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 data breach at a behind-the-scenes financial software vendor has produced a $5.5 million settlement, and the people whose personal information was exposed have until October 13, 2026, to claim a cash payment. Many of those affected are credit union members who never dealt with the company directly and may not realize their names, account…
A long-running legal fight over Pfizer’s prescription anti-smoking drug Chantix has produced a $44 million settlement, and the people who paid for the medication out of pocket have only a few weeks left to claim their share. The deadline to file falls on September 14, 2026, and anyone who bought Chantix during the covered years…
A batch of refund payments tied to one of the food-delivery industry’s biggest enforcement cases is going out right now, and the people owed money do not have to lift a finger to claim it. The Federal Trade Commission has started sending more than $23.8 million to over 640,000 people harmed by Grubhub, split between…
State Farm’s largest customer payout in more than a century is now landing in mailboxes and inboxes across the country. The insurer’s mutual auto arm has begun distributing a one-time $5 billion dividend to people who paid for coverage in 2025, an unusual return of cash at a time when most drivers have watched premiums…
Heating and cooling a home can swallow a large share of a fixed monthly income, and the bills arrive whether or not the money is there. A federal program exists to help low-income households, including many older adults, cover part of those energy costs. It reaches residents only through their own state, however, and only…
When a homeowner dies leaving only a will, the house rarely passes to the family overnight. It typically goes first through probate, the court-supervised process for settling an estate, and only afterward reaches the heirs. A living trust offers a different route, one that lets a home move to named beneficiaries without ever entering the…
A change to the food-assistance program many older Americans rely on is now taking effect, and it reaches a group that was previously shielded from its toughest rule. Adults in their late fifties and early sixties, once exempt from federal work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, are being pulled into them. The result…
Older homeowners often try to simplify their estate by adding an adult child to the deed of the family home. The logic seems sound: put the child on the title now, and the house should pass smoothly and avoid probate later. In practice, that single change can create a tax-filing obligation, hand a share of…
A will can name every heir and spell out exactly who should inherit, and a single outdated form filed years earlier can quietly override the entire document. Retirement accounts, life insurance policies, and many bank and brokerage accounts pass by beneficiary designation, not by will. Whoever is written on that form collects the money, even…
Most bank accounts do not automatically escape probate when the owner dies. Left with no instructions, a checking or savings balance held in one name typically becomes part of the estate and waits for a court to settle it. A payable-on-death designation changes that outcome with a single form. By naming a beneficiary who will…