious injury from fire and burn hazards. The…
FedEx will start charging holiday demand surcharges on October 26, 2026, and the largest listed amount is $4.05 per package. That figure applies to one service, FedEx Ground Economy, and only during the later part of the season. The services most households and small sellers use carry smaller surcharges, topping out at 80 cents for…
As of September 28, 2026, the Department of Veterans Affairs reported 74,448 claims in its disability backlog, meaning claims pending more than 125 days. VA’s own detailed claims data puts total pending disability compensation and pension claims at 670,845 on that date. A backlog figure is only meaningful with its date, and VA refreshes the…
VA finalized an estimated 5,900 benefit cuts on the ground that its own earlier decision contained a clear and unmistakable error, according to an August 31, 2026 report from the VA Office of Inspector General. Within the inspector general’s examination of adverse actions on service-connected disability compensation, those 5,900 rating decisions form the largest single…
VA pension rates and the maximum rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for parents rise automatically each year with the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, but VA disability compensation does not. The bills that would lift disability compensation effective December 1, 2026 remain in committee as of the official records read on October 4, 2026. Until…
A VA inspector general report dated August 31, 2026 estimates that claims processors failed to give proper due process in about 4,000 cases in which the Department of Veterans Affairs reduced or ended service-connected disability compensation. The report is the Office of Inspector General’s review of how the Veterans Benefits Administration handles adverse actions, meaning…
A Council of Economic Advisers projection sets the ten-year savings from the administration’s most-favored-nation drug agreements at $600 billion, a figure the White House published and attributed to its own economists. The number appears in a fact sheet dated September 18, 2026, and it is a projection of future savings, not money already saved or…
The Federal Trade Commission says the nation’s largest wine and spirits distributor charged independent retailers significantly more than large chains for identical products, and on October 2, 2026 it filed a proposed settlement with Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits, LLC. Under the proposed order, covering 26 states for six years, Southern Glazer’s can resolve identified…
One million prescriptions of the blood thinner Eliquis have reached state Medicaid programs at no charge under the administration’s most-favored-nation drug agreements, according to a White House fact sheet that puts the number of participating manufacturers at 26. The claim comes from a fact sheet dated September 18, 2026, announcing lower drug prices for all…
Credit Acceptance Corporation, a subprime auto lender, has agreed to wipe out the remaining balances on car loans held by more than 55,000 borrowers, with no claim form involved, under a settlement that New York Attorney General Letitia James valued at $700 million. The deal, announced on September 17, 2026, brings together 41 states and…