The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released proposed federal regulations that would prevent unpaid medical bills from being counted on consumers’ credit reports.
Summer electric bills are expected to be nearly 8% higher this year than they were last year. Higher-than-usual temperatures will keep air conditioners working overtime.
We are living in a kind of golden age for online fraudsters. As the number of apps and services for storing and sending money has exploded – so too have the schemes that bad actors have cooked up to steal that money. Every year, we hear more and more stories of financial heartbreak. What you don't often hear about is what happens after the scam?
On today's show, we follow one woman who was scammed out of over $800,000 on her quest to get her money back. That journey takes her from the halls of the FBI to the fraud departments of some of the country's biggest financial institutions. And it offers a window into how the systems that are theoretically designed to help the victims of financial cybercrime actually work in practice.
This episode was hosted by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi and Jeff Guo. It was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Keith Romer. It was engineered by Neal Rauch and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
By one estimate, 40 percent of American workers get laid off at least once in their careers. And when that happens, companies will often say, "It's not personal. It has nothing to do with you or your performance. We're just changing priorities, making a strategic shift."
It's like the business version of: "It's not you, it's me." And just like a breakup, it feels terrible.
This happened to a man we're calling V, who was working at the same company as his husband when he got laid off. And for V, the experience felt shocking. It left him and his husband with a lot of unresolved questions.
On today's show, the story of that layoff. And we help that couple get some answers by taking their questions to an HR expert who gives the low-down on lay-offs.
This story is adapted from a 3-part series on layoffs produced by Yowei Shaw for her show, Proxy. The layoff series was edited by John DeLore with research and reporting help from Kim Nederveen Pieterse. You can listen to the full layoff series from Proxy wherever you get your podcasts, and you can support the show and find out more by going to patreon.com/proxypodcast. And you can check out her original song "Gold Star" on Spotify and YouTube.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is requiring buy-now, pay-later lenders to provide the same protections to shoppers as credit card companies do.
The temporary injunction imposed by Judge Mark Pittman in the Northern District of Texas is a win for the big banks and major credit card companies. The plan was set to go into effect next week.
Karen MacDonough of Quincy, Mass., was enjoying her tea one morning in the dining room when she sees something odd outside of her window: A group of people gathering on her lawn. A man with a clipboard tells her that her home no longer belongs to her. It didn't matter that she'd been paying her mortgage for 17 years, and was current on it. She was a nurse with a good job and had raised her kids here. But this was a foreclosure sale, and she was going to lose her house.
Karen had fallen victim to what's called a zombie second mortgage. Homeowners think these loans are long dead. But then the loans come back to life because they get bought up, sometimes for pennies on the dollar, by debt collectors who then move to collect and foreclose on people's homes.
On today's episode: An NPR investigation reveals the practice to be widespread. Also, what are zombie mortgages? Is all this legal? And is there any way for homeowners to fight the zombies?
This episode was hosted by Chris Arnold and Robert Smith. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Jess Jiang with help from Bob Little. And it was fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Engineering by Robert Rodriguez with an assist from Patrick Murray. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.
Millions of new parents in the U.S. are swamped by medical debt during and after pregnancy, forcing many to cut back on food, clothing, and other essentials.
Social Security's finances have improved slightly in the last year. But the popular retirement program still faces big challenges including the threat of automatic benefit cuts in less than a decade.
What do you do if a loved one asks to borrow a big sum of money from you? Experts weigh in on when it's OK to fork over the cash — and when you should probably say no.
American drivers want cheap EVs. Chinese automakers are building them. But you can't buy them in the U.S., thanks to tariffs in the name of U.S. jobs and national security. Two car shoppers weigh in.
Four states so far have passed laws prohibiting the use of public money for no-strings cash aid. Advocates for basic income say the backlash is being fueled by a conservative think tank.
People who've lived in co-ops, communes, group houses and 'intentional communities' share four questions you should ask yourself before taking the leap.
