Banking & Credit Cards
How banks, credit cards, and payment systems work. Covers products, rates, fees, regulations, and what consumers need to know to navigate the banking system.
Latest in Banking & Credit Cards
7.5 million borrowers just lost the SAVE plan — and the Class of 2026 is graduating into the worst student loan landscape in a decade
A borrower earning $40,000 a year with $35,000 in federal student loans could have paid as little as $50 to $100 a month under the...
The Class of 2026 is graduating into the worst student loan landscape in a decade — fewer options, stricter rules, and no more SAVE plan
More than 7 million federal student loan borrowers are being pushed out of the “Saving on a Valuable Education” (SAVE) Plan this summer after the...
A personal assistant forged checks for 7 years to steal $10 million from a retired Wall Street banker — and spent it at Gucci and Cartier
Catalina Corona was hired to make life easier for an elderly couple in New York. Multiple news outlets, including the New York Post, have described...
Americans lost a record $15.9 billion to scams in 2025 — and half of it was crypto fraud
A retired teacher in Ohio watches $340,000 vanish into a fake crypto trading platform. A young professional in Texas loses $50,000 after a months-long romance...
The SAVE student loan plan is officially dead — 7.5 million borrowers have until October to pick a new repayment plan
Millions of federal student loan borrowers who once had some of the lowest monthly payments available are now navigating a repayment system that looks very...
AI can now clone your voice from 3 seconds of audio — the FBI says deepfake financial scams are surging in 2026
The voice on the phone belongs to your daughter. At least, that is what your brain tells you. She says she has been in a...
Credit card annual fees are soaring past $800 — and people keep paying them even as perks shrink
The annual fee on the American Express Platinum Card has climbed three times since 2019, landing at $695 in 2023. Each time, cardholders complained online,...
Premium credit card annual fees are now past $800: here’s when the math stops working
When finance giant American Express raised the Platinum Card’s annual fee to $895, it framed the move as an upgrade. New perks arrived alongside the...
The 5 credit card moves that save the most money in 2026, ranked by dollar impact
If you are carrying $6,000 on a credit card at roughly 23% interest, as reported in the Federal Reserve’s G.19 consumer credit statistical release, you...
Student loan garnishment still on hold — 5.5 million defaulted borrowers have a window to act before July
If you’re among the roughly 5.5 million Americans whose federal student loans are in default, the government holds the authority to capture up to 15%...
Credit card annual fees are soaring past $800 — why people keep paying
Last year, American Express raised the Platinum Card’s annual fee to $895, and the backlash was immediate. Social media lit up with cancellation threats. Personal...
Student loan wage garnishment delayed again — Education Dept pauses collections for repayment reform
For the second time in less than a year, the U.S. Department of Education has suspended involuntary collections on defaulted federal student loans, halting wage...
Visa’s Level 2 interchange program dies April 18 — small businesses already paying 75 bps more
Starting April 18, 2025, small businesses that accept Visa commercial cards lost access to a pricing tier that had saved them money on business-to-business transactions...
Credit card APRs averaging 23.7% despite three Fed rate cuts — Boston Fed says it’s hurting spending
Three Federal Reserve rate cuts were supposed to make borrowing cheaper. For the roughly half of American credit card holders who carry a balance month...
Education Dept delays student loan wage garnishment — 5.3 million defaulted borrowers get a reprieve
A borrower earning $40,000 a year with defaulted federal student loans could lose up to $230 per paycheck to wage garnishment, with no court order...
How to get out of student loan default in 2026: consolidation vs. rehabilitation, step by step
More than 5 million federal student loan borrowers were in default heading into 2026, according to Federal Student Aid data. For years, pandemic-era pauses shielded...
Visa’s Level 2 interchange program sunsets TOMORROW — merchants face higher fees under new AI-audited rules
A mid-size office supply distributor processing half a million dollars a month in corporate card payments could see roughly $1,250 in new interchange costs appear...
Credit card annual fees top $800 as Amex Platinum hits $895 — should you cancel before renewal?
When American Express raised the Platinum Card’s annual fee to $695 in 2021, longtime cardholders grumbled but mostly stayed. Now Amex is testing that loyalty...
Visa’s Level 2 interchange program dies April 18 — small business fees spike and you’ll see it at checkout
On April 18, 2026, a gas station owner in suburban Ohio who processes $60,000 a month in fleet card transactions will watch her effective credit...
Wage garnishment for defaulted student loans just got delayed — here’s what the Education Department’s pause means for 5.5M borrowers
About 5.3 million Americans with defaulted federal student loans were bracing for the government to start docking their paychecks and seizing their tax refunds. Then,...