Category: Saving & Banking
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The FDIC has closed five banks in 2026, and insured deposits stay protected up to $250,000
A small Philadelphia thrift called Tioga-Franklin Savings Bank was closed by state regulators on August 21, becoming the fifth U.S. bank to fail in 2026. That is more failures than the country saw in all of 2024 or all of 2025, and the headlines can be unsettling if you keep your paycheck, your bills, and…
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The FDIC insures up to $250,000 per depositor, and checking your coverage takes minutes
After a stretch of bank stress and headlines about failures, a lot of savers have quietly wondered whether their money is safe. The reassuring answer for anyone banking at an FDIC-member institution is that deposit insurance covers up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per ownership category — automatically, with no sign-up and no paperwork.…
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One in seven Americans has unclaimed money sitting in a state database you can search for free
Somewhere in a state database, roughly one in seven Americans has money waiting under their name — an old paycheck, a forgotten deposit, an insurance payout that never reached them. Across the country these forgotten funds add up to an estimated $70 billion, and the search to see whether any of it belongs to you…
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You can turn off debit-card overdraft and stop paying up to $35 to overspend your own account
Overspending a debit card by a few dollars can trigger a fee of around $35 — but only if you gave the bank permission to let it happen. A little-known federal rule puts that choice in the customer’s hands, and turning off debit-card overdraft coverage is a free move that stops the fees before they…
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Buy-now-pay-later loans now hit your credit report when you miss a payment
The “pay in four” installment plans that have become a checkout staple are no longer invisible to the credit system. Buy-now-pay-later loans are now being folded into credit reports and scores, which means paying them on time can help build credit for people with thin files — and missing a payment can now ding a…
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The FDIC holds unclaimed deposits from failed banks you can search by name
When a bank fails, most customers are made whole quickly through federal deposit insurance — but some money goes uncollected, and it can sit waiting for years. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation keeps a public database of unclaimed insured deposits from failed banks, searchable by name, and there is no cost to look or to…
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Collections on defaulted federal student loans have restarted, putting paychecks and tax refunds at risk of seizure
Collections on defaulted federal student loans have restarted after a long pause, and the consequences reach straight into a household’s cash flow. The government can seize tax refunds, garnish wages, and even take a slice of a Social Security check to recover a defaulted loan. For borrowers who fell behind during the years of paused…
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AT&T’s fee schedule lists a $4.99 charge on every line, and the company says it is not a tax
Section I.A of AT&T’s Mobility Fee Schedule is a four-row table of monthly recurring charges, and the first row is the largest flat one on it. The entry is called the AT&T Administrative and Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee, and the amount column reads $4.99 per line per month. It is not a plan price, it…
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Car loan balances hit a record $1.71 trillion as auto delinquencies stay elevated
Auto loan balances in the United States reached $1.713 trillion at the end of June, the highest figure recorded in a series the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has published since 2003. The quarterly increase was $28 billion. It landed in a quarter when total household debt went down, which is what makes the…
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The average American savings account pays 0.38 percent, while a one-year CD pays 1.71
The average savings account at an American bank pays 0.38 percent a year. A one-year certificate of deposit across the same universe of institutions pays 1.71 percent, roughly four and a half times as much. Both figures come from the same federal table, published the same morning, and the distance between them is the whole…
