Freddie Mac’s 15-year mortgage average fell to 6.45% on Nov. 12 from 6.57%, still nearly a point above the 5.49% of a year earlier
Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the average 15-year fixed mortgage rate at 6.45% on Nov. 12, 2026, down from 6.57% the week before. A year earlier the 15-year averaged 5.49%, so borrowers who want the shorter loan still pay close to a full percentage point more. The 30-year fixed fell to 7.11% from 7.18% in […]
Read MoreFreddie Mac’s 15-year mortgage average fell to 6.45% on Nov. 12 from 6.57%, still nearly a point above the 5.49% of a year earlier
Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the average 15-year fixed mortgage rate at 6.45% on Nov. 12, 2026, down from 6.57% the week before. A year earlier the 15-year averaged 5.49%, so borrowers who want the shorter loan still pay close to a full percentage point more. The 30-year fixed fell to 7.11% from 7.18% in […]
Read MorePersonal Finance
Credit & Debt
Debt relief companies that sell by phone cannot collect a fee until at least one debt is settled and the customer makes a payment, the FTC says
Companies that sell debt relief by phone, including credit card debt settlement firms, are barred from collecting any fee until…
Personal Finance
Credit & Debt
Debt relief companies that sell by phone cannot collect a fee until at least one debt is settled and the customer makes a payment, the FTC says
Companies that sell debt relief by phone, including credit card debt settlement firms, are barred from collecting any fee until…
Markets & Investing
Banking & Credit Cards
Bank Accounts & Fees
Banks must get a customer’s opt-in before charging overdraft fees on ATM withdrawals and one-time debit card purchases, but checks and automatic bills fall outside the rule
A bank or credit union that wants to charge overdraft fees on ATM withdrawals and one-time debit card purchases has to ask the customer first....
Fraud & Scams
DaVita dialysis patients whose data was exposed in the April 2025 ransomware attack have until Jan. 19, 2027 to claim an estimated $50 or up to $2,500 in documented losses
People whose personal and medical details were exposed when ransomware hit DaVita Inc. in April 2025 have until Jan. 19, 2027 to file for cash...
Loans & Lending
Credit Acceptance must tell borrowers their wiped-out car loans are closed and ask the three credit bureaus to delete them, its New York settlement order says
Credit Acceptance Corporation must tell borrowers by letter, email or text that their wiped-out car loans are closed, that no further payments are owed and...
Bank Accounts & Fees
A creditor of one joint bank account owner can try to collect from money in the shared account, though two months of directly deposited federal benefits are protected
A creditor chasing one owner of a joint bank account can try to collect from the money in the shared account, the Consumer Financial Protection...
Bank Accounts & Fees
Bank customers who want to stop a recurring automatic payment must tell their bank at least three business days before it is scheduled, federal rules say
Bank customers who want to stop a recurring automatic payment from their account must notify their bank at least three business days before the transfer...
Fraud & Scams
A man accused of taking part in a fake-psychic mail scheme that allegedly took more than $4 million from thousands of people, many of them elderly, was extradited from Germany to Miami, DOJ says
Mael Chemla, a 61-year-old U.S., French and Israeli national who previously lived in Aventura, Florida, was extradited from Germany to face federal charges over a...
Real Estate
Mortgages & Rates
Freddie Mac’s 15-year mortgage average fell to 6.45% on Nov. 12 from 6.57%, still nearly a point above the 5.49% of a year earlier
Freddie Mac’s weekly survey put the average 15-year fixed mortgage rate at 6.45% on Nov. 12, 2026, down from 6.57%…
Retirement & Taxes
Most heirs who inherit an IRA from someone who died after 2019 must empty it by the end of the 10th year after the death, the IRS says
IRA owners past their first RMD year face a 25% excise tax on a 2026 required withdrawal skipped by Dec. 31, cut to 10% if corrected within two years
Gifts to a spouse who is not a U.S. citizen are free of gift tax up to $201,000 in 2027, the IRS says
PBGC will guarantee up to $8,113.64 a month to a 65-year-old in a single-employer pension plan that ends in 2027, its new table shows
Retirees under the IRS filing threshold should still file a federal return to get a refund of any income tax withheld, the IRS says
Workers still on the job past 73 can delay 401(k) withdrawals until April 1 after retiring if the plan allows it, but 5% owners and IRA owners cannot
The Labor Department’s Lost and Found database searches private-sector 401(k)s and pensions by Social Security number, but a match does not confirm any money is owed
Working retirees under full retirement age can earn $25,560 in 2027 before Social Security withholds $1 for every $2 above it, up from $24,480
The IRS raised 2027 health savings account limits to $4,500 for self-only coverage and $9,000 for family plans, with a $1,000 catch-up for people 55 or older
Taxpayer Advocate Service says automatic penalty relief would have reached more than 1.5 million taxpayers in fiscal 2025, versus nearly 220,000 who got First Time Abate by asking
Medicare counts a drug plan member’s own spending and Extra Help payments toward the 2027 out-of-pocket cap of $2,400, and state pharmacy assistance may count too
Treasury and the IRS estimate about 3.7 million returns in 2028 will include repayment of excess marketplace subsidies under proposed rules open for comment until Nov. 30
People who have never filed a federal tax return cannot use IRS Direct Pay, which verifies identity against a return from five to six years back
Treasury’s watchdog says the IRS’s screening flagged 14.7 million potential nonfilers for tax year 2022, up 5.9 million from 2015, and a refund on an unfiled return is lost after three years
The IRS charges estates $76 instead of $56 for an estate tax closing letter on requests it receives after October 26, 2026
WakeMed’s Raleigh hospitals rejoined UnitedHealthcare employer plans October 15, but stay out of network for UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage members