Main Street Dollars

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Paid family and medical leave is available to 49% of private-sector workers, while 81% can take paid sick days, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figures come from the agency’s March 2026 benefits survey, released Sept. 25, 2026. For a household weighing a new baby, a surgery or a parent’s decline, the difference…

Two-year personal loans at banks average 11.86%, about half the 22.15% charged on credit card balances, Fed data show

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Commercial banks charged an average of 11.86% on 24-month personal loans, and 22.15% on credit card balances that were assessed interest, according to the Federal Reserve’s G.19 consumer credit release of Sept. 8. The personal loan rate is 53.5% of the card rate, a gap of 10.29 percentage points. The two figures come from different…

Bank of America’s home equity line jumps to 8.525% after its six-month 5.74% intro rate, with prime at 7%

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Interest on a fully drawn $50,000 home equity line at Bank of America works out to about $239 a month at the 5.740% introductory rate and about $355 a month at 8.525%, the rate the bank’s page lists after six months. That is a $116 monthly jump on the same balance. The page dates the…

Money market funds yield about 3.65%, while bank money market accounts pay 0.63%

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in Checking & Savings

Bank money market accounts pay an average of 0.63%, according to the national rate series built from FDIC data. Money market funds, a different product with a similar name, are yielding about 3.65% on Crane Data’s index of 100 large funds. The gap is 3.02 percentage points, and the fund side comes with a disclosure…

Chase’s own formula puts its top Freedom Unlimited card rate at 27.99% now that prime has risen to 7%

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Seven plus 20.99 equals 27.99. That sum is the top variable rate on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card once prime is 7%, using the margin and formula printed on Chase’s own card page. The page itself still showed the older 6.75% prime when it was read on Sept. 29, so the 27.99% figure is arithmetic…

Six-month Treasury bills paid savers 4.44% at Monday’s auction, up from 4.02%

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in CDs & Yields

Treasury offered $82 billion of 26-week bills on Monday, Sept. 28, and the high investment rate came in at 4.441%, or 4.44%. That is up from 4.023%, or 4.02%, at the Sept. 8 auction of the same six-month bill. A saver comparing the two dates sees a gap of 0.418 percentage point in three weeks.…

The prime rate rose to 7% from 6.75% after the Fed’s September hike, lifting rates on cards and home equity lines tied to it

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A quarter-point decision at the Federal Reserve on Sept. 16 reached household borrowing within a day. U.S. Bank raised its prime lending rate to 7.00% from 6.75%, effective Sept. 17, and the Fed’s H.15 table lists the bank prime loan rate at 7.00% for every business day of Sept. 21-25. Borrowing that follows prime moves…

Fewer than half of private-sector workers, 46%, are enrolled in a workplace health plan, though 71% have access, BLS says

Sep 28, 2026

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in Jobs & Wages

Most private-sector workers can sign up for a health plan through work. Fewer than half of them do. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 71% of private-industry workers had access to a workplace medical plan in March 2026, but only 46% actually took part in one, a gap of 25 percentage points between what…

Women working full time earned 83.9 cents for every dollar men earned in 2025, up from 80.6 cents, Census says

Sep 28, 2026

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in Jobs & Wages

For every dollar a man working full time, year-round earned in 2025, a woman working the same schedule earned 83.9 cents, the Census Bureau reported, up from 80.6 cents the year before. The jump, more than three full cents in a single year, is one of the larger annual moves in a ratio that has…

The typical household’s income after taxes rose 3.1% to $76,060 in 2025, Census says

Sep 28, 2026

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