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.
Nothing has to be filed for Florida’s 62,753 Snap Finance lease customers to see their balances disappear. Under the 17-state agreement, $135,643,677, or more than $135 million, in Florida lease balances is to be forgiven, the second-largest state total in the deal. The cancellation is automatic, and no claim form is listed. Florida was part…
A federal indictment says two men used stolen Ohio EBT account information to run about $29.7 million through stores in Chicago. Jorag Yaseen and Rami Kanaan are accused of owning approved SNAP stores that rang up thousands of sales with no real customers behind them. The Justice Department announced the case on October 21 as…
An Atlanta social media personality known as “Shawty Dred” is accused in a federal indictment of stealing more than $4 million in food stamp benefits through more than 350 fraudulent SNAP accounts. The U.S. attorney’s office in Atlanta says the accounts were opened with stolen identities between January 2020 and July 2026. The man, Mercedes…
The PG&E Fire Victim Trust has made its last scheduled payment to wildfire victims. The October 14 distribution was 1.25 percent of each approved award, lifting the total paid to 71.25 percent. The trust says $13.95 billion has now gone to 66,171 claimants. The trust says there will be no additional pro rata distributions after…
A food stamp household with someone 60 or older or disabled can deduct every dollar of shelter cost above half its income, while every other household is stopped at $769 a month in the 48 states and Washington, D.C. USDA’s figures for the year that began October 1 put the same cutoff at $1,229 in…
Texas holds more of the Snap Finance settlement than any other state. The company’s lease-to-own customers in Texas hold 148,295 of the 303,223 accounts covered, and their balances to be canceled total $344,486,039. The signed agreement puts that above the $317,616,479 combined for the other 16 states. Texas makes up about 49 percent of the…
The Justice Department says prosecutors and federal agents took action against more than 40 defendants in USDA fraud cases between September 1 and October 21, 2026. The schemes carry nearly $45 million in intended losses, and nearly $42 million of that involved the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP or food stamps. The department…
Snap Finance will wipe out $662,102,518 in unpaid lease-to-own balances owed by 303,223 customers in 17 states, and those customers get to keep the goods they leased. The cancellation is automatic, according to Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, and no claim form is listed. Iowa and Nebraska led the multistate agreement, announced October 21. The…
People who used GoodRx before April 20, 2024 have until Dec. 29 to file for a share of a $32 million privacy settlement, and the notice does not ask for receipts. There is no fixed payout. Approved claimants split what remains of the fund after court-approved costs, so the size of each check depends on…
Instacart has agreed to set up a fund of up to $4 million for U.S. job applicants it passed over for visa-sponsored roles between December 2023 and February 2026, the Justice Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said October 20. The company will also pay a $1 million civil penalty to the United States….