Personal Finance

Weekly mortgage rates stayed basically unchanged this week. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose one basis point to 6.85% in the week ending July 30, according to rates provided to NerdWallet by Zillow. A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point. Mortgage rates are likely to hover where they are for the time being. The Federal Reserve just

What to know about President Donald Trump’s “Trump Accounts” and how they work for families. Here’s how they work.

Nearly 4 in 5 Americans agree — the state of their finances is a matter for concern. More precisely, 79% had specific concerns when asked about their “current financial situation” earlier this year, in an April 2025 NerdWallet survey conducted online by The Harris Poll. All told, 64% of Americans had one or more worries about not having enough money

“CFPB RIP” was Elon Musk’s tweet on Feb. 7, when the billionaire was slashing his way through federal agencies at the behest of his then-ally, President Donald Trump. Rohit Chopra, former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, had been fired Feb. 1. By Feb. 3, new acting director (and also, new Treasury Secretary) Scott Bessent had ordered CFPB staff

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or CFPB, and other government agencies have scaled back their consumer protection work in recent months, but there are still steps people can take to keep their money safe. In fact, consumer advocates say doing so is more important than ever. “We as consumers are quite vulnerable right now,” says Christine Hines, senior policy director at

Weekly mortgage rates continued to simmer last week, as markets wait in suspense ahead of the White House’s August 1 tariff deadline. The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose one basis point to 6.85% the week ending July 24, according to rates provided to NerdWallet by Zillow. A basis point is one one-hundredth of a percentage point. Rates are basically exactly

You browse online real estate listings, right? How many times do you laugh at the photos? You chuckle at the fuzzy shot with a finger partly covering the phone’s lens. You giggle at the image of a bottle of toenail fungus remover parked on a bathroom counter. But every once in a while, you run across a listing with photos

Student loan borrowers face a new status quo after Congress and President Donald Trump signed off on a massive budget reconciliation agreement earlier this month — the so-called “one big, beautiful bill”. The changes are significant, but not immediate. Most will go into effect from July 1, 2026, to July 1, 2028, including: Big cuts to federal loans for grad

Graduate school can boost your career prospects and earnings — but it can come at a steep price. Nearly half of grad students take out loans, with an average balance of $77,300, according to a 2023 report from the National Center for Education Statistics. That debt can be tough to manage — it adds up fast. All grad school loans,