With issuers dangling bonuses like $100 cash back just for signing up, it can be easy to lose sight of exactly how rewarding (or not) credit card rewards truly are. You may be asking, why should it matter? It’s true that many …
Borrowing
The Latest Expansion of the Holiday Season: Layaway at Walmart Starts a Month Early This Year
We’re still in the middle of one of the hottest summers on record, but in less than a month, you’ll be able to put holiday items on layaway at Walmart.
Is Credit-Card Debt Collection the New Robo-Signing Scandal?
The big-bank robo-signing scandal lifted the proverbial rock on the unsavory things financial institutions were doing to force people out of their homes, whether they had the legal grounds to do so or not. Apparently, similar …
The Verdict Is In: Tackle Smaller Debts First
Financial experts have long debated the best strategy for paying down debt. Some advise paying off debt in the order of APR, taking on the loan with the highest interest rate first. With this approach, you reduce the amount spent …
5 Smart Strategies to Eliminate Your Credit Card Debt
Minimum payment due, reads the box on your credit-card statement. What an enticing idea: Pay a small amount and you’re off the hook for the whole bill—for a while, anyway. Alas, as the more than 45% of Americans who carry a …
Student Debt: Why Even the Affluent Struggle
Student debt is soaring in the households of the well-off. Will this be a turning point in the way we think about education and how much we are willing to pay for a degree?
Are ‘Safe Accounts’ the Answer to Our Consumer Banking Problems?
So-called Safe Accounts offer extremely low fees and no overdraft penalties. Banks are still experimenting but the early results have been encouraging and a product geared at the unbanked may just right for many others too.
Back to School: Top Five Things That Stress College Students
Fitting in? Finding a date? That’s nothing. College students are more stressed than ever, and money issues have emerged as the top culprit.
Would You Pay $520 in Interest to Borrow $375? 12 Million Americans Did Last Year
Americans spend more than $7.4 billion on payday loans every year. That’s hardly peanuts, especially when you consider that these billions are earned $50 to $100 at a time, often off the backs of the Americans who can least …
Going Away to College This Fall? You’re Now the Exception
For American students, heading off to college has traditionally also meant physically going away to college. But now, at a time when college costs are soaring, and when news of young people being saddled with burdensome student …
Is Subprime Lending Fueling the Auto Surge?
New research shows that lenders are loosening their standards for auto loans for people with damaged credit, but this is better news for lenders than it is for borrowers — or auto companies.
The Barclays LIBOR Scandal Is a Clear Case for Greater Consumer Protection
When it comes to managing personal financial affairs, there is only so much an individual can know. For years, the financial literacy movement missed that.