The One Big Beautiful Bill Act includes the largest overhaul to the federal student aid system in decades, limiting loan repayment and debt forgiveness options for borrowers.
Escalating geopolitical risk continued to dominate global markets' concerns, with safe-haven demand keeping the dollar index anchored near a multi-week high.
High energy prices are kryptonite for the housing market. Affordability, especially for those first-time home buyers, is now an elusive dream until oil prices come down and interest rates come down.
Your credit file (or credit report) is a detailed, six-year history of your borrowing, repayment behaviour, and financial public records. It includes payments for credit cards, loans, mortgages, mobile contracts, and utilities. Lenders check credit files to decide whether to approve applications and what interest rate to offer.
Lenders use debt-to-income ratio to determine how much a potential borrower can afford to pay on a mortgage. This ratio includes most sources of debt and income, but it doesn't include everyday expenses like utilities or groceries. Generally, having a higher debt-to-income ratio makes it harder to secure financing to buy a house.
I have not touched a paper note for months. I don't even have money to pay for a taxi. Now we walk a lot, for long distances. Palestinians in Gaza use the Israeli currency, the shekel, in their daily transactions, and depend on Israel to supply banks with new banknotes and coins.
He ordered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to use their balance sheets to buy $200 billion worth of mortgage bonds, aimed at putting downward pressure on mortgage rates that could entice new homebuyers. That news rippled through bond markets last week and lowered rates. Trump also said that credit card rates should be capped at 10% for one year, beginning next week - though it's unclear whether banks would honor that demand without legislation or regulations that force them to.
He cited affordability concerns and criticized rates of 20% to 30% under the prior administration. This move represents yet another unprecedented government intrusion into the marketplace by his administration, potentially disrupting how banks price credit and manage risk. While aimed at easing consumer burdens, it raises questions about enforcement, as Trump provided no details on implementation - whether through executive action or congressional legislation. Banking groups quickly opposed it, warning of reduced credit availability.
