Kelly Dilworth

No, you’re not imagining it. Increasingly so, you’re paying more up front when you pull out a credit card. Sixty-nine percent of Americans surveyed by LendingTree in 2023 reported they’d paid an extra fee when using a credit card for a purchase. A smaller, more recent survey by WalletHub put that figure at 79 percent, with 85 percent of respondents saying that credit card surcharges made them feel 'nickel-and-dimed.'"

Are reverse mortgages scams? Not always. Some lenders do offer legitimate reverse mortgages to qualifying homeowners who are over the age of 62 and have paid off all or most of their homes. But you should definitely be on guard for reverse mortgage scams if you’re considering this type of loan. Scammers often target vulnerable seniors with phoney claims and bogus offers.

A longtime player in the mortgage space, Flagstar was first chartered as a federal savings bank in 1987 and acquired by New York Community Bancorp Inc. in 2022. It currently operates as a mortgage lender nationwide, but it only has brick-and-mortar branches in nine states.

Just a few years into its acquisition by New York Community Bancorp, Flagstar is continuing to undergo major changes.

BMO, formerly known as BMO Harris, is the U.S. arm of Canadian conglomerate BMO Financial Group. The bank recently took over more than 500 branch locations from Bank of the West. As a result, BMO now has 1,000 brick-and-mortar branches across the U.S.

If “goblin mode" is more your style than neatnik, tidying up your finances may sound about as appealing as a root canal. But you might be surprised by how powerful watching a few #cleantok videos and decluttering your home and digital life can be—not just for your personal wellness, but also for your wallet.

There's a reason why financial advisors routinely recommend sticking your long-term savings into one or more tax-advantaged accounts to help optimize your earnings: it works.

When you route a chunk of your pre-tax income into a tax-deferred retirement plan, such as a traditional IRA or a 401(k), you help relieve pressure from your budget by lowering your taxable income. But you also give your savings more time to grow tax-free until you're ready to retire.

Trying to decide where to park your hard-earned money? The best savings account product for you will not only depend on your goals and priorities but also on your personality. Understanding the differences between the different types of savings accounts will also help you manage your money. For example, are you a planner with a purpose? Then you may prefer a certificate of deposit (CD) – a type of deposit account with a high interest rate and that's considered one of the safest savings options.

If you're looking for a safe and predictable place to park your savings, an FDIC-insured certificate of deposit (CD) can be an attractive option. As long as you're willing to give up fee-free access to your funds for a fixed term, you could snag some of the most competitive interest rates for a federally-insured deposit account. CDs routinely offer significantly higher rates on savings than more flexible account options, such as a money market account or a high-yield savings account.

Planning a wedding on a budget is notoriously stressful and hard to pull off, no matter when you do it. But with wedding costs still extra-high these days and continuing to grow, many soon-to-be-wed couples are facing last-minute sticker shock and scrambling to make do with limited budgets and spiraling expenses.

If you have limited down payment savings or damaged credit, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan could be more accessible to you than a conventional mortgage. But FHA loans come with borrowing limits that vary by county. So you’ll need to check your local area’s limits to understand what you can borrow.
FHA loan amounts in most Wisconsin counties are capped at $524,225 for a single-family home to $1,008,300 for a multifamily home with four units. However, buyers in Pierce and St. Croix...

Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans are designed to give borrowers with limited funds or lower credit scores an accessible path to homeownership. FHA loans, which are especially popular with first-time homebuyers, are typically easier to qualify for than conventional loan options.
However, the amount you can borrow with an FHA loan varies, depending on the size of the property you are purchasing and where it’s located. In Tennessee, most counties cap FHA loans at $524,225 for a single-...

If you’re ready to buy a home, but don’t have much money saved up, a loan backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) could help. The minimum required down payment for an FHA loan can be as low as 3.5%. Credit score requirements are also more accessible.

There are limits to how much you can borrow, though, depending on a home’s location. In most Alaska counties, the FHA loan limit is $524,225. However, a few Alaska counties allow single-family home buyers to borrow up to $586,500.

Alas...

If you’ve ever felt so moved by your financial situation that you cried over it, you’re far from alone. According to a recent survey by LendingTree, nearly 70% of Americans admit to becoming emotional over their finances.

While some say they’ve been moved to tears by joyful events, such as a financial windfall or treasured gift, many more Americans say that financially stressful experiences, such as a lost job, mounting debt or a pinched budget, were responsible for their weeping.

The survey’...

Credit card rewards programs are so competitive that there’s a high-earning card for just about every common expense: from groceries to gas to airfare, restaurant purchases and more. The offers are so tempting that it can be hard to resist applying for a new one — especially because many cards come with a big sign-up bonus.

But as your stack of plastic grows, you may begin to wonder just how big an impact all these cards are having on your credit score. Is there such a thing as having too man...