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.
If a letter from the Benworth Data Settlement landed in your mailbox this fall, a deadline is attached to it. People who were notified of the May 2025 data breach at Benworth Capital Partners can file for cash until December 21, 2026. The settlement class runs to more than 200,000 people, according to the settlement…
When Kansas shoppers swipe an EBT card in early 2027, candy and soft drinks will not go through. The state is starting a two-year federal pilot that takes both off the list of things food stamps can buy, and the Kansas Department for Children and Families says no household can opt out. The rule covers…
About 200,000 home-care aides in the New York City area could get a check from a $162 million wage settlement with Public Partnerships LLC, known as PPL. Plaintiffs’ lawyers expect the average payment to be about a week’s pay, roughly $680. A federal judge still has to give final approval, and that hearing is November…
Since October 1, states have been paying 75 cents of every dollar it costs to run the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the program many people still call food stamps. Until then the split was about half and half. The shift comes from Section 10106 of Public Law 119-21, the budget law signed on July 4,…
A surcharge paid at a gas-station cash machine years ago could now earn a share of a $167.5 million settlement. Visa has agreed to pay about $88.8 million and Mastercard about $78.7 million to people who paid unreimbursed surcharges at independent ATMs. The case is Burke v. Visa Inc., and a judge has yet to…
Hundreds of undercover investigations in New York City ended with enforcement action against 170 stores. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the results of what it calls Operation SNAP Back on September 18. Several of the cases were referred to the department’s Office of Inspector General for criminal prosecution. The targets were bodegas, convenience stores…
More than two million people who paid Cleo AI for instant cash advances are due refunds starting October 27. The Federal Trade Commission says it is sending 2,124,796 PayPal payments, worth more than $15.8 million in all. Each payment has to be accepted within 30 days. The details are on the FTC’s Cleo AI refunds…
Boneless USDA Choice round steak, one of the cheaper steaks in the meat case, averaged $9.84 a pound in September, according to the Labor Department. The exact figure is $9.838, up from $9.360 a year earlier. Premium sirloin, at $14.106, was slightly cheaper than a year ago. That split is the story of beef prices…
Fourteen energy companies lost their eligibility to operate in New York on October 15, and customers who signed contracts with them now have a reasonable question about what happens to the bill. The state’s Public Service Commission acted against Sunnova Energy Corporation, PosiGen Developer LLC and 12 others for what it describes as a pattern…
Aljordan Cannon is due in a Mississippi federal courtroom on Thursday, October 22, for sentencing on a food stamp fraud charge. The 28-year-old from Jackson pleaded guilty on July 15 to obtaining $16,968.72 in SNAP benefits that did not belong to him. Prosecutors say the benefits came through his girlfriend, who worked for a company…