Author: Brian Lund
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Household debt fell $13 billion last quarter, but 10.6 percent of student-loan balances are now 90 days late
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s newest household debt report tells two stories about the same set of borrowers, and only one of them is reassuring. Total household debt fell by $13 billion in the second quarter of 2026, a 0.1 percent dip to $18.8 trillion, according to the New York Fed’s Center for…
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The consumer bureau stopped publishing what people say about their banks
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said on August 14, 2026, that it would stop posting the written descriptions people submit about their banks, credit card companies, and debt collectors, along with the charts built from that text. The change ends a practice that dates back more than a decade, when the bureau first let consumers…
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Capital One’s $425 million savings settlement pays out automatically, but an appeal has stalled the checks
More than five million people who held a Capital One 360 Savings account between September 2019 and June 2025 are due money from a $425 million class-action settlement, and Capital One says every eligible customer is included without filing anything. The checks and electronic payments were supposed to start moving around July 21, 2026. They…
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One power auction added $16.1 billion to electricity costs across 13 states
A power auction most households never hear about just set a $16.1 billion price tag for keeping the lights on across a stretch of the country that runs from Chicago’s suburbs to the Virginia coast. PJM Interconnection, the grid operator that runs the wholesale electricity market for 13 states and the District of Columbia, finalized…
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Diesel costs about $1.90 a gallon more than it did a year ago, and that rides into every grocery aisle
The average price of diesel fuel in the United States hit $5.6046 a gallon this week, according to AAA’s daily national survey, up from $3.7072 a gallon a year ago — a gap of about $1.90. Almost nobody drives a diesel-powered car to the grocery store, so that number rarely shows up on a household’s…
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More than four million people have already lost SNAP since last July
Food stamp enrollment has been falling for ten straight months, and the government’s own newest numbers show the decline is bigger than the four-million figure that has circulated since early August. Every household that lost coverage lost it for one of a small number of specific reasons, each one written into a single federal law…
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Humana is dropping mostly its lowest-rated Medicare Advantage plans, its finance chief says
Humana’s chief financial officer told investors on July 29 that most of the health insurer’s 2027 Medicare Advantage plan exits will land on its lowest-scoring coverage, plans already sitting at 3.5 stars or below in the government’s current quality ratings. The company expects the cuts to touch roughly 600,000 members, with about 40 percent likely…
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Medicaid work rules start January 1, and the countable months begin in November
A federal work requirement for Medicaid is no longer a proposal moving through Washington; it is a rule with a countdown attached, and the countdown does not start on the day the requirement itself takes effect. Anyone applying for coverage in Medicaid’s expansion group after January 1, 2027 will need to show a state proof…
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Retirees who wait until 70 can draw $5,181 a month from Social Security
The Social Security Administration says a worker who waits until age 70 to start retirement benefits in 2026 can receive as much as $5,181 a month, the highest of the three age-based maximums the agency publishes every year. That figure sits well above the $4,152 maximum for someone who claims at full retirement age and…
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Medicare must announce negotiated prices for 15 more drugs by November 30
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services confirmed on March 13, 2026, that the manufacturers of all 15 drugs picked for the next round of Medicare price negotiations had agreed to take part, locking in a process that now has a hard federal deadline. By law, CMS has to publish the negotiated price for each…
