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 settlement stemming from a 2024 cyberattack on System Pavers, a national outdoor-remodeling and hardscaping company, is now open for claims, and the money is available without a single receipt. For older homeowners who hired the firm for a patio, driveway, or backyard project and handed over personal details in the process, the breach put…
For a retiree who keeps a large cash cushion at a single bank, the number that matters most is the one stamped on the FDIC seal: $250,000. Above that line, the common assumption is that the extra money rides uninsured, exposed if the bank ever fails. That assumption is frequently wrong. The way an account…
A cash-advance app that charged people for “instant” money it often failed to deliver is now the source of a second wave of federal refunds. The Federal Trade Commission is distributing 1,052,038 payments worth more than $6.8 million to former customers of Brigit, an app that promised quick advances of up to $250 in exchange…
Nearly half a million people whose medical and personal information ran through Catholic Health, the large hospital system based in Buffalo, New York, are now eligible for a payment from a class-action settlement over a data breach in the fall of 2024. The deal offers two paths: a flat cash payment of roughly $50 that…
A data breach at STIIIZY, one of the country’s larger cannabis brands, has produced a settlement that pays affected customers real money, and the filing window is short. People whose personal information was exposed can claim up to $7,500 for documented losses, or take a smaller flat cash payment with no proof required, but every…
A class-action settlement is turning unwanted robocalls and text messages into a small but real payment for the people who received them. Under the agreement, certain Farmers Insurance customers and prospects who got automated telemarketing calls or texts without agreeing to them can file for up to $160, and the window to submit a claim…
Consumers affected by the FMC data breach face an August 31 deadline to file claims for roughly $75 in cash or two years of credit monitoring. The settlement forces a fast decision between a small payout and longer-term identity protection, and the clock is running out for anyone who has not yet acted. Why the…
Roughly one in three investors now carries more credit card debt than they have saved for retirement, a ratio that reflects the sustained pressure of high borrowing costs on household balance sheets. Federal data tracking the share of adults whose revolving balances exceed their emergency savings shows that the problem is not new, but it…
Families arranging round-the-clock help for an aging parent or spouse now face a bill of roughly $80,080 a year for 44 hours of weekly in-home care, according to federal labor data, and most of that cost lands squarely on the household budget. Medicare does not cover long-term custodial care, and the demographic pressure behind these…
Older adults shopping for ACA Marketplace coverage in 2026 face a pricing gap baked directly into federal law: a 64-year-old can be charged three times the premium a 21-year-old pays for the identical health plan. That ratio, set by statute and carried forward in the 2026 benefit year rules published by the Centers for Medicare…
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