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Credit & Debt

Credit scores, credit reports, debt payoff strategies, student loans, credit card debt, collections, and rebuilding credit. Practical advice for managing and reducing what you owe.

Latest in Credit & Debt

Credit & Debt

Student loan borrowers still in SAVE are getting final 30-day notices from the Trump administration before being moved automatically into a fixed payment plan

Student loan borrowers who are still in the SAVE plan are now getting a final 30-day notice from their servicers, the last warning before the...

Credit & Debt

Parent PLUS limits changed and Grad PLUS ended by statute July 1, while comments on a PLUS loan request form are due October 26

Parents who borrow through Direct PLUS Loans for an undergraduate now face a dollar limit: $20,000 a year and $65,000 in total for each student....

Credit & Debt

Drivers whose LexisNexis claims report kept wrong insurer information after a dispute share a fund of up to $1.65 million, with opt-outs due October 20

People who disputed a mistake on their LexisNexis insurance claims report and saw it stay in place are sharing a settlement fund of up to...

Credit & Debt

About 1 million people who mailed Equifax a written dispute saying an inquiry was not theirs can claim an estimated $300, with claims closing November 29

About 1 million people sit in the top-paying tier of a settlement over how Equifax handled credit-inquiry disputes. They are the ones whose mailed letters...

Credit & Debt

Equifax’s $30 million hard-inquiry dispute settlement is estimated to pay $100 to $400 per valid claim, and claims close November 29

Equifax’s $30 million settlement over hard-inquiry disputes is estimated to pay about $100 to $400 per valid claim, depending on which of three groups a...

Credit & Debt

Nonrevolving consumer credit grew at a 4.1 percent annual rate in August, the Federal Reserve’s October 7 report shows

Nonrevolving consumer debt, the category that holds car and student loans, grew at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.1 percent in August, the Federal...

Credit & Debt

A five-year new-car loan from a commercial bank averaged 7.54 percent in August and a two-year personal loan 11.90 percent, the Federal Reserve reports

A five-year new-car loan from a commercial bank carried an average rate of 7.54 percent in August, the Federal Reserve reported October 7, up from...

Credit & Debt

TransUnion agreed to pay $8.31 million to settle claims it sold credit reports showing bankruptcy remarks with no matching public record, and claims are due October 30

Trans Union LLC has agreed to put $8.31 million into a fund for people whose credit reports carried a bankruptcy remark that no court record...

Credit & Debt

The Education Department extended to December 31 the deadline for Direct Loan borrowers, parent PLUS included, to enroll in automatic debit for a rate reduction

Student loan borrowers who missed the September 30 cutoff for an automatic-debit interest rate reduction now have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern on December 31, 2026,...

Credit & Debt

Anyone whose Equifax credit score was misreported in spring 2022 must opt out by November 27 to keep the right to sue

Equifax’s $100 million fair-credit-reporting settlement carries two deadlines a month apart that point in opposite directions. Class members who want to keep the right to...

Credit & Debt

Treasury’s own rule example shows an $850 federal benefit losing $100 rather than 15%, because the offset cannot reach below $750 a month

A federal benefit check of $850 does not lose 15 percent to a Treasury offset. It loses $100. The reason sits in the Treasury regulation...

Credit & Debt

Parent PLUS borrowers have until Dec. 31 to cut their rate by a full point

The Education Department has pushed the enrollment deadline for a temporary student loan interest rate cut from Sept. 30 to Dec. 31, 2026, giving borrowers...

Credit & Debt

More than 5 million people have been in default on a student loan for over six years

The Treasury Department announced on September 30, 2026 that more than 5 million borrowers have been in default on a federal student loan for over...

Credit & Debt

Only credit reports Equifax sent between March 17 and April 8, 2022 qualify for its settlement

Equifax’s settlement of the credit-score coding error is open to claims until December 28, 2026, but only a narrow slice of consumers sits inside it....

Credit & Debt

Student loan borrowers still on SAVE have 90 days from their servicer’s notice to pick a new plan, with notices going out through October

A borrower still on the SAVE plan has 90 days from the date of the servicer’s notice to choose a new repayment plan, and those...

Credit & Debt

Nonrevolving consumer debt, which includes auto and student loans, grew at a 4.8% annual rate to $3.83 trillion in July

Nonrevolving consumer debt, the category that covers auto loans and student loans, grew at a 4.8% seasonally adjusted annual rate in July, reaching $3,829.0 billion,...

Credit & Debt

FleetCor’s $100 million settlement targets fees customers never agreed to pay

FleetCor, the fuel-card company now known as Corpay, and its chief executive Ronald Clarke will pay $100 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission administrative...

Credit & Debt

FleetCor will pay $100 million after a court found unauthorized fuel-card fees

FleetCor Technologies, now known as Corpay, and its chief executive Ronald Clarke will pay $100 million to settle a Federal Trade Commission administrative action, the...

Credit & Debt

A debt collector loses the right to sue once a debt passes the state time limit

Every state sets a time limit on how long a creditor or debt collector can use a lawsuit to collect an unpaid consumer debt, and...

Credit & Debt

The three big credit bureaus keep most medical debt off your report despite a vacated federal rule

The three nationwide credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, are still keeping most medical debt off credit reports in 2026, even though the federal rule...

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