How to Plan a Medical Tourism Trip and the Best Resources
Every year, millions of Americans travel internationally for medical tourism, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The practice of visiting another country to receive healthcare — including cosmetic and reproductive treatments — that isn’t available or is less expensive abroad has received heightened attention as some share their journeys on social media. This comes […]
How To Get Out of an Upside-Down Car Loan
As car prices and interest rates climb, a growing share of Americans owe more on their car than it’s actually worth — a situation referred to as an “upside-down” or “underwater” car loan. In the final quarter of 2025, roughly 30% of trade-ins came with negative equity, according to car shopping site Edmunds. The average […]
How to Find Your VantageScore 4.0 Credit Score
Mortgage lenders have long used three key FICO scores — 2, 4 and 5 — to determine home loan eligibility. Now, there are a couple of new score models on the block that could make it easier for people with certain types of debt or limited credit history to get a mortgage. Lenders can now […]
3 Ways To Stay Ahead
It starts with an emergency: surprise medical bills, new car tires, a home repair that couldn’t wait. Before long, what felt like a temporary fix turns into ballooning debt. According to a recent Bankrate survey, 41% of credit card debtors say their debt came primarily from emergency/unexpected expenses, and 61% of them have been carrying […]
Codie Sanchez Shares How To Buy an Existing Business
Becoming an entrepreneur doesn’t necessarily mean starting a new business from scratch. You can also acquire existing businesses, for which there is no shortage. According to a CNBC analysis of a 2023 report from the Exit Planning Institute, 58% of boomers who are business owners say they planned to sell their businesses within the next […]
Bare-Bones Budget: How To Create One
There are many situations where you may find yourself needing to tighten your budget, whether it’s because you were just laid off or, on a brighter note, you’re preparing to make a big purchase. Insert: A bare-minimum budget. A bare-minimum budget (aka a bare-bones budget) is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a budget that […]
Debt Relief vs. Bankruptcy: How To Choose
If you’ve been juggling minimum loan payments for months, you may be starting to realize the debt isn’t going away on its own. At that point, two options usually come into focus: debt relief and bankruptcy. While both can offer a way forward, they work very differently, and choosing the wrong one could mean more […]
Dealer vs. Bank vs. Online Lenders Explained
If this is your first time getting a car loan, you probably have a million questions: “Should I get a loan from the dealer?” “Are online lenders legit?” — and everything in between. There are actually three main ways to get a car loan: dealer financing, banks and credit unions (aka traditional lenders) and online […]
More People Are Finding Credit Report Errors. Here’s How to Fix Yours
Massive cuts by the Trump administration have seriously diminished the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) oversight of credit bureaus, according to a new ProPublica report. Launched in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB was designed as an independent agency tasked with enforcing consumer regulations for credit card companies, mortgage servicers and other financial institutions — […]
Iran War Increases Mortgage Rates. How To Find Low Rates
Just as mortgage rates fell below 6% at the end of February — a drop homebuyers awaited for four years — the war in Iran has pushed them back up again. Economists predict rates could fluctuate throughout the year if the fighting continues. Mortgage rates and the 10-year Treasury yield rose in lockstep with oil […]