Category: Your Money

Adding a son or daughter to a bank account can feel like a simple way to make bill-paying easier or to skip probate later, but under the ownership rules that apply to most joint accounts, that child becomes a full legal owner of the money the moment the account is opened, not just a helper…

Before a debt collector can legally expect payment on an old bill, federal law requires that collector to put specific facts about the debt in writing and give the person a real window to dispute it. That single requirement, known as debt validation, stops a common scam tactic cold: a caller who claims someone owes…

A federal program that most renters and homeowners have never heard of can pay part of a heating bill in January or a cooling bill in July, and it exists specifically for households living on a low or fixed income, including many retirees. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, does not…

More than half of the older adults who qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program never sign up, according to research built on the federal government’s own participation data. For a retiree stretching a fixed income against rising grocery bills, that gap can mean leaving hundreds of dollars a year on the table simply because…

Wartime veterans and their surviving spouses who need help with everyday tasks like bathing, dressing, or managing medication may qualify for an added, tax-free monthly payment on top of a basic VA pension. The money is meant to offset exactly the kind of long-term care costs that blindside older households: a home health aide, an…

When the Federal Trade Commission wins a case against a company that took money from consumers through fraud or deception, it often gets that money back and mails it out as a check, no application required. The catch that surprises a lot of recipients: the check comes with an expiration clock. The FTC’s standard instruction…

Owners of certain Hyundai and Kia vehicles equipped with a specific airbag control unit have well over a year left to file a claim in a settlement worth up to several hundred dollars per vehicle. The case resolves allegations that the control units, supplied by ZF-TRW, can fail to trigger airbags and other safety systems…

Farmers and large-equipment owners who paid John Deere or one of its authorized dealers for repairs over the past several years have until the end of the year to file a claim in a $99 million settlement. The deal resolves a multiyear antitrust lawsuit accusing Deere of restricting access to repair software and steering customers…

Electricity bills haven’t just gone up since the pandemic-era price swings of 2021 and 2022 settled down; they’ve kept climbing faster than most other household costs, and residential customers in particular have absorbed the brunt of it. A multi-year analysis from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and The Brattle Group puts a hard number on a…

A credit-reporting mistake that stuck a bankruptcy label on people’s files without a matching bankruptcy record is now being resolved with cash. Roughly 21,000 people will receive an automatic $100 payment with nothing to file, and thousands more can submit a claim for up to $1,000 before the October 30, 2026, deadline. For older Americans…