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2 weeks ago | 
bankrate.com | Denny Ceizyk |Katie Lowery
To pay or not to pay?
That’s the question in my soul.
Do I Venmo Uncle Sam,
And put forgiveness hopes on hold? This lyric popped into my head as I pondered the meaning of debt management in the era of student loan forgiveness.
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3 weeks ago | 
bankrate.com | Bernadette Joy |Katie Lowery
Inflation has been stealing from your paycheck, and all signs indicate that’s not going to change anytime soon. Even if your salary hasn’t changed, the cost of groceries, gas and essential services have risen, leaving many Americans feeling like they’re working harder for less purchasing power. A 2025 Bankrate analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that consumer prices are 23.6 percent higher than they were in February 2020.
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1 month ago | 
bankrate.com | Katie Lowery
Americans who are underwater on their car loans owe record amounts, and lenders are repossessing vehicles at a rate not seen since 2009. Those are symptoms, not the cause. And the most concerning symptom might be rising auto loan delinquency rates. They’re at a 15-year high among borrowers who are 30, 60 or more days late on their payment, according to the latest data from TransUnion and an April MorningStar analysis.
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1 month ago | 
bankrate.com | Bernadette Joy |Katie Lowery
I’ll never forget the weight of my $72,000 graduate student loan bill. It didn’t just affect my bank account — it shaped my daily spending choices, delayed my dreams and literally kept me up at night with anxiety, wondering if I’d ever truly feel free. At my lowest point, I was sobbing with shame and regret. Then, I made a decision that changed everything: I was going to pay off my student loans in two years. What happened next surprised even me.
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1 month ago | 
bankrate.com | Heidi Rivera |Katie Lowery
Eloan is an online division of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico. It formerly offered personal loans, but in 2022, it transitioned to an educational platform that aims to teach borrowers the ins and outs of the lending process. Although Eloan no longer offers personal loans, the following lenders provide loans that are similar to Eloan’s previous product.
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1 month ago | 
bankrate.com | Denny Ceizyk |Katie Lowery
Credit card debt is at an all-time high: $1.2 trillion, according to the New York Federal Reserve. And according to Bankrate’s 2025 Dealing with Debt survey, 64 percent of borrowers who carry a credit card balance month to month have delayed or avoided other financial decisions as a result of their credit card debt. Despite the alarm bells, Americans continue to rely on the plastic in their wallets to cover emergencies and even chase travel rewards.
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1 month ago | 
bankrate.com | Katie Lowery
More than 4 in 10 Americans belong to a credit union, but this type of financial institution is often an afterthought for many personal loan applicants. But failing to consider credit unions as part of your shopping-around process could mean paying more. That’s because federal credit unions (more on the distinction later) cap unsecured personal loan interest rates at 18 percent. That may seem high, but not when compared to the 35.99 percent rate ceiling of many popular banks and online lenders.
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1 month ago | 
bankrate.com | Bernadette Joy |Katie Lowery
Living paycheck to paycheck isn’t just exhausting and stressful — it’s expensive. With inflation sticking around and new tariffs projected to cost American households up to $3,800 in 2025 (according to Yale’s Budget Lab), it’s more important than ever to build breathing room into your money plan to avoid late payment fees or borrowing to make it to payday. There’s one simple but powerful habit I use to break this cycle: I have built and maintained a cash-flow cushion.
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1 month ago | 
bankrate.com | Katie Lowery
Sometimes you have to learn by doing, even doing the wrong thing. And that’s true, unfortunately, in personal finance. Just ask Bankrate’s experts. Even they have regrets about their financial decision-making earlier in life: how they invested, where they socked away their savings and how they borrowed and repaid debt. But take their experiences to heart. Then you, hopefully, won’t have to learn the same lessons the hard way.
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1 month ago | 
bankrate.com | Bernadette Joy |Katie Lowery
Here’s an uncomfortable truth: Every time we buy one of the Magnificent 7 stocks, shop with the largest online retailers or pay loan interest to a big-name bank, we’re putting money in the pockets of billionaires. To put their enormous wealth into perspective, if you make $50,000 a year, it would take 20,000 years to earn $1 billion, even if you didn’t spend a single penny.
