The financial news that actually matters
Checking account holders at the largest U.S. banks face renewed exposure to higher overdraft charges after the president signed a joint resolution on May 12, 2025, killing a federal rule that would have capped most fees at $5. Many of those banks had already dropped their overdraft charges from roughly $35 per transaction to $5…
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged two Georgia-based firms, Reign Financial International and Berone Capital, with orchestrating an alleged $26 million fraud through three purported high-yield investment programs that pulled in at least 31 investors. The enforcement action, documented in Litigation Release No. 26552, names both firms and their principals, accusing them of misusing…
Every Eddie Bauer store in the United States will shut its doors after the company’s bankruptcy auction for 174 locations drew zero qualified bids. Eddie Bauer LLC and affiliated debtors filed for Chapter 11 protection on Feb. 9, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey under case number 26-11422 (SLM)….
Millions of people avoid pulling their own credit reports each year because they believe the act itself will drag down their score. That fear is unfounded. A consumer requesting a personal credit report triggers only a soft inquiry, which carries zero scoring penalty, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The distinction between soft and…
Investors who trusted Russell Todd Burkhalter and his firm Drive Planning, LLC with their savings now face a federal enforcement action alleging the operation was a Ponzi scheme exceeding $300 million. The SEC filed an emergency complaint in the Northern District of Georgia accusing Burkhalter of funneling tens of millions into options trading losses and…
Savers holding deposits at FDIC-insured banks can verify their coverage in minutes using a free government calculator, yet many still do not know the tool exists. The FDIC’s Electronic Deposit Insurance Estimator, known as EDIE, performs per-bank calculations for checking accounts, savings accounts, money-market deposit accounts, and certificates of deposit. With its calculation basis date…
Investors who lost money on shares of China Liberal Education Holdings Ltd. now have a path to recover some of those losses after federal prosecutors in Chicago secured a court order permanently forfeiting approximately $214 million seized as alleged proceeds of a pump-and-dump scheme. The forfeiture, one of the largest tied to a single stock-manipulation…
Investors who sold stocks, funds, or other assets at a loss during recent market swings face a hard ceiling when filing their 2025 returns: federal law caps the net capital loss deduction at $3,000 per year for most filers, or $1,500 for those married filing separately. Any excess rolls into future tax years, dollar for…
Every dollar a saver deposits at a federally insured credit union carries the same federal guarantee as money held at a bank: $250,000 per owner, per institution, for each account ownership category. That parity is written into federal law and backed by two separate government-administered insurance funds, yet a persistent gap in public awareness still…
Every American consumer can lock down their credit files at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion without paying a cent, a protection that federal regulators call the single strongest defense against new-account identity theft. The right has been codified in federal law since the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act took effect, and it extends…
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