Pekic/GettyImages; Illustration by Hunter Newton/Bankrate Key takeaways A mortgage lets you purchase a property, while a home equity loan — which is a type of second mortgage — allows you to tap the value of your property to get cash. Compared to other forms of credit, both mortgages and home…
Key takeaways An LLC has access to some small business loans that are designed specifically for funding a variety of business expenses. LLC loans can be used for many things, including working capital, covering start-up costs, equipment or inventory purchases, advertising and marketing and even commercial real estate. Signing a…
A complicated U.S. economy. Stubborn inflation and a jobless boom. Unprecedented conflict with the president. Personnel changes, and a new Fed chair. Federal Reserve officials are no stranger to difficult economic moments, but the upcoming year could prove to be more dramatic than usual for the U.S. central bank —…
Westend61/GettyImages; Illustration by Hunter Newton/Bankrate Key takeaways FHA 203(k) loans provide funding to finance both a home’s purchase and the cost of repairing it. This type of loan, which you can obtain from an FHA-approved lender, is reserved for borrowers who intend to live in the home, not house-flippers or…
Personal Finance
The nation’s 75 million Social Security recipients will receive a 2.8% cost of living adjustment (COLA) increase in their benefits…
Historically Black colleges and universities are on the frontlines of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s new limits on parent…
The big new fees JPMorgan Chase is planning to charge some financial technology companies may well trickle down to consumers,…
With artificial intelligence beginning to eat away at many white-collar entry-level jobs, and the unemployment rate for recent college graduates…
Featured Articles
With interest rates somewhat in flux, savers and investors might have to search a little bit harder to find the best returns from relatively safe investments such as money market funds. Money market funds invest in short-term securities issued by governments and corporations and are…
Dept Managmnt
Delmaine Donson/Getty Images Debt relief companies work on your behalf to negotiate your debts, usually through a settlement for less than you owe.…
Banking
These entrepreneurs, traders and investors are making an outsized impact in fintech, crypto and traditional financial services.By Jeff Kauflin, Hank Tucker and Nina…
Credit Cards
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Alexandr Dubynin/Getty Images Key takeaways Personal loans aren’t among Bank of America’s product offerings. You can access a small, affordable short-term loan if you’re a current customer and meet the eligibility criteria. You can also explore Bank of America’s HELOC, car loan, mortgage and credit card products to get the…
Image: Getty Images; Illustration: Bankrate A huge jump in HELOC rates to start the new year. The $30,000 home equity line of soared 59 basis points to 8.22%, as a major lender ended promotions, according to Bankrate’s national survey of lenders. Meanwhile, the benchmark five-year $30,000 home equity loan dropped…
Image by PM Images/Getty Images; Illustration by Hunter Newton/Bankrate Mortgage rates dipped this week, with the 30-year fixed rate averaging 6.24%, down from 6.25% last week and the lowest level since September 2024, according to Bankrate’s latest lender survey. Current mortgage rates Loan type Current 4 weeks ago One year…
Alexandr Dubynin/Getty Images Key takeaways Personal loans aren’t among Bank of America’s product offerings. You can access a small, affordable short-term loan if you’re a current customer and meet the eligibility criteria. You can also explore Bank of America’s HELOC, car loan, mortgage and credit card products to get the…
Ilya Ginzburg/EyeEm/Getty Images Key takeaways Opening a money market account requires the same documentation as any other bank account including a government-issued ID and your Social Security number, along with a way to fund the account. Read the fine print prior to opening a new money market account to make…
Credit card interest rates resumed dropping in the second half of 2025, closing out the year at 19.7%, about a percentage point lower than the record high set in August of 2024. And while Bankrate expects the rates to continue falling in the new year, it’s not likely that cardholders…
Everything Americans thought they knew about personal finance was upended when the Federal Reserve started aggressively hiking interest rates to cool post-pandemic inflation. After more than a decade of ultralow rates, borrowers suddenly found themselves stuck in an unfamiliar, high-rate world — priced out of homes and cars, pushed deeper…
Image by Getty Images; Illustration by Bankrate Mortgage rates are unlikely to return to their pandemic lows in 2026, but they could still deliver some relief to borrowers. It’s possible that rates will even fall below the 6% threshold. “I expect the average 30-year fixed rate to fall below 6%…
Images by Getty Images/Illustration by Hunter Newton/Bankrate In 2024, three Federal Reserve rate cuts spurred declining yields on many deposit accounts, although savers were able to benefit from locking in strong yields on certificates of deposit (CDs). While the best CD rates are expected to drop further in 2025, they’re…
Most people have bills and utilities to pay every month. While many people pay these bills directly from their checking accounts or with a debit card, you can also use credit cards. One of the easiest ways to maximize your credit card rewards is to use cards for everyday spending…
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