Marketing ads, family functions and holiday gift-giving culture can make it feel impossible not to spend, or for some, overspend. According to a 2023 survey from NerdWallet, around half of Americans (52%) incurred credit card debt when shopping for gifts during the holidays last year, and almost a third (31%) of them still haven’t paid it off. While giving can be … Continue reading
We’ve received reports of scammers tampering with gift cards on store shelves. These individuals remove the cards, jot down the card information, and cover the scratched-off PIN to make them look brand new. When a shopper purchases and loads the card, the scammer can swiftly steal the funds, leaving the buyer with an empty gift card and a sense of … Continue reading
The nearly universal experience of finding yourself face-to-face with a checkout counter screen asking you to select an amount to tip for service can prompt a cascade of awkward questions: How much should you tip on a $5 coffee if anything? How can you decide before the cup has even been poured? Is it rude to select “no tip,” then … Continue reading
People who drive to work day in and day out have likely grown weary of hearing about the growth (and then partial reversal) of working from home. The rising costs of their commute no doubt add insult to injury. The share of people working from home increased dramatically in 2020 and remains higher now than before the pandemic. But the … Continue reading
Retailers once again have begun their bid for consumers’ attention with big sales early in fall. A longer holiday shopping season lets you spread out expenses, but it also could lead to overspending. Danetha Doe, founder of financial education company Money & Mimosas, said in an email, “It’s easy to go into unplanned debt during this time because many of … Continue reading
Getting rid of debt before retirement is often a good idea. Getting rid of your credit scores? Not so much. People who stop using credit also stop generating enough data to produce credit scores, the three-digit numbers used to gauge creditworthiness. Not having scores can make it harder and more expensive to get loans. Even if you’re sure you’ll never … Continue reading
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when it comes to protecting yourself from financial scams is thinking you’re too smart to be duped by one. “We’re all vulnerable — we can all fall for a scam given the right set of circumstances,” says Eva Velasquez, president and CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit organization that … Continue reading
When Giovanna “Gigi” Gonzalez wanted to cut back on her food spending, the finance expert and money coach applied what is known as the “cash-stuffing” method of budgeting. She put the cash she allotted to food for the week into an envelope and limited her spending to that amount. “I could see when I had just 20 bucks left for … Continue reading
If you’ve been paying your federal student loans for 20 years or more, you’re about to see your remaining balance erased. The Department of Education announced Friday that it will forgive $39 billion in student loan debt for 804,000 borrowers who qualify for relief. That number could grow as the process unfolds. It’s part of a one-time account adjustment to address past … Continue reading
Blasting the air conditioning to counteract stifling heat can provide much-needed relief this summer, but the utility bills that follow might not be as pleasant. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the price of electricity has been steadily climbing over the past two years. “Most U.S. households will continue to pay high costs for energy throughout the summer because … Continue reading
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