It’s been almost two years since most borrowers have had to pay their monthly student loan bill. And yet, 93% of them are not prepared to resume payments on May 1, according to a survey of more than 23,000 student loan borrowers by the Student Debt Crisis Center. “The payment pause has meant everything,” said
Personal finance
Bill Oxford | E+ | Getty Images The tax season kicked off on Jan. 24, and the IRS has issued more than 22 million tax refunds worth around $78 billion, the agency reported Friday. As of Feb. 18, the average refund was $3,536, over $700 higher than last year’s payment of $2,815, as reported through
Cybercriminals capitalize on uncertainty and Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine is just the type of upheaval that may put individuals at risk. “The problem is kinetic warfare is almost always accompanied by cyberwarfare,” said Vahid Behzadan, an assistant professor of cybersecurity at the University of New Haven. “It’s unlikely Russia would target the critical infrastructure here
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images Drivers may need to prepare for more potential pain at the pump. The national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas has reached $3.59, up 33 cents so far this year, according to GasBuddy data. With ongoing uncertainty over how oil supplies could be affected by
Lightspeedshutter | Istock | Getty Images After two years of federal student loan payments being suspended because of the Covid pandemic, the government doesn’t expect an easy process to get millions of borrowers back into repayment. That’s the takeaway from a new report by the Government Accountability Office, which found that as many as half
The United States Capitol is seen framed with a canopy of trees from Fort Stanton Park on in Washington, D.C. The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images The Covid-19 pandemic caused unexpected financial shocks for many Americans, particularly low-income service workers who were at higher risk of losing their jobs. The emergency
Valeriy_G | iStock | Getty Images Married couples have the choice to file taxes jointly or separately every season. While filing together generally pays off, splitting returns may be better in some scenarios, financial experts say. Married filing separately involves two individual returns, each reporting their own income, deductions and credits. And the tax code
Marko Geber | DigitalVision | Getty Images U.S. stocks whiplashed Thursday following Russia’s attack on Ukraine as investors fled risk assets and turned towards safe havens such as gold. It can be a difficult time for investors who have been used to seeing markets gain and are now dealing with volatility that comes with global
A gold bar cast at Shchyolkovo Plant of Secondary Precious Metals of the Yuzhuralzoloto Group of Companies. Sergei Bobylev | Tass | Getty Images The specter of war in Ukraine is spooking investors, and some are turning to gold. They may be wise to temper their urge for an all-out gold rush. The precious metal
Monkeybusinessimages | Istock | Getty Images If you paid for child care last year, that expense could be valuable when you prepare your 2021 tax return. Along with some other tax changes, the “child and dependent care tax credit” was expanded in several ways. The upshot is that many households will get a bigger tax
John King listens to stories at Edgehill Farm September 08, 2019 in Gaithersburg, MD. Katherine Frey | The Washington Post | Getty Images John B. King, Jr., who served as education secretary under former President Barack Obama, has joined a number of other leading government officials calling on President Joe Biden to cancel student debt
Picking the right college has increasingly become a question of cost. But not everyone is choosing the most economical option. Since the start of the pandemic, college enrollment has continued to sink. For the most part, community colleges are the hardest hit, followed by public four-year colleges, according to a report by the National Student Clearinghouse