Category: Banking & Saving
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Your CD Just Matured: The Grace Period Clock Is Ticking
When a CD matures, most banks give you about 7 to 10 days before rolling the money into a new term at today’s rate. What the grace period lets you do.
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Adding a Name to a Bank Account: What It Really Does
Adding someone to a bank account makes them a full legal co-owner. What that does to FDIC coverage, creditor risk, and your will, plus gentler alternatives.
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Store Card Financing: The Deferred Interest Catch
“No interest if paid in full” is not the same as zero percent. How deferred interest promotions charge you back to day one, and how to beat them.
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Credit Card Balances: What the Fed’s Latest Data Shows
Federal Reserve data puts revolving credit near $1.34 trillion, with card rates around 21 percent. What the G.19 numbers mean for your balance.
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Cosigning a Loan Makes It Your Loan: The Fine Print
Federal rules require lenders to warn cosigners in writing: the debt is yours, and the lender can come to you first. What the notice says and how to protect yourself.
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Beyond T-Bills: Locking In Treasury Rates for Years
Treasury notes and bonds let savers lock a fixed rate for 2 to 30 years, starting at $100. How the auctions, interest payments and taxes work.
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Disputing a Card Charge: Your Billing Rights, Step by Step
Federal law gives credit card users a 60-day window and a formal process to fight billing errors. Here is how the Fair Credit Billing Act works, step by step.
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High-Yield Savings Accounts: What Makes the Rate High
The average savings account pays 0.38% while online banks pay several times more. Where the gap comes from, what APY really measures, and what to check first.
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Medical Debt and Your Credit Score: The Current Rules
A federal ban on medical debt in credit reports was struck down in court. What the credit bureaus still exclude, what can hurt your score, and how to protect it.
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Brokered CDs vs Bank CDs: Five Differences That Matter
Brokered CDs can pay more than the bank down the street, but they trade differently, can be called early, and handle interest and insurance their own way.
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Card Company Raising Your Rate? Your 45-Day Warning
Federal law makes card issuers give 45 days’ notice before raising your rate, and gives you the right to reject the increase. How to use it.
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Debt Settlement Companies: The Promises to Question
Debt settlement firms promise to shrink what you owe. The advance-fee ban, the risks they downplay, and the cheaper routes to the same result.